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Claude McKay Background Information: The author Claude McKay had many different purposes in his writings. Most of it was to show the struggles of being a person in the early 1900's. However some of his poems branched around with love and his homeland. Claude McKay came from Jamaica and did not come to America until 1912, before the equal rights movement. McKay was against the way that blacks were treated and showed this in some of his poems. Poetry.Org states, "[His poems] use the same poetic form to record his reactionary views on the injustices of black life in America" (Poetry.org). This gives his poems a sort of gritty reality on the life of a black person, and living under oppression. He achieved his purpose through using powerful words and the passionate writing that made his writing unique and stoic.

The poems were directed at different audiences depending on the type of poem that is looked at. His poems about oppression and the tough life in America that black people led were directed at other black people or at their white oppressors. This was to show the white people the pain and suffering they caused them. This was what helped kick off the Harlem Renaissance. His writing helped black people cope with their lives by giving them an emotional outlet. Claude Mckay had no tolerance for racism and felt that if anyone believed in it they should be pitied. Poetry foundation explains, "Consistent in his various writings is his disdain for racism and the sense that bigotry's implicit stupidity renders its adherents pitiable as well as loathsome" (Poetryfoundation.org). This is what drew the black people to his writings. It let them know they should be treated as a human being and are not less that a white male.

The historical event of racism and the oppression of black people under the white man sparked the fire inside Claude McKay to write his poems about equal rights. However the culture of Jamaica caused his writings about his homeland and how he loves it. These two contrast each other, the poems about equal rights being harsh and intimidating or sad, while his poems from his homeland were rather happy and had a sense of home coming from them. He loved Jamaica and wrote about it often. On the contrary he hated being oppressed and wrote about that just as often. Only these two separate emotions were powerful enough to make his poetry as strong and vivid as it is. McKay was very proud of his culture and where he came from. Being the son of peasant farmers, he was, "infused with racial pride and a great sense of his African heritage" (Poetryfoundation.org). This gave his cultural writing and his political writing the vast power that they contain. He was too proud of where he was from to just brush Jamaica to the side, and he was too strong to let himself watch the blacks in America be treated so poorly.

Harlem Shadows: I hear the halting footsteps of a lass  In Negro Harlem when the night lets fall Its veil. I see the shapes of girls who pass  To bend and barter at desire's call. Ah, little dark girls who in slippered feet Go prowling through the night from street to street!

Through the long night until the silver break  Of day the little gray feet know no rest; Through the lone night until the last snow-flake  Has dropped from heaven upon the earth's white breast, The dusky, half-clad girls of tired feet Are trudging, thinly shod, from street to street.

Ah, stern harsh world, that in the wretched way  Of poverty, dishonor and disgrace, Has pushed the timid little feet of clay,  The sacred brown feet of my fallen race! <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Ah, heart of me, the weary, weary feet <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In Harlem wandering from street to street.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Literary techniques:

Personification: To give human attributes to non human objects or concepts. "Ah, stern harsh world," The author is saying that the earth is stern and harsh, when in fact those are human attributes and are just being used to help convey how the world is. Song comparison: Jimi Hendrix's Wind Cried Mary "And the wind, cried, Mary." The wind can not actually talk and therefore can not cry, Mary.

Personification: To give Human attributes to non human objects or concepts "Has dropped from heaven upon earth's white breast" The author is saying the the earth has a breast, while the earth does not, he is conveying that the earth is motherly. Song Comparison: Natasha Bedingfield's Pocketful of Sunshine "The sun is on my side" The sun can not actually pick a side because it would need to think which is a human action.

Hyperbole: An overstatement for effect or to catch attention: "The sacred brown feet of my fallen race!" He is saying that the African race has completely fallen and is done, while they are not done and gone, they are being discriminated against heavily and this could be why the author makes it seem so terrible. Song comparison: Pink Floyd's Have a cigar "You're never gonna die, you're gonna make it if you try they're gonna love you" Saying that someone is never going to die is a gross overstatement, as everyone will die at one point.

America: <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"> Although she feeds me bread of bitterness, And sinks into my throat her tiger's tooth, Stealing my breath of life, I will confess I love this cultured hell that tests my youth! Her vigor flows like tides into my blood, Giving me strength erect against her hate. Her bigness sweeps my being like a flood. Yet as a rebel fronts a king in state, I stand within her walls with not a shred Of terror, malice, not a word of jeer. Darkly I gaze into the days ahead, And see her might and granite wonders there, Beneath the touch of Time's unerring hand, Like priceless treasures sinking in the sand.

Literary techniques: <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Personification: Giving human attributes to non human objects or concepts. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">"Stealing my breath of life" <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">America can not steal anything more than a rock can, the author is giving the country a human act of stealing to show what the country makes him feel like through all the people in the country. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Song comparison: Green day's Good Riddance (Time of your life) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">"time grabs you by the wrist and directs you where to go" <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Time can not actually grab someone by their wrist because hands are needed for grabbing which is a human action. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"> <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Simile: To compare and contrast two objects or concepts using like or as. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">"beneath the touch of times unerring hand, like priceless treasures sinking in the sand." <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">The author is comparing the time ahead of America without racism as a treasure, however it is sinking in the sand because people might not realize that racism is wrong and they will just continue with it. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Song comparison: Selena Gomez's Love You Like A Love Song <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">"I love you like a love song baby,..." <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">This artist is comparing her love for a person "baby" to the love in a love song. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"> <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Simile: To compare and contrast two objects or concepts using like or as. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">"Yet as a rebel fronts a king in state," <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">The author is comparing himself or anyone against racism to a rebel going against the king, and how he would act against all odds for what he believes. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Song Comparison: Drake's Over <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">"I swear this life is like the sweetest thing I have ever known" <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">He is comparing his life to something that is so great because he believes that his life is amazing right now. Africa: <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"> <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">The sun sought thy dim bed and brought forth light, The sciences were sucklings at thy breast; When all the world was young in pregnant night Thy slaves toiled at thy monumental best. Thou ancient treasure-land, thou modern prize, New peoples marvel at thy pyramids! The years roll on, thy sphinx of riddle eyes Watches the mad world with immobile lids. The Hebrews humbled them at Pharaoh's name. Cradle of Power! Yet all things were in vain! Honor and Glory, Arrogance and Fame! They went. The darkness swallowed thee again. Thou art the harlot, now thy time is done, Of all the mighty nations of the sun.

Literary techniques: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Personification: Giving human attributes to non human objects or concepts. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> " The sciences were suckling at thy breast" <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> This shows nurturing of the higher class smarter people in Africa, meaning they are getting stronger. Song Comparison: Warren Zevon's The Wind "The wind is laughing through the trees, laughing with me not at me" The wind can not actually laugh but the author gives it the human attribute to add an erie effect. <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Personification: Giving human attributes to non human objects or concepts. <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"The darkness swallowed thee again" <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This is personification because darkness does not actually swallow as that is a human action, and its effect is to show that the slaves were engulfed in darkness. Song Comparison: Guy Clark's Somedays The Song Writes You "Some days the song writes you" The song can not actually write at all and this is an example of personification because writing is a human action. <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Idiom: A form of expression natural to a language, person or group of people. <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"the years roll on" <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In the poem it creates the effect of showing that time is passing. <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Song Comparison: Baha Men's WhLet The Dogs Out? <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"Who let the dogs out??!! WHO? WHO? WHO?" <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This is an idiom because if someone who did not speak english directly translated this to their language it would not make sense. However in our society this is a phrase that would mean, Who let all these burly men out?? John Keats Background information: John Keats lived a short but tragic life. He was a sickly child and his brother was as well. Some of his poem's were aimed to show how he felt about his life, and were directly influenced by tragedies that happened in his life. These events were very significant to him and gave him the emotional drive to write poetry. John Keats wrote poems for people he knew that were dying, or had died. A poem of his he never completed about his brother before he died was "Hyperion". However with his brother's passing he changed the poem to "Fall of Hyperion". This was considered, "The peak of John Keats's poetic writings by his contemporaries" (Poets.org). This poem's aim was to show how melancholy his life was, how sad he was about people passing. With all this tragedy, he was however discouraged to write and stopped writing poetry.

The audience of John's poems were two separate demographics. The first demographic would be the readers of early John Keats, where he wrote romances and poems about his thoughts. He was a part of the Romanticism movement and he had romantic poems, however at the time they were ridiculed. However late John Keats takes a more melancholy tone and is depressing. The audience of the first John Keats would be people looking for entertainment to read and reflect upon. However later John Keats reader's would be more depressed people possibly looking for someone they can relate to and share their sorrow. Possibly if they had also had a person close to them pass away. Some lines that could show this, "But this is human life: the war, the deeds, the disappointment, the anxiety, imagination's struggles, far and nigh, all human, bearing in themselves this good, that they still are the air, the subtle food to make us feel existence and to show how quiet death is" (Englishhistory.com). These lines about death may comfort a person who is looking for an emotional outlet through reading poems by someone who has felt the same pain.

The romanticism movement influenced John Keats as he was considered a romantic poet. This took place in the 18th to 19th century. The romanticism movement was a very popular style and John Keats was a big name in it. The style of writing had a loosening of the artistic expression that used to be widely used. Most writing in romanticism was written in poems but there was some novels that became popular. A part of romanticism was that it looked only at the person instead of the people. According to Online-literature.com, "First and foremost, romanticism is more concerned with the individual more than with society" (Online-literature.com). The individual imagination was especially interesting to the romantic poets. The romantic poets were thought of as innovators and have inspired many modern writers.



Poem 1: On Fame <span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: verdana,Arial,Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">How fevered is the man who cannot look <span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: verdana,Arial,Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">Upon his mortal days with temperate blood, <span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: verdana,Arial,Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">Who vexes all the leaves of his life's book, <span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: verdana,Arial,Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">And robs his fair name of its maidenhood; <span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: verdana,Arial,Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">It is as if the rose should pluck herself <span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: verdana,Arial,Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">Or the ripe plum finger its misty bloom, <span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: verdana,Arial,Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">As if a Naiad, like a meddling elf, <span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: verdana,Arial,Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">Should darken her pure grot with muddy gloom; <span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: verdana,Arial,Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">But the rose leaves herself upon the briar, <span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: verdana,Arial,Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">For winds to kiss and grateful bees to feed, <span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: verdana,Arial,Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">And the ripe plum still wears its dim attire; <span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: verdana,Arial,Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">The undisturbed lake has crystal space; <span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: verdana,Arial,Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">Why then should man, teasing the world for grace, <span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: verdana,Arial,Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">Spoil his salvation for a fierce miscreed? <span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: verdana,Arial,Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;"> Literary techniques: Personification: To give human attributes to non human objects or concepts. "For winds to kiss and grateful bees to feed" The wind does not actually kiss anything because it has no lips to kiss with, and kissing is a human action. song comparison: The Doors' Spanish Caravan "Carry me caravan take me away, take me to Portugal take me to Spain" The caravan carrying someone is personification because carrying is a human action and he is comparing the caravan to possibly his band, which is human.

Personification: To give human attributes to non human objects or concepts. "And the ripe plum still wears its dim attire" The plum does not wear attire because it is a plum and does not have clothes. The plum however is being called dull in this sense with the phrase "Dim attire" Song Comparison: U2's Running to stand still "The black belly of the cloud" The cloud itself does not have a belly but is being portrayed as such to show that it is big.

Metaphor: The comparison of two objects or concepts without like or as. "The undisturbed lake has crystal space" The lake is being compared to that of a crystal, while it is not actually a crystal, it may be as clear and still and look as if it were a crystal. Song Comparison: Pink Floyd's Dogs "You have to be trusted, by the people that you lie to, so that when they turn their back on you, you'll get the chance to put the knife in" This is a metaphor for the business and political world comparing powerful and manipulative people to dogs, and putting the knife in their back is a metaphor for getting them to trust you and then taking them down.

Poem 2: To Alisa Rock <span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: verdana,Arial,Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">Hearken, thou craggy ocean-pyramid, <span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: verdana,Arial,Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">Give answer by thy voice -the sea-fowls' screams! <span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: verdana,Arial,Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">When were thy shoulders mantled in huge streams? <span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: verdana,Arial,Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">When from the sun was thy broad forehead hid? <span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: verdana,Arial,Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">How long is't since the mighty Power bid <span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: verdana,Arial,Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">Thee heave to airy sleep from fathom dreams - <span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: verdana,Arial,Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">Sleep in the lap of thunder or sunbeams - <span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: verdana,Arial,Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">Or when grey clouds are thy cold coverlid! <span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: verdana,Arial,Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">Thou answer'st not; for thou art dead asleep. <span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: verdana,Arial,Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">Thy life is but two dead eternities, <span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: verdana,Arial,Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">The last in air, the former in the deep! <span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: verdana,Arial,Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">First with the whales, last with the eagle-skies! <span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: verdana,Arial,Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">Drowned wast thou till an earthquake made thee steep, <span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: verdana,Arial,Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">Another cannot wake thy giant-size! Literary Techniques: Metaphor: Comparison between two objects or concepts without the use of like or as "Thy life is but two dead eternities" The author is comparing a person's life to that of being dead twice over, saying that they have never really lived and never will truly live. Song comparison: Lana del Ray's Million Dollar Man "You said I was the most exotic flowers, holding me tight in our final hour" The author compares the most exotic flowers to herself, saying that she is very rare.

Imagery: To paint a picture with vivid vocabulary "Or when the grey clouds are they cold coverlid" The author gives the readers a mental image of the earth being covered in grey clouds, an overcast, and it has a dreary reaction from the reader. song comparison: Pink Floyd's Stay "Midnight blue, Burning gold, a yellow moon, growing cold" This paints a perfect picture of the scene that the writer wanted to the listener to envision, while the vision may be a little abstract, that is the beauty of it.

Metaphor: Comparison between two objects or concepts without the use of like or as "for thou art dead asleep" The author is comparing the sleep of a person to them being dead because they are so deep into their slumber. Song comparison: Taylor Swift's Today was a Fairy Tale "Today was a fairy tale" This writer wants the listener to understand that that day could have been mistaken for a fairy tale they were so close.

Poem 3: On the grasshopper and cricket The poetry of earth is never dead: When all the birds are faint with the hot sun, And hide in cooling trees, a voice will run From hedge to hedge about the new-mown mead; That is the Grasshopper's--he takes the lead In summer luxury,--he has never done With his delights; for when tired out with fun He rests at ease beneath some pleasant weed. The poetry of earth is ceasing never: On a lone winter evening, when the frost Has wrought a silence, from the stove there shrills The Cricket's song, in warmth increasing ever, And seems to one in drowsiness half lost, The Grasshopper's among some grassy hills.

Literary techniques: Personification: Giving human attributes to non human objects or concepts "He rests at ease beneath some pleasant weed" The author is giving the grasshopper a human action of resting. A grasshopper may not actually be resting, but with this word choice the reader believes the grasshopper to be much more easy going than a word like waiting would do. Song comparison: Warren Zevon's Werewolves of London "Saw a werewolf drinking a pina colada at trader vic's" The writer of the song is being a tad off beat with this line but drinking a pina colada is a very human action and a werewolf would be hard pressed to drink one. The personification here is comparing a werewolf to an archetype of a person that they are dangerous.

Metaphor: Comparing two objects or concepts without using like or as "The poetry of earth is never dead" This is a metaphor because the author is saying that earth's happenings are a a poem when in reality they are just all events occurring on this planet song comparison: Pink Floyd's Another Brick in The Wall "All in all you are all just bricks in my wall." The writer is writing about a man named Pink who is having trouble fitting in with society and actions by other humans that hurt or shun him just cut him off from the world even more with his metaphorical wall.

Personification: Giving human attributes to non human objects or concepts "And hide in cooling trees, a voice will run" The example of personification being that a voice will run. A voice has no means of which to run, the author is trying to convey that the voice will travel fast through the area that the cricket plays his song. Song Comparison: The Clash's London Calling "London Calling" The town of London is not actually calling to the person, but the writer feels as if it just might be because he is so entranced to want to go there.

Ralph Waldo Emerson Background information:Born in May 25th 1803, Ralph Waldo Emerson never intended to become a philosopher, however he became one of the great thinkers of his time. According to Online-Literature.com, "Emerson sowed the seeds of the American transcendental movement" (Online-literature.com). He was a spiritualist who was against materialistic values. He was influenced by thinkers such as Confucius and Saint Augustine. The aim of his writing was to entertain as well as to try to show people his way of thinking. He was an advocate for native american rights and wrote about that in some of his essays. The thought of a divine whole was a critical part of his philosophy. However the divine whole was everyone was connected yet individual at the same time. The aim of his poetry was to get these points across.

The audience of Ralph Waldo Emerson were a wide demographic of people. They included but were not limited to, equal rights activists, modern thinkers, and simply people looking to be entertained by a great poem. The equal rights people lead to the issue with native american rights. Being an advocate for equal rights, "He spoke out against the cruel treatment of Native Americans" (Online-literature.com). The Native Americans were heavily discriminated against in his time and his poems about that issue helped bring more attention on that issue. It also helped the Native Americans cope with their problems. The next demographic are the revolutionary and free thinkers of his time. Ralph Waldo Emerson, being a transcendentalist entertained many guests of the same principles at his house. These people also read his work and gained their views on subjects just as Emerson has.

Ralph Waldo Emerson was influenced by people just as much as he was influenced by the society around him. His aunt was a huge influence in his life, as his father had died when he was young and his mother had to work as a maid. His aunt," read widely, and knew well all the thinkers of the day" (uaa.org). His aunt made sure that he was going to get a wonderful education when he was young and instilled many of his unitarian and transcendental values. She expected him to pick up her thoughts and he did. Uaa.org states, "She first introduced Emerson to hindu scriptures and neoplatonism, she anticipated, especially in her openness to natural religion, the transcendentalist sensibility" (uaa.org). This meant she directly influenced him to have the thoughts that he became so famous for. Cultural events such as people of the area knowing his father and family influenced him to want to become someone important in the world.

"Ralph Waldo Emerson" //Online-literature.com// Jallac inc//.// 2000, May 14th 2013 "Ralph Waldo Emerson" //uaa.org// Unitarian and Universalist History and Heritage Society 1999-2013 May 14th 2013

Poem 1: Character <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"> The sun set, but set not his hope: Stars rose; his faith was earlier up: Fixed on the enormous galaxy, Deeper and older seemed his eye; And matched his sufferance sublime The taciturnity of time. He spoke, and words more soft than rain Brought the Age of Gold again: His action won such reverence sweet As hid all measure of the feat.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"> Literary techniques: <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Hyperbole: To make something seem greater or more important than it actually is. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">"Stars rose, his faith was earlier up" <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">This is a hyperbole because the person's faith could not be higher than the stars. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Song Comparison: Panic! at the disco's Nine in the Afternoon <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">"When its nine in the afternoon, your eyes are the size of the moon" <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">This is a metaphor because her eyes are not actually the size of the moon or she would be dead probably. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"> <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Metaphor: Comparing two objects or concepts without using like or as <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">"and words more soft than rain" <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">The author is comparing the words of the man to be softer than rain coming from the sky. While words can not be soft in the first place, it is a metaphor because they are being compared without the use of like or as. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Song Comparison: Old 97's Big Brown Eyes <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">"She's a port, in a storm" <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">The writer is comparing the girl that he is in love with the a port in a storm because she can get him out of a bad place. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"> <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Couplet: Two lines that are right next to each other and rhyme. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">"Deeper and older seemed his eye/ and matched his sufferance sublime" <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">The words "eye" and "sublime" rhyme with one another <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Song Comparison: Jay-Z's Empire State of Mind <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif;"> "Lined with casualties who sip life casually"  <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">The words "casualties" and "casually" rhyme helping the poem flow better, Poem 2: Beauty <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Was never form and never face <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">So sweet to SEYD as only grace <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Which did not slumber like a stone, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">But hovered gleaming and was gone. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Beauty chased he everywhere, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">In flame, in storm, in clouds of air. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">He smote the lake to feed his eye <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">With the beryl beam of the broken wave; <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">He flung in pebbles well to hear <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">The moment's music which they gave. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Oft pealed for him a lofty tone <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">From nodding pole and belting zone. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">He heard a voice none else could hear <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">From centred and from errant sphere. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">The quaking earth did quake in rhyme, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Seas ebbed and flowed in epic chime. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">In dens of passion, and pits of woe, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">He saw strong Eros struggling through, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">To sun the dark and solve the curse, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">And beam to the bounds of the universe. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">While thus to love he gave his days <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">In loyal worship, scorning praise, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">How spread their lures for him in vain <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Thieving Ambition and paltering Gain! <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">He thought it happier to be dead, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">To die for Beauty, than live for bread.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Literary techniques: Couplet: Two lines that end in words that rhyme and are next to each other. " Was never form and never face/ so sweet to seyd as only grace" These two lines ending in "face" and "grace" rhyme. Song Comparison: Wiz Khalifa's Medicated "Yeah- lets get medicated/ hella faded, I'm hella faded." This phrase rhymes the words "Medicated and faded to make the rap flow.

Allusion: When an author references another literary work. "He saw strong Eros struggling through" Eros in greek mythology was the greek god of love and this poem references him to show that there is an aspect of love in this poem. Song Comparison: The Police's Don"t Stand So Close To Me "He starts to shake and cough, just like in that old book by Nabokov" The old man in the book is being referenced to see as a guide for what the author wants the listener to see when he hears this part of the verse.

Metaphor: Comparing two objects or concepts without using like or as. " Seas ebbed and flowed in epic rhyme" The sea is ebbing and flowing and it is being compared to a rhyme of the ebbing a flowing as if it were so perfect with each other that they sound correct. Song Comparison: Biggie Small's Juicy "It was all a dream" The author is comparing his rise to fame as a dream because it feels like it is not real to him yet.

Poem 3: Fate <span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: verdana,Arial,Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">DEEP in the man sits fast his fate <span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: verdana,Arial,Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">To mould his fortunes, mean or great <span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: verdana,Arial,Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">Unknown to Cromwell as to me <span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: verdana,Arial,Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">Was Cromwell's measure or degree; <span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: verdana,Arial,Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">Unknown to him as to his horse, <span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: verdana,Arial,Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">If he than his groom be better or worse. <span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: verdana,Arial,Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">He works, plots, fights, in rude affairs, <span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: verdana,Arial,Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">With squires, lords, kings, his craft compares, <span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: verdana,Arial,Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">Till late he learned, through doubt and fear, <span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: verdana,Arial,Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">Broad England harbored not his peer: <span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: verdana,Arial,Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">Obeying time, the last to own <span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: verdana,Arial,Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">The Genius from its cloudy throne. <span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: verdana,Arial,Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">For the prevision is allied <span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: verdana,Arial,Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">Unto the thing so signified; <span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: verdana,Arial,Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">Or say, the foresight that awaits <span style="background-color: #fffcf6; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: verdana,Arial,Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">Is the same Genius that creates. Literary Techniques:

Personification: Giving human traits to non human objects or concepts "DEEP in the man sits fast his fate" His fate is not actually sitting inside him but this personification of sitting makes it seem as if the fate is waiting to happen by sitting deep inside of him, as if waiting to be called up for his turn. Song Comparison: 2pac's Me and My Girlfriend throughout the entire song he is talking about his "girlfriend" when it is actually a metaphor for a gun.

Couplet: two consecutive lines that the ending word in them rhymes "Obeying time, the last to own/ The Genius from its cloudy throne" The words Own and Throne rhyme and help the poem flow better. Song Comparison: Kendrick Lamar's Poetic Justice "With all these seductive photographs you've been taking/ Clearly enough for me to take in" The author rhymes taking and take it for better flow in his rap.

Allusion: When the author references an outside work in his literature. "Unknown to Cromwell as to me/ Was Cromwell's measure or degree" Cromwell was an english military strategist and a political leader before the time of this poems creating, he was executed by the king for arranging a terrible marriage between the english prince and a german princess. Song Comparison: Jay-Z's Empire State of Mind: "Im the new Sinatra, and since I made it here, I can make it anywhere" The author references the singer Frank Sinatra and how famous he is because the author believes he is just as good.

Works Cited: "Claude McKay" //Poetry.org// Academy of American Poets 1997 web. May seventh, 2013 "Claude McKay" //Poetryfoundation.org// Harriet Monroe Poetry Institute 2013 web. May eighth, 2013 "John Keats" //Poets.org// Society for Preserving Poets //1995// web. May 9th 2013 "Keats" //Englishhistory.net// 1996-97 web. May 9th 2013 "Ralph Waldo Emerson" //Online-literature.com// Jallac inc//.// 2000, May 14th 2013 "Ralph Waldo Emerson" //uaa.org// Unitarian and Universalist History and Heritage Society 1999-2013 May 14th 2013 "Romanticism" //Online-literature.com// jallac inc//. 2000// May 13th 2013