Oranges by Gary Soto

The poem “Oranges” by Gary Soto was very cute. I read it in the literal sense as a story of a young boy that enjoyed his company with a girl that he liked by taking her to the corner store to buy a candy bar. The poem is written in very short lines that make it easy to read for the reader. There is not really any rhyme pattern and the poem is written in only two stanzas. The young boy is trying to impress this girl by bringing her an orange but she would rather have a chocolate bar that costs more than he can afford. Luckily, the saleswoman understood what the boy was doing and accepted his payment of a nickel and an orange. The boy then felt very accomplished by this and felt confident enough to take his “girl’s hand” the rest of the walk with her until they both enjoyed their snacks (47).

We Real Cool by Gwendolyn Brooks

The poem “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks was a very short and easy poem to read. I took the literal explanation of the poem because to me, it is a very literal poem. This poem is basically describing how “cool” people act. Each line in this poem is a fragmented sentence that begins with the word “we” (1-7). The reader can then draw the conclusion that the people that think they are cool, they are also not very educated (We / Left school” (1-2)). An interesting aspect of the poem is that it is only written with single syllable words. I think this was done in order to keep a certain flow or pulse throughout the poem. Brooks also used alliteration throughout her poem such as “lurk late” (3), “strike straight” (4), “sing sin” (5), and “Jazz June” (7). The poem ends with the line “We / Die soon” which I think that the lifestyle of these “cool” people isn’t all the glory that people think it is.

Daddy by Sylvia Plath

The poem “Daddy” by Sylvia Plath is a very dark poem. I believe that this poem is about her dad and how he pretty much screwed her over in life. The poem ends with a very strong line of “Daddy, daddy, you bastard, I’m through.” (80). I believe that this line shows that she is done with any connection she had with her dad and never wants to know anything about him ever. The whole last stanza is actually quite disturbing because she talks about how “There’s a stake in [his] fat black heart / And the villagers never liked [him]” (76-77). This shows that her dad was a man that was not very liked by the people around him. The line “They are dancing and stamping on you” shows that her dad was not a very respectable man and that people for sure did not like him (78). In all, I thought this poem was very disturbing because I would never write anything about my father.

Sad Steps by Philip Larkin

“Sad Steps” by Philip Larkin was written when Larkin was in his mid-forties. The reader can sense a bit of bitterness and vulgarity from the opening line, “Groping back to bed after a piss” (1). This line also lets the reader that this is an average citizen rather than a rich man because such vulgarity would not dare be used to describe the upper class. The conclusion that I have gotten from this poem is that the moon is a symbol of youth. Larkin describes it as, “a reminder of the strength and pain / of being young; that it can’t come again” (16-17). This seems like a mid-life crisis moment for Larkin as he realizes that he is not young anymore and he becomes sadden by this thought. As he is staring at the moon, he feels as though the moon is yelling, “Lozenge of love! Medallion of art! / O wolves of memory! Immensements!” and this just seems what a young person would yell (11-12).

The Moth-Man by Elizabeth Bishop

The “Man-Moth” by Elizabeth Bishop seemed very interesting in the beginning but then very confusing in the end. I tried to read the poem with the word “mammoth” in replace of “man-moth” but I was still very confused. At the beginning of the poem, I pictured a man that is fascinated by the moon by Bishop saying, “He does not see the moon; he observes only her vast properties,” (7). In the second stanza, I feel that the man was in a hiding place and slowly “emerges from an opening under the edge of one of the sidewalks” to investigate the sky and the moon (12-13). He has found out that the moon is not an opening in the sky and becomes greatly disappointed. I am guessing that the man is a crazy, homeless guy because later in the poem, it is described that he goes in the subway every night and “He has to keep his hands in his pockets, as others must wear mufflers.” (Which mufflers are usually worn by people who have money) (39-40).

Sphincter by Allen Ginsberg

The poem “Sphincter” by Allen Ginsberg caught my eye big time. It threw me off guard because of all the vulgarity and nasty images it brought to mind. I didn’t think that poetry could be written like this and I’m pretty sure there is plenty more poetry out there that is like this or worse in vulgarity than this. With the line, “Now AIDS makes it shy, but still / eager to serve—“ I thought this was very risky for Ginsberg to put in his poetry because people at that time weren’t very open-minded about homosexuality (10-11). The lines, “active, eager, receptive to phallus / coke bottle, candle, carrot / banana & fingers—“ were very graphic (7-9). These lines were basically describing what Ginsberg would, well, as gross as it may seem, shove up his butt for sexual pleasure. Ginsberg is clearly well open about his sexuality and is a figure in striving for gay rights.

Dog by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

“Dog” by Lawrence Ferlinghetti caught my attention out of all the assigned poems because to me, it seemed like it was very easy to comprehend. The line, “The dog trots freely in the street” is repeated several times throughout this poem. This gives the reader the feeling that a dog has its own free will to do anything that it may want to do. At the beginning of the poem, the dog is describing what it sees around him: “And the things he sees / Are his reality” (5-6). By describing what all he sees around himself, it makes the reader get a feeling that the dog is curious and likes sightseeing while he is around town. Since he is able to trot freely in the streets, he is a wild dog that “will not be muzzled” and is free (43). I’m sure that this poem has some other deeper meaning but I really enjoyed from a literal view point.