The Flea - John Donne

Ok so I'm cheating a little bit - I'm writing this entry after we've discussed the poem in class. But I feel like it's okay because now that I know exactly what the poem is saying, I get so much more out of it. This class just blows me away, and I seriously can't wait to come back every day to hear more of this amazing decoding.

This does seriously seem like the ultimate pick-up line. "Hey baby, let's do it because chances are we've both had the blood sucked out of us by the same flea, so it's like we've already done it." Now knowing what it means though (and despite the fact that it's so witty and amazing), I almost want to slap Donne. I do like how he wrote a clever poem to get back at society. But he's oppressing the woman in this case it seems. He makes her the one who sins, not he. Shouldn't he be equally blamed? And he's already talking about marriage whatever...wouldn't she just slap him and walk away after the first stanza? Who wants to marry someone who's putting them in a position like that? As clever as it is, I'm almost mad.

Man, now thinking about it, this poem makes me more mad than impressed. Even though secretly, deep inside, I still am amazed that people had this type of thought process - this is some profound stuff!

The Author to Her Book - Anne Bradstreet

If this poem is about what I think it's about, then I really wish I was the one who had written it. It speaks to me, even if I'm not a writer of books, but generally a writer of sorts. I always feel like my work isn't good enough...that as an English major my writing should be grade-A material. I'm always beating myself up, even when I get criticized for things that I wrote, which I still thought were good. Anne Bradstreet in this poem makes it seem okay for writing to be wrong at times...for mistakes or writer's block.

I love how the poem is just one huge metaphor for having a child. I'm sure this is how some parents feel when what their child projects upon others, isn't the way the parent had envisioned or tried so hard to make it be. The methaphors within this one huge metaphor are amazing too...especially the ones where she's trying to make the piece better by fixing little things here and there. I almost feel sorry for the piece when after it gets rejected by the critics, she pushes it aside and disowns it for a minute. Now whenever I'll write something that is so horribly bad andI nonchalantly start to delete it, I'll definitely think twice about it. Because if you think about it, you spent a part of your life writing whatever it is you were writing, nurturing it, taking care of it, getting to know it, and to just suddenly throw it all away? It seems so cruel and cold to do.

Either way, I'm in love with this poem. I think I'm going to print it out and hang it up somewhere.

The Passionate Sheepheard to his Love - Christopher Marlowe

I swear, I've heard this poem somewhere before, and for some reason I think it was a song. Have they made this poem into a song?

Either way I still love this poem. It takes me back to nature and innocence. And it's of course the ultimate pick-up for a girl. I'm not going to lie, I still hate sappy poems like this one. Talk is cheap Mr. Marlowe. I just hate how he thinks that by saying all this stuff, he'll get the girl. Who does he think he is? I mean it's fine that he wants to get her all this nice stuff, but that's so buying her off. I guess women allowed themselves to be bought like this in past days? I suppose they liked this type of flattery? I don't know...I mean if Marlowe had read this poem to me, I probably would have had a small sense of flattery inside, but I'd play hard to get. Just because he can write a few cute words for me doesn't show anything, especially if this is infatuation or young love. I'd need to hear something like this maybe 2 years or so after being together, after a lot of trials and tribulations to really appreciate it, because I now know that this kind of stuff is only said when people first fall in love. But what happens later?

It all just seems to simple for me...he chose the things you know a girl would love...that you know her heart would melt over. He chose all the easy stuff. Get creative Marlowe. These are all just things.

The poem sounds nice, and flows nice. I really don't care for the Old English way of spelling...it just confuses me and distresses me more. But once you get past that, the poem itself sounds nice. It's just too...cliche. But I'm assuming at that time, they didn't have anything else for comparison, so it couldn't have been cliche.

The Nimphs reply to the Sheepheard - Sir Walter Ralegh

I LOVE this poem. I love wittiness and creativity. When I read "The Passionate Sheepheard" it was cute, but it seemed like a chick-flick. "The Nimphs reply" in this case is like a Scary Movie type of spoof of it. Maybe it's because I'm considered such a pessimist by a lot of people, that I like this poem. But the way I see it, I'm not pessimistic; I'm realistic. And that's what Ralegh is too - he's realistic about this whole situation.

Ralegh's poem seems more bold. It seems to be really emphatic. I love how Ralegh uses the same letter to start three words back to back to back in Line 6 (rivers, rage, and then rocks). This poem seems to be filled with so much more than just what's on the outside, but I can't decode it. I just know it gives me an adrenaline rush reading it. Ralegh takes each and every one of Marlowe's promises and just shoots them down. Everything Marlowe says is shot down. And it's not drawn out - it's just a short poem that gets its point across really quickly.

I always hated reading literature from old times past, but now it's easier - since the poems are long, I can spend more time dissecting each and every word. Even though I still don't understand a majority, or just simply don't pick up on it, it's still awesome.

Sonnet 18 - William Shakespeare

This poem is so cheesy. I'm sorry, but I've grown away from sappiness like this, and it's just so so so cheesy. I almost can't stand it. If William Shakespeare read this poem to me right now, I'd probably have to slap him. I don't much care for Mr. (or Sir, was he ever knighted? probably not, right? Since actors and playwrights weren't seen as highly as they are today) Shakespeare, so it wouldn't be hard to just outright slap him after he serenaded with this poem. And seriously, is this how people really spoke in those days, or is it like us when we try to speak with prestige and we litter our vocabulary with nonsense. I'm sorry, it's probably because I just really really really don't like Shakespeare, but I also can't stand this sort of sappiness.

BUT, I did notice one thing, which actually made me feel really happy. He's comparing this woman to a summer day, and tells her why not a spring day...which is understandable, because when one thinks of summer they think of this profuse heat and disgustingness most of the time, and when one thinks about spring, they think about how pretty everything looks when it's being born again and the flowers are blooming, and all that jazz. But, I do think he may be trying to keep the woman's innocence by comparing her to summer rather than spring. Spring is a time of rebirth and fertilization. By comparing her to summer he has nothing to risk, but with spring he'd be making her fertile, or even pregnant. At least that's what I'm getting from it...otherwise, why else would he have to explain to her why summer and not spring? If this is the case, I suppose I can give Mr. Shakespeare a high-five next time I see him.

Sonnet 29 - William Shakespeare

I have to say that when I saw we were going to read Shakespeare, I cringed a little bit. I've always kind of hated Shakespeare. I do love how he has all these hidden meanings within his works, but to find them is almost nightmarish. Sonnet 29 was different though. The main gist of it is easy and not stressful to recover. Granted, much of Shakespeare's work are plays, and it makes it harder to decode something the first time around reading it. But these sonnets are short, and therefor easier to understand. When I read Sonnet 29, it hit a chord with me. Even if there is hidden meaning behind his words, I can simply relate to it the way it's written. I can feel the loathing and despising he has towards himself at first, but then when he thinks of that certain someone, his day brightens up and everything becomes okay again. I feel distressed during the first three quarters of the poem, but it turns around and has such a happy ending - something you don't expect from Shakespeare! It's the type of poem any girl would love to receive - it's so cheesy but cute.

I love the words Shakespeare uses at the beginning - disgrace, beweepe, bootlesse cries - you can really feel his cry for help. You can feel the agony within him. But then out of nowhere comes his light at the end of the tunnel where he says "Haplye I thinke on thee" and he gets happy again. It's funny how more than half of the poem is about his self-loathing though and he only reserves the last few lines for happiness - could this be a symbol that we spend too much time focusing on the negative?

Oh Shakespeare, how I have come to love thee.