Alone

Alone

Lying, thinking
Last night
How to find my soul a home
Where water is not thirsty
And bread loaf is not stone
I came up with one thing
And I don't believe I'm wrong
That nobody,
But nobody
Can make it out here alone.

Alone, all alone
Nobody, but nobody
Can make it out here alone.

There are some millionaires
With money they can't use
Their wives run round like banshees
Their children sing the blues
They've got expensive doctors
To cure their hearts of stone.
But nobody
No, nobody
Can make it out here alone.

Alone, all alone
Nobody, but nobody
Can make it out here alone.

Now if you listen closely
I'll tell you what I know
Storm clouds are gathering
The wind is gonna blow
The race of man is suffering
And I can hear the moan,
'Cause nobody,
But nobody
Can make it out here alone.

Alone, all alone
Nobody, but nobody
Can make it out here alone.

By Maya Angelou

                

    Maya Angelou uses a lot of figurative language throughout the poem. Angelou also uses personification in a biblical sense when saying, “Where water is not thirsty… and bread loaf is not stone.” Jesus says to the women at the well that he can give her water such that she will never thirst again. Also the bread loaf is not stone may refer to God giving good gifts which goes on to say what father when asked for bread gives his children a stone instead. She also uses a rhyming scheme of AB, AB for example in the third stanza where she rhymes, “With money they can’t use… Their children sing the blues.” What I enjoyed about this poem was the fact that it was centered around the idea that not only can a person successfully live alone, it’s the idea that a person can’t be happy when they isolate themselves from other people of the world. At the same time that you can narrow this idea down to being about one person disconnecting themselves from society, you are also able to relate it to society and even nations as a whole. Humanity isn't able to survive without the company of others. And when she mentions that she can hear the human race suffering, moaning from the pain, I believe that ties into all of the racism in the world due to prejudices and preconceived notions that aren't true. All they do is separate humanity. I enjoyed this poem because it was a hidden message, but at the same time a real eye-opener.

Wallflower by Donna Vorreyer

Wallflowers by Donna Vorreyer creates the idea that every word we know should be able to “belong” or at least be loved by someone. Words such as, “gegenshein” and “zoanthropy” which before looking up I had no knowledge even existed, can have a place in someone’s vocabulary. What I enjoyed about these words was not the fact that they sounded different but instead that the author had no clue what they meant either until placing them in her poem which added to the overall effect that any word no matter how ridiculous sounding can be a part of society. After finishing the poem I returned to the second stanza where Vorryer writes, “They say if you use a word three times, it’s yours. What happens to the ones that no one speaks?” Continuing on she suggests that those words are lost entirely until a brave soul finds them however there’s the possibility that they have to simply wait as the more common words are used frequently throughout the day.

I particularly enjoyed the end of the third stanza where she writes, “yes, you . . . you’re the one.” It finally gives all these random, unused words a shape through personification which later becomes clear as they are described as, “shy shadows at the high school dance”. The personification gives the words a deeper meaning, making them more appealing to the reader with words like “poor” and “tired” which I thought was funny because words aren’t usually made out as people. They’re just ideas that get a point across but in this poem they’re actual people waiting to be chosen, to be given the chance to bloom into something greater.  

However, at the very end of her poem she writes, “all those words without a home, come out and play --- live in my poem.” I particularly enjoyed this line because in the end, all of those misfit words were given a place to stay. Vorreyer becomes a foster parent to the English language and shows her respect to a language that was once beautiful but has been reduced to using vulgar and simple minded words. Vorreyer still has respect for words over two syllables that may sound different but have a beautiful meaning. I enjoyed her admiration for English and the fact that she made the language sound awe-inspiring and not just another language in modern society. She treats every individual word as something special and she did so in a beautiful poem.

Definitions:

Dickensian: Of or like the novels of Charles Dickens (especially with regard to the poor social and economical conditions.

Ellis Island: Symbol of American immigrants, an island just off Manhattan that allows immigrants to stay.

Gegenshein: A faint spot of light in the night ski that appears directly opposite the position of the sun.

Zoanthropy: A delusion that you have assumed the form of an animal.

Poetry Assignment #1

Mr Fear


He follows us, he keeps track.
Each day his lists are longer.
Here, death, and here,
something like it.

Mr. Fear, we say in our dreams,
what do you have for me tonight?
And he looks through his sack,
his black sack of troubles.

Maybe he smiles when he finds
the right one. Maybe he’s sorry.
Tell me, Mr. Fear,
what must I carry

away from your dream.
Make it small, please.
Let it fit in my pocket,
let it fall through

the hole in my pocket.
Fear, let me have
a small brown bat
and a purse of crickets

like the ones I heard
singing last night
out there in the stubbly field
before I slept, and met you.

—Lawrence Raab

   Mr Fear by Lawrence Raab uses personification to bring fear to life in this eerie and yet exhilarating poem. Raab creates Mr. Fear, a character that visits him in his dreams with “his black sack of troubles,” in a personal matter where he becomes familiar to the reader making Mr. Fear that much more haunting. The human form of fear in this dream seems horrific and even threatening however Mr. Fear doesn’t have to say a word. Nor does the writer give us vivid images of his face or structure but instead lets us sculpt Mr. Fear for ourselves. Personally, I thought of a figure similar to Death when picturing Mr. Fear in this poem. What also struck me as interesting was the fact that he’s fighting against the fear by trying to befriend it at the same time. He calls him mister fear instead of just fear. He also doesn’t want something frightening to come out of Mr. Fear’s sack so instead he asks kindly for small objects and adds “please”. Raab’s style seemed to be somewhat simplistic to me. Every stanza contained four lines and his word choice was quite simplistic. But it was that same simplicity that made the poem easier for everyone who read it to feel the same emotion of fear behind it all. Overall, I enjoyed this poem because it was simple to read and yet had many different ways to look at it.