Poetry Explication
“Mother of the Year”
‘The Victory’ by Anne Stevenson

In the poem ‘The Victory’ by Anne Stevenson, she uses morbid language and imagery to create the awkward picture of a heavy disdain towards her child. Through this, the speaker creates the contrast between the normal reactions of childbirth. The poet intends to have the speaker’s outlook of the child develop into that that ironic feeling a mother should have for the birth of her child. When the reader knows that the “victory” is her birth of her son, the speaker berates her “tiny antagonist”. The poem addresses the speaker’s dreams of her respite and her ascension only to be crushed by the reality of the idea of her devoting her life to her infant. Because of this, her tone is an emphatic tone of defeat that translates to disappointment. To accomplish this, the speaker’s language uses a bellicose register such as antagonist, glory, and knife as well as bruise to relay the message of how motherhood and responsibility for the child has “won” over her by a “gory” struggle.

“Suicidal Thoughts”
‘Metaphors’ by Sylvia Plath

In the poem ‘Metaphors’ by Sylvia Plath, the poet expresses the feelings of the small things having their appearances be the message of that enduring factors that cannot change. These objects and things are the terms which define the enduring nature of life but on the other half of the poem it expresses the things that can change, the tone wherein the poet uses to expresses the desperation to grasp the nostalgic past through explaining the nouns that represents change.

The Insignificant
Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis”


In the 1915 short story, The Metamorphosis, the author, Franz Kafka illustrates the protagonist, Gregor Samsa transforming into an insect. Kafka transforming Gregor as a cockroach highlights certain portions of his personality. Through this, Kafka applies these certain aspects to have Gregor represent certain qualities of the common man. In addition, the family that Gregor supports embodies the higher society that benefits from the work of the common man. Nevertheless, they still look down and exclude him from their society. Kafka comments on the heartless society wherein the working class is neglected by high society when their services are no longer useful to them.

Kafka transforms Gregor as a cockroach to emphasize certain aspects of his personality. Kafka choice of vermin implies the similar characteristics between Gregor and the cockroach. For example, the connotations of a cockroach would include such terms as insignificant, burdensome, scavenger, bottom feeder and powerless. In addition, the cockroach would be an insect that is dependant on the living of others to supplement his livelihood and secludes itself from the human beings. Most of these implications apply to Gregor as a human. For example, the narrative reveals his occupation to be a “commercial traveler” (312), one that makes a living by soliciting others to buy his products. Clearly, Gregor fits the scavenger role. In the story, due to his obligation to support his family and “pay off his parent’s debts” (312) he is then unable to get away from his burdens, thus he is powerless over his decision to cut loose from the monotonous job he has. Finally, Gregor’s job makes him obtain the “prudent habit of locking all doors during the night, even at home” (313). Through this act, Kafka shows Gregor as a recluse towards his family. Through the narrative Kafka, has the reader find evidence to clearly link Gregor’s aspects to an insect.

In the narrative, Kafka has Gregor’s role in the family to be the breadwinner of the household and to pay off his debts to be free from working for the chief clerk. In addition, Gregor’s role has him represent the common man. The responsibilities and obligations Gregor is responsible for depicts him as the archetypical working man. Gregor has his debts to repay, a family to support and a higher authority he must answer to everyday. Kafka explains this through what is going on in the house. The protagonist would be locked in his room, separated from the servants, the cooks and the food. The door between Gregor’s room and the rest of the house symbolizes the borders between the aristocratic family and the sole provider for them. Gregor is the workingman who is concerned with the security of the family, one who “thinks nothing but his work” (317). While the family he supports has little to no concern for him. One example is when he is in his room as a bug; the family was unaware of his suffering just to “get up from bed” (314). One strong example is how the chief clerk arrives at the home to find the whereabouts of Gregor, his candid demeanor had him state that him and Gregor were “men of business” (316) regarding Gregor’s inconvenience as insignificant compared to his work. Kafka displays the chief clerk as the taskmaster; the careless figure that can care less of Gregor’s problems, yet he needs him to get up to get to work.

Further into the short story, the family represents the powerful, the upper classes that benefit from the worker, at his expense. Kafka insists this in lieu of the activity of the household. One example is that Gregor as the main source of income wherein he provides the money for the family; yet, the family would use this money to hire a “servant” (318). This would be a weird use of the money in lieu of their position in the story. One would say their way with money is frivolous as the tastes of the upper class. The life of the family compared to Gregor’s life is more comfortable, more enjoyable than the toiling Gregor lives. The family’s realization of Gregor’s transformation would then alter their lives as well as their perception for Gregor. The family’s main source of income has been debilitated through his transformation as a bug. Now that Gregor is impaired if this, the family worry whether they can survive with Gregor now having to be pampered. The remainder of the novel has the family toiling to make ends meet with Gregor being their burden. All the hardships get the best of the family until they now came to the decision to remove Gregor from the house. Kafka’s symbolic act would ironically set Gregor as the bad guy that is pictured to deprive the family of a decent living.

In summary, Kafka illustrates how society would welcome the providing party with open arms only if it benefits them, until that major source of their income on longer is useful, they will shun that party, abandon them to rot in solitude. Kafka scorns society for their parasitic manipulation towards others and how the same practice can happen in one’s own home.

Fear (villanelle)

I did not overlook that following ghost,
Only I could see him, only my cross to bear.
To remind me of the risks coming close.

So, I gave him lodge as a makeshift host
I should not have gave him time to repair
I did not overlook that following ghost

All men have ghosts, no matter how morose
That they fall, overcome with fear and despair,
To remind me of the risks coming close.

His job is to taunt me first and foremost.
I could not let him go, I would not dare.
I did not overlook that following ghost.

A world with no specters, she bravely boast
Her scars are veiled well; my wounds are there
To remind me of the risks coming close.

I stand and watch from the reckoning post,
The city gave up their ghosts without a care
I did not overlook the following ghost
To remind me of the risks coming close.
Spaghetti (sonnet)

Sergio could not paint a better piece,
Mexican stand-offs between good and bad,
The line linking the naïve and the mad
Simply a metaphor to war and peace,
The pale Rubio and the bandito,
The passing sands shirks the two pair of eyes,
Which one draws quick and which one has to go
Th waiting of the draws more time it buys.
Our western identity came from Rome,
Our spaghetti from far eastern cooking,
Went from the theatres and into my home,
A closet fan for this comfort taking,
Walks through the Good, the Bad and the Ugly,
All three able find through dichotomies.

“What Can Flowers Tell About
A Woman”


In the I938 short story “Chrysanthemums”, the writer, John Steinbeck, demonstrates the subtle symbol that signifies a great deal towards the character, and their role in the story. Steinbeck focuses on the protagonist, Mrs. Elisa Allen, a regular housewife in the mature age of 35, who is seen tending the budding chrysanthemums. Through this context, Steinbeck sets up the characterization of Mrs. Elisa Allen as a woman with masculine features but a dim, feminine demeanor to her person. The author illustrates Mrs. Allen tending to her chrysanthemums as a base to set up the main symbol to the story. The flowers would describe Mrs. Allen’s youth, the beauty that she has. In addition, Steinbeck sets up the setting to be in the winter; which represents a period of the knowledge of maturity as well as death and old age. Through this, the author uses the season as a symbol to connect to the flowers to indicate conflict between the two meanings: the desperate maintenance of youth during realization of death. The author uses this narrative to suggest the symbol of the story is the chrysanthemums; though Steinbeck illustrated them to be the symbol of youth, he also defines the inevitable loss of youth and ultimately death.

Steinbeck opens the story with the description of the Salinas Valley as the depiction of winter. He displays death and it’s presence in the setting throughout the valley. Steinbeck symbolizes the setting to emphasize the presence of death when he describes the landscape: “It was a time and quiet and of waiting. The air was cold and tender. A light wind blew from the southwest so that the farmers were mildly hopeful of a good before long, but fog and rain do not go together (p.240)” he summarizes the air of the valley to be languid and cold. One suspects that the description proposes that the air embodies death through such adjectives like light, cold, tender and quiet. Steinbeck uses these adjectives to defend the symbol of winter and define death through old age. The setting and those who live in it are not excused from this, especially Mrs. Allen, which has Steinback then use this symbol to its real purpose.

Steinbeck then puts his focus to Mrs. Allen and the story then takes meaning and is expand on from the season’s symbol. The author illustrates Mrs. Allen to be tending to the growth of her flowers in the winter. From the start, the symbol of the flowers in the same picture as the cold and quiet valley conflicts from the dichotomy of flowers being grown during the time of death. Steinbeck intentionally places these two symbols together to show how one defies the other. The author illustrates the blooming flowers growing in the cold and tender winter as a struggle between preservation and decay, life and death as well as youth and old age. Through this, he accomplishes the intentions of Mrs. Allen and why she takes care of the chrysanthemums. He demonstrates the desperation Mrs. Allen has for her life as well as the flowers. Through this, he reveals the symbols at their literary connotations as well as the purpose and inner thoughts of Mrs. Allen. Steinbeck illustrates the chrysanthemums to personify Mrs. Allen as a sol that struggles to ward off the signs of aging and death, while being surrounded by it.

Later in the novel, after she has been acquainted with the salesman on p.243-245, she had given him one of her flowers in a pot. Later, on p.246, she then sees her flowers on he ground by where the salesman was and the pot missing: “He might have thrown them off the road, that wouldn’t have been much trouble, not very much. But he kept the pot …(p.246) In this passage, Steinbeck then illustrates the conclusion of her flower being left, being forgotten by the salesman’s subtle act of disregard for the feeling of the protagonist. Through the context, Steinbeck has the reader interpret what the flower on the ground meant to her and has the reader go back to the author’s connotation of the flower to conclude that: Mrs. Allen’s gift of her flower to a stranger to then be discarded. Through this, it shows Mrs. Allen ‘s efforts to ward off death and old age are in vain and that she has came to realize her mortality.

Seamus Heaney:
“The Country Bumpkin”


In the many works of author and poet laureate Seamus Heaney, his well-known texts are influenced by his life in the rural countryside in Northern Ireland. Through this, his poems often have several motifs in which he includes a complex language both vivid and grotesque that include images of foliage, fruit and blood both habitually occupying the same poem with each other. In one poem, Blackberry Picking, the morbid twist on a very joyous activity when the poet uses such grotesque language such as blood, flesh, skin, and rot. Later, the poem references the fictional character of Bluebeard and his lustful and murderous reputation with women. The author’s life experience in the farmlands references the conventions of berry picking in the field to take on a deeper meaning. In addition, the imagery and references Heaney employs in his writing occupying the customs and the agricultural life style that he witnessed in his early life living in a farmhouse. In result, Heaney’s writing is synonymous with the pastoral writing, wherein the urban way of life is mocked when juxtaposed with the rural counterparts in a sardonic manner.

The reflective times of Seamus Heaney depicts in his text, wherein it includes simple, countrified agricultural images that comes together with bodily imagery to that repeats through most of his writings that implies a pure and natural setting for his poems and short stories to complement his message through that piece. In addition, when he accomplishes this style of writing, the tone finds to be more earnest in the author’s message. However, by accomplishing this, he does not lose his ulterior purpose to the poem. His writings, which include such poems as Follower, Blackberry Picking and Requiem for the Croppies, are clear examples of his affection to his conventions that often echoes some influences from his cultural background that he exercises in his writing style as a result.
Heaney’s work has a strong connection towards his experiences in his hometown and the environment wherein he grew. Seamus Heaney was born in into a large, Catholic farming family in countryside of Castledawson in Northern Ireland in a family farmhouse called Mossbawn. Consequently, the family’s life revolved around the farm and it’s maintenance for the reason that it was the main source of their living and their lifework. During his life, while working as a farmhand assisting his father, he grows to respect the experience of his hard labor, next to his father. Through this experience of the responsibilities in his life of a farmer’s son, this exposure would emanate his fixation towards the agricultural images that he recognizes from hi s early life. To this outcome, his writings comprises of the agricultural language and imagery that relates to his rural farm.

Like most people, Heaney’s life and work often involved his connection with his native history and culture. In his case, his writings resonates the contact that his culture has had on him. His Catholic background has been present in most of his writing, which has allowed him to be exposed to the religious text that has had a spiritual effect on him a well as cultural effect on the author. Consequently, his religious background has allowed him to keep in touch with the text, which manifests itself in his writing in which he refers to importance of the use of such elaborate language in his poems. His employment of this intricate language works as an indicator of his imagery that gives depth to the images, which resembles religious imagery. In addition, his knowledge and experience of the history of his native Ireland as well as the events that was taking places during his time has had an effect on him as well to incite opinions from the writer. His criticism and observation often can label him a regional writer for his allusions of the environment wherein he lives. Heaney’s works seldom speaks of political or military subjects, but he references the small observations about the countryside or the simple details that goes beyond the ideas of government.

In most of Seamus Heaney’s work, he employs several allusions to his rural experiences in his writing that brings in rustic metaphors that interprets to mean anther thing. For instance, in the poem, Blackberry Picking, the occasion illustrates a joyous atmosphere when the readers assumes is an innocent event of picking berries. Heaney’s use of salient language constructs the vibrant tone of the poem that invokes clear and vivid imagery of the narrative. Heaney’s utilization of corporeal language wherein includes such vocabulary as lust, tongue, and flesh has the reader indicate a sensual quality that is a cross between a grim and corporeal tone. The ripe berries noted in the poem are clearly to be a allusion to how these berries possess a human quality, therefore the metaphor that the berries exemplifies the gloomy aspects of human lust for excess. Heaney’s purpose and language creates a different picture from the innocent description of day of berry picking by employing grotesque language in the first stanza to have a mixture of a violent imagery within the berry-picking occasion. Next, the second stanza shifts from the contented ambiance of delight towards a thwarted realization of their disintegrating joys that creates a melancholic shift to create a dramatic effect between a beautiful narrative, to a dismal, gory description in the first of reality’s tendency to raze dreams and banish all hopes of all humanity through their fault of excess.

The measure of corporeal and agricultural image motifs he uses in his poems progresses through his work. The focus in his poetry always remains on his allusions on the small observations he has whether they are of reflections of his distant past years as well as the times and periods long before him. One reader of his works also finds the images of blood rampant in his writings, wherein he uses it to intensify the purpose and picture of his imagery that parallels between the connotations of violence and death in his poetry. One example that uses these patterns is his early poem from 1966, Requiem for the Croppies, which is an elegy commemorating the thousands of Irish families that was massacred for their land by English armies in 1789, where their bodies were desecrated and given no burial. At the start his facility with history makes him familiar to his cultural background and his experience and that history effect on him. In addition, these allusions from his knowledge of history give the reader resonances of his past and his connection towards his native land. The poem itself shares the similarity to other poems when he regresses to the blood motif when the poem relapse to the grass being “soaked in their broken wave” a metonymy for the bloodshed one the ground as well as the symbol of barley on the that parallels the close interpretation of life and death, thus keeping to his rustic conventions as a regional writer towards his works. Additionally, both works mentioned here has the author’s constant use of the month of August. The term would share a noble and powerful connotation with the inclusion of Next, when the use of this meaning crosses with both settings and sparks several parallel between youth and virility.

In summary, Seamus Heaney’s background compensates for the overall success of his poetry and his style to be as earnest towards his writing and to

“How Sweet and Fitting…”
Dulce et decorum Est by
Wilfred Owen

In history, most countries would focus on the victories and spoils of war, when others question the need for such barbaric occurrences. In the 1920 poem, Dulce et decorum Est, Owen proposes the cycle of decay in all civilizations continues through the man made epidemic; war. The morbid imagery of death and suffering on the battlefields of Europe during World War I intensifies the author’s purpose of having the experience of war not to be viewed as a bold and valiant display of men struggling against their enemies, instead as a melancholic picture of sickness and decrepitude. Owen uses this morose imagery to imply that all wars a

The first stanza of the poem bring to mind the corroding health of the soldiers, who are mentioned as “beggars” The term implies the overall condition as well as the description of their morale. The writer suggests that the soldiers are poor souls, to be pitied for the luck to be there in the midst of death and agony. In addition, Owen uses the choice to comment on the posture and facial appearances of the soldiers. The first stanza would go on to mention the impotence of the soldiers using such descriptive verbs such as “trudge “and “limped” to evoke a visual depiction of these men.

The second stanza would express the confusion and death in vivid detail as Owen recant on the lethal gas shells that bombarded the squad. The author intends to highlight the horrors of war through the constant fear of mustard gas poisoning them. The imagery helps Owen maintains the purpose of how war would poison, and deteriorate the bodies biologically, like a sickness that kills instantly. One reader notes the the depiction of the dead being put in wagons to give the image of a wholesale slaughter of men as cattle as well as give the image of the reference to the black plague when the dead would be put in wagons.

“How Sweet and Fitting…”
Dulce et decorum Est by
Wilfred Owen

In history, most countries would focus on the victories and spoils of war, when others question the need for such barbaric occurrences. In the 1920 poem, Dulce et decorum Est, Owen proposes the cycle of decay in all civilizations continues through the man made epidemic; war. The morbid imagery of death and suffering on the battlefields of Europe during World War I intensifies the author’s purpose of having the experience of war not to be viewed as a bold and valiant display of men struggling against their enemies, instead as a melancholic picture of sickness and decrepitude. Owen uses this morose imagery to imply that all wars a

The first stanza of the poem bring to mind the corroding health of the soldiers, who are mentioned as “beggars” The term implies the overall condition as well as the description of their morale. The writer suggests that the soldiers are poor souls, to be pitied for the luck to be there in the midst of death and agony. In addition, Owen uses the choice to comment on the posture and facial appearances of the soldiers. The first stanza would go on to mention the impotence of the soldiers using such descriptive verbs such as “trudge “and “limped” to evoke a visual depiction of these men.

The second stanza would express the confusion and death in vivid detail as Owen recant on the lethal gas shells that bombarded the squad. The author intends to highlight the horrors of war through the constant fear of mustard gas poisoning them. The imagery helps Owen maintains the purpose of how war would poison, and deteriorate the bodies biologically, like a sickness that kills instantly. One reader notes the the depiction of the dead being put in wagons to give the image of a wholesale slaughter of men as cattle as well as give the image of the reference to the black plague when the dead would be put in wagons.

“Ghosts and Drunks”
Disillusionment of Ten O’ Clock by
Wallace Stevens

In the poem Disillusionment of Ten O’ Clock, the poet suggests that certain words are imperative to describe and contrast the characters and imply certain fragments in the poem. The handling of connotations through color, diction, and dreams clues the reader in to find the purpose of the poem. Stevens uses these implications to depict the townspeople who dwell in their “haunted” homes as ghosts and how their lives are without stimulation or dreams that translates to no prospect towards the future. In addition, Stevens creates a dichotomy between the townspeople and the “old sailor”. The “old” sailor is ironically embodied as the lively, imaginative and dream-wise; prospective person among the haunted souls. The purpose of the poet is to convey the message of man’s pursuit for that dream and how others would abandon theirs and settle into a dull and haunting life.
The first stanza introduces the “haunted” townspeople who are laden with “nightgowns”. Through this text, the visual imagery of “white nightgowns” dwelling through the “haunted houses” gives strong resonance to have the reader connect the vision of nightgowns to an image of a ghost. From there, the connotation of the word “white” hints a relation ship with the ghost. The term refers to the clear, characterless, bland, and naïve. The poet uses these associations with the word to deepen the meaning if the look the towns people being referred to as ghosts. The second stanza, develops form the first to give more description to the townspeople being naïve and characterless.

One example is the poet mentioning none of the residents is “strange”. The choice of pointing this out to reader would insist that the residents of the city are without any quirk, that they are not weird in any way. Through this choice of words, Stevens implies that these people are the bland and characterless people. The idea of a human having any foibles would insist their originality, in short; what makes them unique. Stevens justifies his position to label them as “white nightgowns” .In the last two lines of the stanza, the poet explains that the inhabitants of the houses, do not dream reveries of eccentricity or their own unique concepts. The poet intends to defend why he would choose “baboons and periwinkles as a definition for a dream. The whole implications of the word baboon would interpret in a the inference of a “clumsy, oafish, person

“You Could Go With This, or
You Can Go With That”
The Cogitations of a Black Sheep


“You want to make friends. Point a sword in their face.” – Rev. Goodlove

If only it was that easy. I fear of being an outcast because I fear being a follower. Such a paradox worries me. The question goes through my head: Follower or an Individual I need to balance these things. Being a follower means no individuality. For me to have no DNA I won’t have any inner beauty. I won’t have heart or soul. A automaton. It can mean having a community. To belong to a group. To be nourished and given aid. To be accepted by people like you. Although to be an individual, I shouldn’t care about social status. To have now need for requirements. Having a name people will remember. Nevertheless, the individual can be misunderstood. I applied for the Literary Society. Being in a club meant asylum. Not being “that” loser in school. Means a form of extra-curricular activities I walked in the door I with my application in one hand and an U.S. history book in the other. What I was doing there? Pairs of eyes stared at me. a of students near me, four or five of them. They didn’t even know I existed. When I handed my application over, I felt that hollow feeling inside. To be alone. I stumble out the room. I walked down the nearest staircase. It was done. The situation played repeatedly. Then the questions came to me. Was there something wrong with me? Was there something on my face? What was that “look” for? Was I not good enough? The questions had gone all afternoon. I felt cold and hollow inside. I didn’t think I would return.

Then it came to me: Fencing! My brother did it last year. He thought it was alright. I considered taking a year, too. I borrowed my brother’s equipment. I went to see the academy. I walked into the studio; I see golden plaques on the wall. There are many trophies and ribbons. As I look, the pupils stop. The voices rise and fall. I asked around for the instructor. They point vaguely behind me. I see a tall blonde lady. Her name is Helen. We shook hands and I smiled. She introduces me to the class. I then hear vague awkward replies. My equipment becomes heavy. I feel apart form myself. My soul watches my body. It looks along with the pupils. It begs me to heed instruction. I feel hollow again. The cold kicks in. I feel surrounded by the pupils. I snap out of it. The day is done.
The next day, I begin practice. I walk into the studio. I try to walk in rhythm. I try to get familiar. The instructor greets me again. I smile and wave lively. I think I made an effort. I put on my gear quickly. The whistle has blown. She begins the class. She has us do some stretching. We break up by weapon type. I am now with some company. Two girls and three guys. I begin to wonder to myself. Do the girls feel awkward? Maybe I’m sitting too close. Are they the open type? Where are they from? Maybe they live around here. Should I ask? It will sure calm me down. One was from Fall River. Her name was Penelope. The other, Nancy, was from Brockton. I felt like I was melting. I came out of my shell. I fell into a rhythm. I re-introduced myself to the group. The instructor divides us by two. Nancy and I were sparring partners. I then felt shy again. I began talking to her. I thought that it would help. What gave you interest in fencing? Is it your first time? Do you enjoy it? The questions came in a pace. We began with a warm-up beat. A rhythmic conversation with blades. The cadence was dull, but refreshing. She asked me questions too. How old are you? What year are you? Do you play any other sports? I tried to answer her. I was stumbling, I was nervous. I was out of my body again. She was probably psychic. She read the expression on my face. She smiled.

“I need to say something!”, I thought. So I asked her a few questions. “How long have you been fencing? What School do you go to? Got a boyfriend? Yes!? Got a sister?” I was dead. She had that surprised look. Somebody smack me. Her laugh pierced me. Then her sabre did. I was back in my body. “I guess that answers that question”. Confidence. She came back to me. Was she jealous? Afterwards, Nancy and I talked. “Off all the sports” she opened. “Why’d you choose fencing?”. “To kill people” I said teasingly. She giggled again, I loved her laugh. She promised to see me again. I never heard that from a girl before. I took it as a good omen. I grew a little. I became human.
My soul was looking at me. He picked up a sign. It read “About time! You Loser”. I felt reborn again. I made an effort. I passed. I have a soul. I am a man. I exist. I am not a loser. I am significant. I am alive.