K.+Hunter

=Robert Frost = Robert Frost was born in San Francisco, California in 1874. After his dad died when he was 11, he moved to Massachusetts. He graduated high school and attended both Darthmouth and Harvard but never got a degree. He married Elinor White in 1895. They had six kids, but only four of them survived. New York Independent published his first poem in 1894, and he published his first two collections while he was living in England. He died in 1963.

 =** The Pasture **= **by Robert Frost

I'm going out to clean the pasture spring; I’ll only stop to rake the leaves away (And wait to watch the water clear, I may): I shan’t be gone long. – You come too.

I’m going out to fetch the little calf That’s standing by the mother. It’s so young It totters when she licks it with her tongue. I shan’t be gone long. – You come too.** Literally, this poem is about how the author is going to the pasture to clean and catch a newborn calf that has been born. In this poem, Frost uses repetition by repeated the phrase “I shan’t be gone long. – You come too.” In both lines four and eight. He also uses a rhyme scheme in lines two and three by rhyming away and may as well as in lines six and seven by rhyming young and tongue.

One way this poem could be interpreted is that Frost is saying that you should enjoy the beauty of nature. He is saying that the readers should come appreciate the nature with him and he will show him. One line of the poem that is especially tricky is what is really meant when he says “I shan’t be gone long. – You come too.” This could be taken in two different ways. The first way is that he wants his reader to come with him so he can show them how beautiful nature truly is. The other way is that he is saying it as an afterthought. Frost enjoyed being alone because he felt that others didn’t understand him. He is saying that he won’t be gone long, which seems to hint that he doesn’t want any company. He seems to be saying that he wants people to see nature, but he isn’t sure they will understand it to the extent that he sees it.

I believe this poem is the author’s way of describing how he is starting over in life. By saying he’s cleaning the pasture he actually means he is cleaning up the things in his life. This could be interpreted as him moving on after the death of two of his children. In line two when he says that he will ‘only stop to rake the leaves away,’ he is using leaves as a metaphor to describe all the negativities in his life. He is trying to take them away to clear the way for new things in his life. By saying he is going to fetch the baby calf is him describing how he is starting new in life considering how the baby calf is new. However, he wants the person whom he is writing the poem to to be included in this new life he is making for himself, which is demonstrated when he says ‘I shan’t be long. – You come too.’  **Fire and Ice   by Robert Frost **

From what I’ve tasted of desire I hold with those who favor fire. But if it had to perish twice, I think I know enough of hate To say that for destruction ice Is also great And would suffice** 
 * Some say the world will end in fire,[[image:ice_and_fire.jpg width="300" height="225" align="right"]] Some say in ice.

Literally, this poem is describing the two ways that the world could end. It could end either by an Ice Age occurring where the entire world freezes over, or by fire in which global warming occurs. Frost used personification in line three in which he says ‘From what I’ve tasted of desire.’ He puts physical characteristics on the feeling of desire by saying that he has tasted it. He uses irony when describing the world perishing twice in line five, considering the world cannot perish twice.

As you dig deeper into this poem, you realize an entirely different meaning behind it. He could be describing the two different types of hatred by using ice to represent those who are cold and keep their hatred inside and fire to represent the people who are outwardly hateful. He could be using this to say that people who show their hatred in an outward fashion are worse than people who keep it inside, but not by much.

I think he is actually trying to describe the acts of humans and saying that we are just as destructive as natural disasters. He is describing the two most damaging feelings of humans – love and hate. He does this by using symbolism and metaphors. In the poem he states “From what I’ve tasted of desire I hold with those who favor fire.” (lines 3-4). He is saying that fire represents love and desire, and this is the more damaging feeling of humans. He also states “I think I know enough of hate To say that for destruction ice Is also great” (lines 6-8). By saying this, he is saying that ice represents hate, which can also destroy the world but not to the extent that love can. 

Carl Sandburg was born in Illinois in 1878. He was born into a very poor family, so he left school at 13 so he could have a job and help his family financially. At 17 he travelled to Kansas then served in the Spanish-American War. After coming home, he enrolled in Lombard, but never got a degree. He married Lillian Stelchen and died in 1967.
 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 180%;">Carl Sandburg

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Fog <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;"> by Carl Sandburg **<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 13pt;"> On little cat feet.
 * The fog comes

It sits looking Over harbor and city On silent haunches And then moves on.**

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Literally, this is describing fog that has moved in on a city up to the feet of a cat then moves out and goes away. It makes use of personification by saying that the fog sits looking over the harbor and the city.

media type="youtube" key="6m31wSrpHTc" height="344" width="425" align="left"There are many different ways this poem can be interpreted. It could be considered a warning about nature. It invokes fear in the reader reminding them of the power of nature over civilization. In the poem the city is caught unaware of the incoming fog. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 13pt;">

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;"> It could also be considered a comparison between the fog and cat. They both sit quietly next to each other looking over the bay. When you originally read this poem, it seems as if the fog is looking over the harbor and city. However, when looking deeper the second stanza could actually be describing both the cat and the fog. By using personification and the use of the word ‘haunches,’ it seems to hint that both the cat and the fog sat looking over the harbor and the city. It seems to describe them with happiness that they are both sitting enjoying the scenery.

I believe that deeply this poem is describing the fact that no matter what, life goes on. Bad things can move in, such as the fog did, and make life difficult but it will always move on. The fog will always pass by and the sky will clear up just as the difficulties in life will pass you by to make way for an easier, clearer period in your life. Just as the little cat did, you just have to quietly wait without complaining until these difficulties pass you by. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;"> by Carl Sandburg **<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 13pt;"> Shovel them under and let me work – I am grass; I cover all.
 * <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 180%;">Grass <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">
 * Pile the bodies high at Austerlitz and Waterloo.

And pile them high at Gettysburg And pile them high at Ypres and Verdun. Shovel them under and let me work. Two years, ten years, and the passengers ask the conductor: What place is this? Where are we now?

I am grass. Let me work.**

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 11pt;"> Literally, this is saying that the bodies of various wars need to be buried and grass will cover them in the ground. In this poem, Sandburg used repetition of the phrase “I am grass” in both lines three and ten. He also used repetition of the phrase “Let me work” in lines two and eleven.

This poem can be interpreted as an order to cover up the bodies that were lost in various wars. It could be saying that it is okay for this to happen and that we don’t need to remember them and we should just let the grass and the world cover up the wars we fight in. It could also be taken in order to show the world how horrible what we are doing in the wars actually is and that we need to start reevaluating what we are doing and the price we are paying for these meaningless wars where so many people are dying.

I feel this poem is actually describing the fact that when fighting wars, we don’t consider the lives lost. We attempt to just cover up the deaths and soon we forget the lessons that were learned. This is described in lines 7-9 where the passengers don’t know the horrors that went on in the places where battles were fought because we have worked so hard to just cover them up. I feel as if the author is trying to shed light to what an awful thing this is, and we should be ashamed. The best way to do this is to describe the job we have given to the grass to cover up our mistakes.

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=<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">Emily Dickinson = <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;">Emily Dickinson was born in Massachusetts in 1830. She led an introverted life. She studied at Amherst Academy for 7 years, and grew more introverted as time went on. Slowly she stopped greeting guests and eventually refused to leave her room. Fewer than one dozen of her poems were published during her lifetime, but it was unconventional for the time so most of it was drastically altered. She died in 1886. Her first poems that were unaltered weren't available until 1955. <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"> =**<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 28.9px; line-height: 26px;"> 2 <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 31px;">60 [288] **= <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;"> **By Emily Dickinson** <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16.9pt;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;"> Are you – Nobody – too? Then there’s a pair of us! Don’t tell! they’d advertise – you know!
 * I’m Nobody! Who are you?

How dreary – to be – Somebody! How public – like a Frog – To tell one’s name – the livelong June – To an admiring Bog!** <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">When you first read this poem, it seems as though Emily feels alone, but she is happy to be alone. She finds another person who seems to be alone, but she makes sure they are quiet because she wants to remain confided. She thinks it is a bad thing to be discovered and in the center of attention. There is a simile used in line six when she says "How public -- like a Frog." She also uses a ABCB rhyme scheme in the poem.

Throughout Dickinson's life she preferred to be alone. This is her telling the world about how she liked to be alone. She doesn't want anyone to know that she is there because she likes to hide herself. When she talks about the frog in the bog, she is comparing people to frogs. She believes the 'somebodies' of the world are the ones who like to declare to everyone who they are. They live to be seen, so they are constantly telling everyone of their name. This is the same as a frog does in the bog while he is ribbiting. Dickinson doesn't want to be like the frog in the bog, so she chooses to keep to herself. This could be part of the reason that she didn't try to publish her poetry. Fewer than a dozen poems were published in her lifetime, and this was probably because she didn't want to become famous. She thought the 'nobodies' of the world had the power, instead of the 'somebodies.' <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">