FAMILY
A Hymn to Childhood
Childhood? Which childhood? (Repetition)
The one that didn’t last?
The one in which you learned to be afraid
of the boarded-up well in the backyard
And the ladder in the attic?
The one presided over by armed men
In ill-fitting uniforms
Strolling the streets and alleys,
While loudspeakers declared a new era, (Imagery)
And the house around you grew bigger,
The rooms farther apart, with more and more
People missing?
The photographs whispered to each other (Personification)
From their frames in the hallway.
The cooking pots said your name (Personification)
Each time you walked past the kitchen.
And you pretended to be dead with your sister
In games of rescue and abandonment.
You learned to lie still so long
The world seemed a play you viewed from the muffled
Safety of a wing. Look! In
Run the servants screaming, the soldiers shouting,
Turning over the furniture,
Smashing your mother’s china.
Don’t fall asleep.
Each act opens with your mother
Reading a letter that makes her weep.
Each act closes with your father fallen
Into the hands of Pharaoh.
Which childhood? The one that never ends? O you,
Still a child, and slow to grow.
Still talking to God and thinking the snow
Falling is the sound of God listening,
And winter is the high-ceilinged house
Where God measures with one eye
An ocean wave in octaves and minutes,
And counts on many fingers
All the ways a child learns to say me.
Which childhood?
The one from which you’ll never escape? You,
So slow to know
What you know and don’t know.
Still thinking you hear low song
In the wind in the eaves,
Story in your breathing,
Grief in the heard dove at evening,
And plentitude in the unseen bird
Tolling at morning. Still slow to tell
Memory from imagination, heaven
From here and now,
Hell from here and now,
Death from childhood, and both of them (Metaphor)
From dreaming.
· The author has a very sad and depressed tone.
· He was trying to send us a message that in every situation everyone should have hope no matter what the situation is.
Grandfather
By Chandran Nair
The seventy six years beneath his eyes
burst like rain, flood my earth with desolation: (Simile)
burst like rain, flood my earth with desolation: (Simile)
his seventy six years have compromised my eyes
into a hardness that grows on me.
The imprint of his frown I wear
without his laughter.
Grandfather walks the bunds of seasons
ploughing, sowing and harvesting years.
In drought-stricken months
he wears old age as lightly as his beard, (Simile)
his smile transcends.
To be born from unlucky seeds,
a friend once wrote, is tragedy;
the curse flows unmuted, immutable -
only the hot stares of the gods persuade the proud.
Gods bothered him,
but temples missed his sacrifice.
He found truth, relief, away from divinity,
spacing out years in padi fields,
unfolding particular nuances, and lack of attainment.
Like the paid stalk, once green, easily bent, (Simile)
he grew with age, aged to ripened toughness
to resist anger, misfortunes of stricken years
with dignity, unpersuaded.
into a hardness that grows on me.
The imprint of his frown I wear
without his laughter.
Grandfather walks the bunds of seasons
ploughing, sowing and harvesting years.
In drought-stricken months
he wears old age as lightly as his beard, (Simile)
his smile transcends.
To be born from unlucky seeds,
a friend once wrote, is tragedy;
the curse flows unmuted, immutable -
only the hot stares of the gods persuade the proud.
Gods bothered him,
but temples missed his sacrifice.
He found truth, relief, away from divinity,
spacing out years in padi fields,
unfolding particular nuances, and lack of attainment.
Like the paid stalk, once green, easily bent, (Simile)
he grew with age, aged to ripened toughness
to resist anger, misfortunes of stricken years
with dignity, unpersuaded.
· The tone of the author is sad.
· The message of this poem is that you should enjoy every moment with your beloved ones because one day they will die.
Friendship
Friends' Photos
by Ruth Fainlight
We all looked like goddesses (Simile)
and gods, glowing and smooth, sheathed
from head to foot by a golden essence
that glistened and refracted its aura
of power - the wonderful ichor called youth.
We moved as easily as dolphins (Simile)
surging out of the ocean, cleaving
massed tons of transparent water
streaming away in swathes of bubbling
silver like the plasm of life. (Simile)
Still potent from those black and white
photos, the palpable electric
charge between us, like the negative
and positive poles of a battery, (Simile)
or the fingers of Adam and God. (Allusion)
We were beautiful, without exception.
I could hardly bear to look at those
old albums, to see the lost glamour
we never noticed when we were
first together - when we were young.
and gods, glowing and smooth, sheathed
from head to foot by a golden essence
that glistened and refracted its aura
of power - the wonderful ichor called youth.
We moved as easily as dolphins (Simile)
surging out of the ocean, cleaving
massed tons of transparent water
streaming away in swathes of bubbling
silver like the plasm of life. (Simile)
Still potent from those black and white
photos, the palpable electric
charge between us, like the negative
and positive poles of a battery, (Simile)
or the fingers of Adam and God. (Allusion)
We were beautiful, without exception.
I could hardly bear to look at those
old albums, to see the lost glamour
we never noticed when we were
first together - when we were young.
· The tone of the poem is happy
· The message is that memories are one of the most important things in life what you should always keep in mind no matter what’s your age.
The Facebook Sonnet
by Sherman Alexie
Welcome to the endless high-school
Reunion. Welcome to past friends
and lovers, however kind or cruel.
Let's undervalue and unmend (Repetition)
the present. Why can't we pretend
every stage of life is the same?
Let's exhume, resume and extend
Childhood. Let's all play the games
that preoccupy the young. Let fame
And shame intertwine. Let one's search
For God become public domain.
Let church.com become our church.
Let's sign up, sign in and confess
Here at the altar of loneliness.
Reunion. Welcome to past friends
and lovers, however kind or cruel.
Let's undervalue and unmend (Repetition)
the present. Why can't we pretend
every stage of life is the same?
Let's exhume, resume and extend
Childhood. Let's all play the games
that preoccupy the young. Let fame
And shame intertwine. Let one's search
For God become public domain.
Let church.com become our church.
Let's sign up, sign in and confess
Here at the altar of loneliness.
· The tone of the poem is ironic
· Trhe message is that Facebook may be a way to have a reunion with all your friends that you forgot or even family
Love
Touched by an Angel
By Maya Angelou
We, unaccustomed to courage
exiles from delight
live coiled in shells of loneliness (Metaphor)
until love leaves its high holy temple (Personification)
and comes into our sight
to liberate us into life.
exiles from delight
live coiled in shells of loneliness (Metaphor)
until love leaves its high holy temple (Personification)
and comes into our sight
to liberate us into life.
Love arrives (Personification)
and in its train come ecstasies
old memories of pleasure
ancient histories of pain.
Yet if we are bold,
love strikes away the chains of fear
from our souls
and in its train come ecstasies
old memories of pleasure
ancient histories of pain.
Yet if we are bold,
love strikes away the chains of fear
from our souls
We are weaned from our timidity
In the flush of love’s light
we dare be brave
And suddenly we see
that love costs all we are
and will ever be.
Yet it is only love
which sets us free
In the flush of love’s light
we dare be brave
And suddenly we see
that love costs all we are
and will ever be.
Yet it is only love
which sets us free
· The tone is confident
· Maya Angelou is trying to underline the importance of love in everyone’s life
Your love
By David G. Kelly
A gentle word like a spark of light, (Simile)
Illuminates my soul ( Personification)
And as each sound goes deeper,
It's YOU that makes me whole
There is no corner, no dark place, (Repetition)
YOUR LOVE cannot fill
And if the world starts causing waves,
It's your devotion that makes them still (Personification)
And yes you always speak to me,
In sweet honesty and truth
Your caring heart keeps out the rain,
YOUR LOVE, the ultimate roof
So thank you my Love for being there,
For supporting me, my life
I'll do the same for you, you know,
My Beautiful, Darling Wife.
Illuminates my soul ( Personification)
And as each sound goes deeper,
It's YOU that makes me whole
There is no corner, no dark place, (Repetition)
YOUR LOVE cannot fill
And if the world starts causing waves,
It's your devotion that makes them still (Personification)
And yes you always speak to me,
In sweet honesty and truth
Your caring heart keeps out the rain,
YOUR LOVE, the ultimate roof
So thank you my Love for being there,
For supporting me, my life
I'll do the same for you, you know,
My Beautiful, Darling Wife.
· The tone of the poem is honest and happy
· The message is that honesty is the best way to be happy with your lover, and it’s always better to be thankful for what you’ve got
War
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· The tone of this poem is sad
· The message that the author is trying to say is that one minute can change everything, that’s why he took the example of the war. Where we can see the change before, during and after the war.
