That Time of Year

Old English has always been a challenge for me along with things written by Shakespeare. I looked up some analysis on this poem because it was hard for me to understand. I could see that it was about winter and death, but the analysis let me know that it was about a man's youth dying. I re-read the poem, and it makes more sense because I think I read over the line, "That on the ashes of his youth doth lie." This poem is about how time ages the body. Youth is something that is cherished but it doesn't last forever. I think that colors also help get this point across. The yellow leaves represent the man's bright and happy youth while the black night is ominous and is going to take the man's youth away from him.

Delight in Disorder

Imperfection is the perfect state for the speaker. He/She sees disorder as a good thing. The speaker expresses his/her love for imperfection through the description of clothing. This poem also contains a pattern as one moves throughout it. The clothing that is spoke about starts at the head/neck by speaking of a scarf and the moves down the body and ends by talking about the shoestrings. Also, this theme of disorder is expressed through the rhyme scheme too. Lines 1 & 2 , 9&10, 13& 14, and 7& 11 rhyme with each other. There isn't a perfect organized rhyming scheme. Lastly, I think the writer used some confusing oxymorons because oxymorons could be considered disorderly by them self. "Wild Civility" is one used when talking about the shoe string.

Edward

Wow! The first thing I would have to say is that if I wrote this poem, I wouldn't want to claim its insanity either. The whole plot of this poem is completely twisted. I didn't realize what had happened till my small group talked about the poem and somebody joked about the mother being the psycho one. Then, I realized that when the boy told his mother of his father's death, she wasn't sad in the least bit. The mother only cares about where the material items and property will go to since they are not legally her son's. She is so concerned with what everyone will possess since the death of her husband. The son explains to her that she will only get "the curse of hell from me [Edward] shall ye [mother] bear." Edward blames her for raising him the way that she did. She is the reason why his dear father is dead.

The pattern in this poem goes from what least matters to the mother to what is cherished by the mother. The poem starts off talking about animals. Then, it goes from the father to penance to possessions and land to Edward's children and wife to the most important, herself. Also, the same lines are repeated throughout the poem and the structure of every stanza is the same.

Lonely Hearts

This poem is comes across as a very odd poem to me. I feel like the speaker is searching for a new love on eHarmony in each stanza. What is ironic about the whole poem is that the speaker isn't searching for a gorgeous blonde-haired beauty who is skinny with tanned skin or a muscular manly man with a perfect smile. The speaker is explaining people who would almost be considered outcasts in our society. If there is such thing as "normal", these people explained would not be a part of it. This could mean two different things. Either the speaker is picky with their choice of "lover" or they are desperate. I think that the speaker is desperate because of the title "Lonely Hearts." When people have a lonely heart, they will do anything to make it feel whole again.