Poetry: Poems by Sylvia Plath and Adelaide Crapsey
“God’s World”
by Edna St. Vincent Millay
O world, I cannot hold thee close enough!
Thy winds, thy wide grey skies!
Thy mists, that roll and rise!
Thy woods, this autumn day, that ache and sag
And all but cry with colour! That gaunt crag
To crush! To lift the lean of that black bluff!
World, World, I cannot get thee close enough!
Long have I known a glory in it all,
But never knew I this:
Here such a passion is
As stretcheth me apart,—Lord, I do fear
Thou’st made the world too beautiful this year;
My soul is all but out of me,—let fall
No burning leaf; prithee, let no bird call.
Source: Millay, Edna St. Vincent. “God’s World.” Renascence and Other Poems. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1917. Poetry Foundation. Web. 6 May 2011.
“Spring”
by Edna St. Vincent Millay
To what purpose, April, do you return again?
Beauty is not enough.
You can no longer quiet me with the redness
Of little leaves opening stickily.
I know what I know.
The sun is hot on my neck as I observe
The spikes of the crocus.
The smell of the earth is good.
It is apparent that there is no death
But what does that signify?
Not only underground are the brains of men
Eaten by maggots.
Life in itself
Is nothing,
An empty cup, a flight of uncarpeted stairs.
It is not enough that yearly, down this hill,
April
Comes like an idiot, babbling and strewing flowers.
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4.7 (348)
“ Amazing as always, gave her a week to finish a big assignment and came through way ahead of time. ”
Source: Millay, Edna St. Vincent. “Spring.” Second April. New York: J. J. Little and Ives Company, 1921. Poetry Foundation. Web. 05 May 2011.
Which statement about Millay’s techniques in these poems is true?
“Spring”
by Edna St. Vincent Millay
To what purpose, April, do you return again?
Beauty is not enough.
You can no longer quiet me with the redness
Of little leaves opening stickily.
I know what I know.
The sun is hot on my neck as I observe
The spikes of the crocus.
The smell of the earth is good.
It is apparent that there is no death
But what does that signify?
Not only underground are the brains of men
Eaten by maggots.
Life in itself
Is nothing,
An empty cup, a flight of uncarpeted stairs.
It is not enough that yearly, down this hill,
April
Comes like an idiot, babbling and strewing flowers.
Source: Millay, Edna St. Vincent. “Spring.” Second April. New York: J. J. Little and Ives Company, 1921. Poetry Foundation. Web. 05 May 2011.
Which excerpt illustrates the use of alliteration in this poem?
“God’s World”
by Edna St. Vincent Millay
O world, I cannot hold thee close enough!
Thy winds, thy wide grey skies!
Thy mists, that roll and rise!
Thy woods, this autumn day, that ache and sag
And all but cry with colour! That gaunt crag
To crush! To lift the lean of that black bluff!
World, World, I cannot get thee close enough!
Long have I known a glory in it all,
But never knew I this:
Here such a passion is
As stretcheth me apart,—Lord, I do fear
Thou’st made the world too beautiful this year;
My soul is all but out of me,—let fall
No burning leaf; prithee, let no bird call.
Source: Millay, Edna St. Vincent. “God’s World.” Renascence and Other Poems. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1917. Poetry Foundation. Web. 6 May 2011.
Which line from the poem above illustrates alliteration?
Old age hath yet his honour and his toil;
Death closes all; but something ere the end,
Some work of noble note, may yet be done,
Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.
The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks:
The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep
Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends,
‘Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
Tho’ much is taken, much abides; and tho’
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
Source: Tennyson, Alfred. “Ulysses.” The Early Poems of Alfred, Lord Tennyson. London: Edward Moxon, 1842. Project Gutenberg. 2005. Web. 7 June 2011.
Which of the following describes the structure of this excerpt best?
“Spring”
by Edna St. Vincent Millay
To what purpose, April, do you return again?
Beauty is not enough.
You can no longer quiet me with the redness
Of little leaves opening stickily.
I know what I know.
The sun is hot on my neck as I observe
The spikes of the crocus.
The smell of the earth is good.
It is apparent that there is no death
But what does that signify?
Not only underground are the brains of men
Eaten by maggots.
Life in itself
Is nothing,
An empty cup, a flight of uncarpeted stairs.
It is not enough that yearly, down this hill,
April
Comes like an idiot, babbling and strewing flowers.
Source: Millay, Edna St. Vincent. “Spring.” Second April. New York: J. J. Little and Ives Company, 1921. Poetry Foundation. Web. 05 May 2011.
Which lines from the poem above illustrate personification?
Old age hath yet his honour and his toil;
Death closes all; but something ere the end,
Some work of noble note, may yet be done,
Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.
The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks:
The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep
Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends,
‘Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
Tho’ much is taken, much abides; and tho’
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
Source: Tennyson, Alfred. “Ulysses.” The Early Poems of Alfred, Lord Tennyson. London: Edward Moxon, 1842. Project Gutenberg. 2005. Web. 7 June 2011.
In this poem, Tennyson refers to both Ulysses and Achilles. What is this technique called in literature?
Feet seem to be saying:
We have come so far, it is over.
Which poetic technique do these lines from Plath’s poem “Edge” illustrate?
What is the boy now, who has lost his ball,
What, what is he to do? I saw it go
Merrily bouncing, down the street, and then
Merrily over—there it is in the water!
No use to say ‘O there are other balls’
Source: Berryman, John. “The Ball Poem.” Collected Poems: 1937 – 1971. Ed. Charles Thornbury. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1991. Google Books. Web. 06 June 2011.
What is the structure of this poem?
“Apostrophe to Man”
by Edna St. Vincent Millay
(On reflecting that the world
is ready to go to war again)
Detestable race, continue to expunge yourself, die out.
Breed faster, crowd, encroach, sing hymns, build bombing airplanes;
Make speeches, unveil statues, issue bonds, parade;
Convert again into explosives the bewildered ammonia
and the distracted cellulose;
Convert again into putrescent matter drawing flies
The hopeful bodies of the young; exhort,
Pray, pull long faces, be earnest,
be all but overcome, be photographed;
Confer, perfect your formulae, commercialize
Bacteria harmful to human tissue,
Put death on the market;
Breed, crowd, encroach,
expand, expunge yourself, die out,
Homo called sapiens.
Source: Millay, Edna St. Vincent. “Apostrophe to Man.” American Poems. Gunnar Bengtsson, n.d. Web. 7 June 2011.
Discuss how word choice affects the mood of this poem.
Millay uses words with strongly negative connotations in this bitter poem about humanity’s inhumanity. The first word of the poem is “detestable,” and the powerful negative imagery continues throughout the poem. She uses the word “breed” which generally applies to animals, not humans, reinforcing our bestiality. A few of the other negative word choices include “encroach,” “bombing,” “bewildered,” and “distracted.” Perhaps the strongest imagery is found in the lines, “Convert again into putrescent matter drawing flies/The hopeful bodies of the young.” She ends with the name of our species, Homo sapiens, but splits the term ironically pointing out that we are called sapiens while her poem makes the point of showing that while we may be human (Homo), we are not wise (sapiens)at all.
“The Taxi”
by Amy Lowell
When I go away from you
The world beats dead
Like a slackened drum.
I call out for you against the jutted stars
And shout into the ridges of the wind.
Streets coming fast,
One after the other,
Wedge you away from me,
And the lamps of the city prick my eyes
So that I can no longer see your face.
Why should I leave you,
To wound myself upon the sharp edges of the night?
Source: Lowell, Amy. “The Taxi.” Sword Blades and Poppy Seeds. New York: MacMillan Co., 1914. Google Books. Web. 29 June 2011.
“Where Have You Gone”
by Mari Evans
Where have you gone
with your confident
walk with
your crooked smile
why did you leave
me
when you took your
laughter
and departed
are you aware that
with you
went the sun
all light
and what few stars
there were?
Where have you gone
with your confident
walk your
crooked smile the
rent money
in one pocket and
my heart
in another . . .
Source: Evans, Mari. “Where Have You Gone.” I Am a Black Woman. New York: Morrow, 1970. Google Books. Web. 29 June 2011.
Compare the two poems in terms of presentation, poetic devices, and technique.
Both poems are written in free verse and use enjambment to enhance fluency and add emphasis. For example, Lowell runs the first three lines without end punctuation until the third line. Evans’ poem does not use any punctuation at all until the ellipsis at the end of the poem, implying that the feeling continues still. Both poets are mourning being apart from their loved one and trying to express their feelings about the separation. Evans uses apostrophe to question her absent love, while Lowell’s poem is more self-reflective. Both poems use metaphor or simile. Lowell’s “world beats dead/[l]ike a slackened drum,” and Evans claims that when her love left, “the sun/all light/and what few stars/there were” left too. Lowell ends her poem with an especially vivid metaphorical image of wounding herself “upon the sharp edges of the night,” while Evans closes with an ironic image of her love’s “confident/walk,” “crooked smile,” and the “rent money/in one pocket and/[her] heart in another.” The love appears to have had more than just a crooked smile! Lowell’s poem seems to indicate a temporary parting, while Evans’ love indicates a permanent parting.
Death be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for, thou are not so . . . .
Source: Donne, John. “Sonnet X.” Bartleby.com. Bartleby.com, n.d. Web. 8 June 2011.
Explain the poetic techniques used in the opening lines of John Donne’s Sonnet X.
Donne is using both personification and apostrophe in these lines. He is using apostrophe when he speaks to Death as though it were a person who could hear and respond to him. He also personifies Death as if it were a person who could feel proud or be “mighty” and “dreadful.”
“Autumn Gilt”
by Valerie Bloom
The late September sunshine
Lime green on the linden leaves
Burns bronze on the slated roof-tops,
Yellow on the farmer’s last sheaves.
It flares flame-like on the fire hydrant,
Is ebony on the blackbird’s wing,
Blue beryl on the face of the ocean,
Glints gold on the bride’s wedding ring.
A sparkling rainbow on the stained-glass window,
It’s a silver sheen on the kitchen sink,
The late September sunshine
Is a chameleon, I think.
Source: Bloom, Valerie. “Autumn Gilt.” Let Me Touch the Sky. New York: MacMillan Children’s Books, 2000. The Poetry Archive. Web. 7 June 2011.
Analyze the use of figurative and literal language, poetic techniques, and sound devices in this poem. Refer to specific lines in your answer.
This poem uses vivid imagery and careful word choice to convey the beauty of autumn. The second and fourth lines of each stanza rhyme and the poet uses irregular rhythm. Alliteration is a regular technique in this poem. We see it in the lines “September sunshine/Lime green on the linden leaves/Burns bronze” with the repeated “s,” “l,” and “b” sounds. A dominant example is found in the first line of the second stanza: “It flares flame-like on the fire hydrant.” The poet is using both literal and figurative language throughout the poem. She observes the sun shining on various things (literally) and uses vivid imagery to emphasize the beauty she finds in this autumn day. Figurative language is found in her descriptions. She says the sunshine “flares flame-like on the fire hydrant,” using a simile to show how brightly it shines. She ends with a metaphor comparing the September sunshine to a chameleon.
“Happiness Epidemic”
by David Hernandez
Without any warning, the disease
sweeps across the country
like a traveling circus.
People who were once blue,
who slouched from carrying
a bag of misery over one shoulder
are now clinically cheerful.
Symptoms include kind gestures,
a bouncy stride, a smile
bigger than a slice of cantaloupe.
You pray that you will be infected,
hope a happy germ invades your body
and multiplies, spreading merriment
to all your major organs
like door-to-door Christmas carolers
until the virus finally reaches your heart:
that red house at the end of the block
where your deepest wishes reside,
where a dog howls behind a gate
every time that sorrow
pulls his hearse up the driveway.
Source: Hernandez, David. “Happiness Epidemic.” Casa Poema. Casa Poema, n.d. Web. 06 June 2011.
Identify the main poetic techniques used in this poem. Refer to specific lines in the poem to illustrate the technique.
This free-verse poem is metaphorical, comparing happiness to a germ that infects the people and spreads “merriment/to all your organs.” Before being infected with this “happy germ,” the people metaphorically carry a “bag of misery,” and sorrow arrives in a hearse. The poet also uses a couple of similes. For example, the “disease/sweeps across the country/like a traveling circus” and the “germ invades your body/ . . . like door-to-door Christmas carolers.” There are also a few instances of alliteration—”without…warning,” “hope a happy,” “Christmas carolers”—and assonance—”disease . . . sweeps.” This all combines to present a strong image of a happiness epidemic. The poet also uses both enjambment and end-stopped lines creating a fluent, almost conversational style.
Poetry: Poems by Sylvia Plath and Adelaide Crapsey. (2018, Jan 04). Retrieved from https://paperap.com/paper-on-poetry-poems-by-sylvia-plath-and-adelaide-crapsey/
