LRamey


 * [[image:http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2009/9/28/1254130550614/Sculpture-by-Bernard-Jack-001.jpg width="504" height="300" align="center" caption="Sculpture by Bernard Jackson"]] ||
 * Sculpture by Bernard Jackson ||

Sympathy" (1899) I know what the caged bird feels. Ah me, when the sun is bright on the upland slopes, when the wind blows soft through the springing grass and the river floats like a sheet of glass, when the first bird sings and the first bud ops, and the faint perfume from its chalice steals. I know what the caged bird feels. I know why the caged bird beats his wing till its blood is red on the cruel bars, for he must fly back to his perch and cling when he fain would be on the bow aswing. And the blood still throbs in the old, old scars and they pulse again with a keener sting. I know why he beats his wing. I know why the caged bird sings. Ah, me, when its wings are bruised and its bosom sore. It beats its bars and would be free. It's not a carol of joy or glee, but a prayer that it sends from its heart's deep core, a plea that upward to heaven it flings. I know why the caged bird sings.

In Paul Laurence Dunbar’s poem “Sympathy”, the narrator compares his emotions to how a cage bird feels. He states that he knows why the bird beats its wings even when its wings are bloody and bruised. “I know what the caged bird feels alas!”(Line 1) The narrator begins by speaking of the bird in the cage; the narrator utilizes the bird as a metaphor for slavery. Both of Paul Laurence Dunbar’s parents were former slaves, and as a child he heard stories of the hardships they endured as slaves. “When the sun is bright on the upland springing slopes; when the wind stirs soft through the springing grass, and the river flows like a stream of glass.”(Line 2-4)The narrator discuses the beauty of nature around the bird, however the bird can not experience any of it as his movement is restricted by his confinement. This is similar to the situation Dunbar believed the slaves experience; they were unable to experience freedom yet were surrounded by those who were free. “And a pain still throbs in the old, old scars, and they pulse again with a keener sting-“(lines 12-13) In this line, he could be referring to the way the slaves were treated by their masters. Slaves experienced harsh treatment and lived in poor conditions. He could also be talking about the emotional abuse they endured; they were treated like property, and families were torn apart when family members were sold. Therefore, the scars could be literately the scars they obtained from beatings from their masters or the emotional scaring. “ when he beats his bars and he would be free; it is not a carol of joy or glee, but a prayer that he sends from his heart’s deep core, but a plea, that upward to heaven he flings” (lines 18-20)Dunbar highlights the slaves determination and optimisism, despite the horrific situations they were forced to remain in.

Mending Wall Something there is that doesn't love a wall, That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it And spills the upper boulder in the sun, And make gaps even two can pass abreast. The work of hunters is another thing: I have come after them and made repair Where they have left not one stone on a stone, But they would have the rabbit out of hiding, To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean, No one has seen them made or heard them made, But at spring mending-time we find them there, I let my neighbor know beyond the hill; And on a day we meet to walk the line And set the wall between us once again. We keep the wall between us as we go. To each the boulders that have fallen to each. And some are loaves and some so nearly balls We have to use a spell to make them balance: "Stay where you are until our backs are turned!" We wear our fingers rough with handling them. Oh, just another kind of outdoor game, One on a side. It comes to little more: There were it is we do not need the wall: He is all pine and I am apple orchard. My apple trees will never get across And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him. He only says, "Good fences make good neighbors." Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder If I could put a notion in his head: "Why do they make good neighbors? Isn't it Where there are cows? But here there are no cows. Before I built a wall I'd ask to know What I was walling in or walling out, And to whom I was like to give offense. Something there is that doesn't love a wall, That wants it down." I could say "Elves" to him, But it's not elves exactly, and I'd rather He said it for himself. I see him there, Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed. He moves in darkness as it seems to me, Not of woods only and the shade of trees. He will not go behind his father's saying, And he likes having though of it so well He says again, "Good fences make good neighbors."

“The Mending wall” by Robert Frost begins as a tale in which the narrator and his neighbor have a stone wall that separates their two properties. In the spring, they work together to repair the wall, however, the narrator does not see the purpose of the wall, because he has an apple orchard while his neighbor grows pine trees. When he asks his neighbor about the wall, all his neighbor says is “good fences make good neighbors”. The narrator wonders if he could convince his neighbor to take down the wall down, but soon realizes that his neighbor is stubborn man who refuses to change his mind. In the first line of the poem, Frost writes “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall”. The tone of the entire poem is set from this line. The narrator is in negation to the wall. However, it appears as if he is not alone in his disapproval of the wall, it seems as if nature is also against the idea of the wall remaining. “That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it, and spills the upper boulders in the sun, and makes gaps even two can pass abreast” (lines 1-4.) Frost illustrated that as time passed the wall is destroyed by the environment, and the hunters disturb the stones while trying to pursue animals. The wall is a physical barrier that separates the narrator from his neighbor, but serves as a unifying agent between the two men who are represented as opposite personas, whose only bonding factor is the wall. Their differences are demonstrated when Frost writes “he is all pine and I am apple orchard” (line 24.) The metaphor proves to be an insight into their differences by identifying them with the crop they are growing. The neighbor is highly traditional, stuck in the ways of his father and refuses to stray from these values. The narrator, on the other hand, is whimsical; he wants to joke with his neighbor, and socialize more without the wall. “And on a day we meet to talk the line and set the wall between us once again” (line 13-14.) Although, the wall may be a physical barrier, it does not serve as a substantial manifestation of a distant relationship between the narrator and the neighbor; instead the wall symbolizes a unifying factor between two starkly different personalities.



FIRE AND ICE Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice. From what I've tasted of desire I hold with those who favour 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

In Robert Frost’s poem “Fire and Ice”, the narrator speculates how the world will end, concluding that it will either end with the world freezing over or everything burning to the ground. The narrator is biased towards the idea of the world ending in fire; for he had experienced desire, but he additionally states he has seen the power of hate and could conceivably see the world ending in ice. In the lines, “Some say the world will end in fire, some say ice.” (Line 1-2), there is a distinct possibility that the narrator is speaking legitimately of the actual destruction of the world that is debated by scientists. Scientists speculate that the world could possibly end with another ice age occurrence, an environmental change that most living organisms could not survive, or due to environmental factors, the world could be incinerated and reduced to ashes, another situation in which most living organisms would not survive. However, the narrator is developing the ideas of fire and ice as the ultimate destroyers of mankind to portray the two human emotions that eventually end relationships. “From what I’ve tasted of desire, I hold with those who favor fire” (line 4-5.) The narrator symbolizes desire as fire, due to the connotation that fire is also synonymous with love and passion. Desire causes people to act irrationally, and this can be dangerous in certain situations. In extreme cases of desire and passion, people have been driven to murder. Desire like fire destroys everything in its path; desire like fire eventually burns out leaving nothing but the ashes. “I think I know enough of hate to say that for destruction ice is also great and would suffice” (line 6-10.) The narrator uses ice to symbolize hatred. Ice signifies hatred as well as cold indifference. Ice, unlike fire, does not offer a quick, hasty ending, but a long one that requires time to “freeze over”. Cold indifference often creates a barrier between people contributing to the demise of relationships that often end with the cold indifference spiraling into hatred. Despite, earlier biases, the narrator settles on the idea that both forces, fire and ice, prove to be equally destructive and will both contribute to “the end of the world.” media type="youtube" key="XyNmMWIoIz8" height="430" width="542" align="center"

**Design** Robert Frost I found a dimpled spider, fat and white, On a white heal-all, holding up a moth Like a white piece of rigid satin cloth— Assorted characters of death and blight Mixed ready to begin the morning right, **5** Like the ingredients of a witches’ broth— A snowdrop spider, a flower like a froth, And dead wings carried like a paper kite. What had that flower to do with being white, The wayside blue and innocent heal-all? **10** What brought the kindred spider to that height, Then steered the white moth thither in the night? What but design of darkness to appall?— If design govern in a thing so small.

In Robert Frost’s poem, “Design”, the narrator sees a spider sitting on a white wild flower that is also occupied by a moth. The spider then consumes the moth. The narrator uses the first stanza to describe the scene, using a simile and vivid imagery. He describes the flower “like a white piece of rigid satin cloth” (Line 2), which creates the image of a stiff, glossy flower. The narrator describes the white spider as dimpled and fat indicating that the spider has been eating and is full. In another passage, the narrator utilizes the simile, “Like the ingredients of a witches’ broth- a snow-drop spider, a flower like froth, and dead wings carried like a paper kite” (Lines 6-8), to create a comparison between the flower, spider, and moth to a witch’s broth. Irony is found twofold in the flower, once in the color and once more in the name, the heal-all. At the end of the poem the moth is eaten by the spider on the flower. The flower’s white color symbolizes innocence and purity, yet an animalistic, malevolence act occurs upon it. In the second stanza of the poem, the narrator questions God, “What brought the kindred spider to that height then steered the white moth thither in the night? What but design of darkness to appall?” (Lines 11-12.) The narrator wonders if there is a God and whether or not he is of a sadistic nature; he let the moth suffer and die. Frost’s own reflections on God and divine will are brought into light here. Frost’s own son committed suicide and his daughter suffered a mental breakdown. His children are represented by the white moth; the spider an evil force that drove them to suicide and madness. Frost believes that they were both pure and died before their time. He does not understand the idea of a benevolent God that would allow such calamities to occur to such pure, innocent beings.

September, 1918

This afternoon was the colour of water falling through sunlight; The trees glittered with the tumbling of leaves; The sidewalks shone like alleys of dropped maple leaves, And the houses ran along them laughing out of square, open windows. Under a tree in the park, Two little boys, lying flat on their faces, Were carefully gathering red berries To put in a pasteboard box. Some day there will be no war, Then I shall take out this afternoon And turn it in my fingers, And remark the sweet taste of it upon my palate, And note the crisp variety of its flights of leaves. To-day I can only gather it And put it into my lunch-box, For I have time for nothing But the endeavour to balance myself Upon a broken world.

“September 1918”, by Amy Lowell, begins in the fall with a description of an unknown street just after the rain has fallen. In the second stanza, the narrator goes on to depict two boys sitting under a tree collecting berries. The final stanza ends with the narrator attempting to enjoy the afternoon and partake in the consumption of fruit, however, she finds herself to be dissatisfied and preoccupied with worries about the war. During the time period in which the poem was written, The Great War had just ended and the world was the precipice of entering the Roaring 20’s. The opening contains no indication of the horrific war; instead the narrator’s depiction of the scene seems to be indicative of an almost peaceful time. ‘Two little boys, lying flat on their faces, were carefully gathering red berries to put in a pasteboard box” (lines 6-8.) On the surface, the second stanza is merely a scene of two boys picking some berries and putting them in a box. The true meaning of these lines is much darker. These lines are speaking of the thousands of young soldiers’ deaths. The final stanza describes the narrator and her attempts to enjoy her day and go on with her normal routine; however, the war proves to be too strong of a distraction. “Then I shall take out this afternoon and turn it in my fingers” (lines 10-11.) She attempts to enjoy the fruit, but yet again her attempts to distract herself are thwarted by the continuous obsession with the war. “and remark the sweet taste of it upon my palate, and note the crisp variety of its flights of leaves” (line 12-13.) Distraught by the arduous fixation with the war, the narrator realizes she must address her feelings about the war. “But the endeavor to balance myself upon a broken world” (lines17-18.)