Edward

The mother in this poem is the one who should be blamed for the bad things that happen. I feel like she influenced her son to kill his father. When he tells his mother he is leaving, the mother asks "and what will ye leave to your own mother dear?" I think she planned this whole thing out. She was going to influence Edward, her son, to kill his father, her husband, so she could gain all of his belongings. Edward was going to leave the country anyway and not leave anything to his wife or children. Therefore, his mother wanted it.

Elegy for My Father, Who Is Not Dead

The speaker is writing this poem to cope with the fact that his father is going to die. The father feels like he is ready to die and assures his son that they will meet again in heaven. The speaker thinks otherwise. He thinks that once his father dies, that will be the last time he sees him. He is "convinced his [father's] ship's gone down." This poem serves as a way to express the speaker's emotions of loss. He doesn't want his father to die but knows that death is inevitable.

Do Not Go Gentle into The Good Night

By repeating the first and third lines of the poem, the speaker describes different types of people who are dying. Wise men, although they know that death is inevitable, "do not go gentle into that good night" because there is still a lot of things to learn and teach on earth. Good men fight against the night because they see how good their life is on earth and don't want to leave it. Therefore, they "rage against the dying of the light." Wild men play around and waste their lives. When they realize the end is near, they also "do not go gentle into that good night." Grave men who are about to die "rage against the dying of the light" because they don't want to give into death. All of these men serve as examples to the speaker's father. The speaker wants his father to not die and to fight against the "dying of light." The repetition of the lines serve to emphasize the different meanings and interpretations that a reader can grasp.

That time of year

In each of the three quatrains, there are three major images introduced. In the first, the speaker is referring to the end of fall "when yellow leaves" turn colors from green and fall to the ground. The beauty of fall eventually comes to an end, just like almost everything in life. The image in the second quatrain is one of twilight and then night. "After sunset fadeth in the west," night comes and ends the day. Once again, the speaker is emphasizing that almost everything in this world will end. The last quatrain was a little hard for me to figure out. I think the image is one of a funeral or someone dead. These lines, along with the others reinforce the ending of something. The couplet at the end of the poem, though, contradicts the rest of the lines. The speaker says that although almost everything ends, these things will only make the love between him and his lover stronger.

A New Look

Instead of reflecting on one poem specifically, I think I am going to do a reflection over the poetry unit as a whole up to this point. I feel like this unit is very insightful and helps me to think more than I did before. The poems provide great practice for literary analysis, for example trying to understand the significance of "The Oxen" by Thomas Hardy. I am opening my eyes to new techniques to fully come to understand the meanings of works.

I think the group discussions are great. Today, for example, I felt completely lost about "The Apparition" by John Donne. I understood that the speaker of the poem felt depressed about the woman who wasn't returning his feelings, but with all of the "thy's" and "thou thinkst," it was hard to understand. In my small group, we discussed the poem and received other's thoughts. After that, I had a better understanding. The large group discussions also benefit me in the same way and I am very glad we have them.

Getting Out

I found this poem interesting and a little sad. The speaker in the poem is nostalgic about her situation and finds it sad herself. The speaker and the person she is addressing are deciding to separate. This separation was an agreement, but both parties feel sad about carrying it out. Coming to another point, I did not understand where the author got the title for this poem. It is titled "Getting Out," but neither of the characters want to get out of the relationship. They both feel regretful about separating. Even the lawyer in the poem was bewildered "when [they] cried, [on] the last day" (21). Maybe "getting out" could mean getting back out into the world to meet someone new and forget about the person the speaker was with before.

Crossing the Bar

First, sunset and evening star are metaphors for death. The sun is setting meaning your life is ending on earth and the moon takes the place of the sun. The person is in a different place with the moon instead of the sun. "Twilight and evening bell,/ And after that the dark!" (9-10). These are also metaphors for the last moments of one's life. The sky becomes darker with the twilight and the evening bell signifies the end of the day. After these things, the dark, meaning death. In line 15, the speaker refers to the "Pilot." The speaker "hope[s] to see [his] Pilot face to face." This is an allusion to God. The speaker wants to finally be in heaven to see the face of his creator and actually meet him.