Thanksgiving Poem

T'was the night before Thanksgiving,
When all through the kitchen
Not a spoon was stirring, not even a spork.
The cornucopias were hung by the microwave with care,
In hope that St. Turkey soon would be there.

The chicklins were nestled all snug in their coop
While visions of grasshopper-cakes danced in their heads.
And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our wings for a long winters nap.

Even If You Weren't My Father

The first thing that I noticed about the poem by Camillo Sbarbaro, "Even If You Weren't My Father," was that it seems to be translated from a different language. On the Internet, the poem is in a different language and everything about Sbarbaro is in a different language as well. That seems very different to me.

This poem seems very heart felt as well. Most authors don't seem as blunt as Sbarbaro is in this poem. They are normally more abstract and metaphoric about their topic, especially about families. But Sbarbaro comes right out and says how much he loves his father and how much he means to him. I also like how he broke up the poem in memories. The first one showed his love and dedication towards his children. The second stanza frightened me in the fact that the father was angrily chasing his little girl however. In no situation does that seem all that normal to me. But it then shows his compassion and warm heart towards his daughter as well.

My favorite part about the poem is how Sbarbaro repeats the line, "Father, even if you weren't my father, were you an utter stranger,..." It starts off the poem and ends it nicely.

Those winter Sundays

The first thing I noticed about this poem was the title. Winter is not capitalized. I don't know if that is just a typo or if there is a significance to that. Maybe it is trying to emphasise the word Sundays so not having winter capitalized draws attention towards Sundays. Or it could be the other way around so the attention is supposed to be drawn to winter. Either way it caught my eye.

After reading the poem, I immediately thought of my own dad. He is a contractor and construction worker so he endures hard labor all throughout the weekdays as well. He is also the one to dig us out of our driveway when it snows and get the corn stove going (our cheaper form of heat). I always stay in bed on Sundays until he says the breakfast he has prepared for us is ready. I feel that through the first 3 stanzas, I can really relate to what the author is talking about.

Once I got to the last stanza, I was somewhat confused. I think the author is saying that his dad's work was rough and lonely. I'm not sure if he is refering to the hard labor and taking care of his kids. I get confused by the word offices but that is the best guess I have.

Acquainted with the Night

The first thing I noticed about this poem was the fact that it was by Robert Frost. I have read his poem "The Road Not Taken" a million times in different classes. It is interesting that in this poem he talks a lot about walking and taking different roads just like in the other poem. He is known for his distributive writings on rural areas especially in New England. He does this to examine complex social and philosophical themes. Frost is a very educated man and has experienced life in many areas. He has traveled around the nation and taught at a lot of places he has been at.

I also thought of an insomniac when i first saw the title. They become very acquainted with the night since they are never able to fall asleep. I like the way the first 5 lines of the poem all start with I and flow together nicely. Also how each line is its own thought for the first two stanzas.

Unveiling

Linda Pastan talks about death all throughout her poem "Unveiling." I thought that the title of the poem was confusing to what the topic was. Normally when an author talks about death it's more of a covering up than an unveiling. This is because Pastan speaks about the topic differently. She doesn't fear death. In a way she is almost looking forward to it. She talks about how her aunts, mom, dad, and uncles are all "together" dead. The all "lie in two long rows almost the way they used to sit around the long planked table at family dinners." Pastan goes on to say how she almost feels left out of her family for not being there with them. She knows that it is not her time yet and her time will come. She relates this back to when she was a kid she didn't understand all the secrets that went on between the adults. My thought is that this feeling of being left out comes from being Jewish. Jewish families are known for being very close to each other and living their lives tightly with one another. Now that Pastan is missing that, she is the one left out and longs to be with them again.

For the Sleepwalkers

The first thing I noticed about this poem was the topic. Normally poets compare their topic to things like nature, a meaningful story, or basic things throughout life. I have never seen a poem related to sleepwalking or sleeping in general before. The fact that Hirsch does this makes the poem topic stick out to me even more. Hirsch talks about the fact the sleepwalkers are able to have so much trust in their bodies to get them from point A to point B without knowing it. He compares this idea to us as humans having to trust our hearts. Its weird to think that we don't always have 100% control over ourselves all the time. Sleepwalkers are able to explore an entire house and sometimes even the outside world without ever knowing it. I've never though of the aspect of sleepwalking before. Sometimes we have to learn to not always be in control and be okay with that. It doesn't mean that we let ourselves get hurt but we just don't have all the control all the time. Hirsch comparing sleepwalking to the human heart really gives a different view on the topic that I've never seen before.

The Coming of Wisdom with Time

Of course the first thing I noticed about this poem was the length. The poem is 4 lines long with an average of 8 words per line. Its short, sweet, and to the point. Kind of the way Yeats describes the coming of wisdom throughout the poem. The other thing I noticed was the fact that the first word of the poem is not capitalized but the second, third, and fourth lines have the first word capitalized. I feel like there is a significance to this but I'm not completely sure. Maybe it symbolizes the coming of wisdom like Yeats describes in the poem.

The first line, "through leaves are many, the root is one...," gives a very image rich idea of what Yeats views was wisdom. The leaves represents the countless experiences, memories, and adventures that people experience through life. The "root is one" represents the person in the end of all the experiences. Yeats then uses the last three lines to make a sort of metaphor to the youthful days and the older days.
"Through all the lying days of my youth
I swayed my leaves and flowers in the sun;
Now I may wither into the truth."
Yeats is saying that now since he has experienced all of this, he can be done. The last line "Now I may wither into the truth," seems a little more harsh then the rest of the poem.