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//"Poetry is when an emotion has found its thoughts and the thought has found words." -Robert Frost//

An Original Poem: Summer Days

Freedom of the heat The pressure and stress gone Love of others far more generous The water beautiful and clear And sand hot and soft The time looks long but feels so short So summer is too soon long gone

 **Memory** By Margaret Walker

I can remember wind-swept streets of cities on cold and blustery nights, on rainy days; heads under shabby felts and parasols and shoulders hunched against a sharp concern; seeing hurt bewilderment on poor faces, smelling a deep and sinister unrest these brooding people cautiously caress; hearing ghostly marching  on pavement stones and closing fast around their squares of hate. I can remember seeing them alone, at work, and in their tenements at home. I can remember hearing all they said: their muttering protests, their whispered oaths, and all that spells their living in distress. 

 **Analysis:** Margaret Walker's poem has a tone of sadness and bitterness. At the beginning of this poem the narrator addresses seeing people in the city on a cold, rainy night ("I can remember wind-swept streets of cities"). The people are remembering something that happened in the past but it still feels real. That's what the "hearing ghostly marching", refers to. It was so serious and it hurt them so much that they can still hear as the people are being led away. The "they" that Margaret Wilson constantly refers to in this poem but never names are the slaves. Margaret Wilson was an African American whose main themes for poems were African American rights, heritage, and pride. "The ghostly marching" is the slaves being led away to their slave owners or being sold to someone new. Even though the slaves have come and gone people still care and are still concerned about them. The whole beginning of the poem until the part where she says "closing fast around their squares of hate" is speaking of the spectators who desperately want to stop it but do not know how. Then the narrator speaks as if she is actually watching the slaves working and living: "I can remember seeing them alone". She remembers seeing them working and just trying to get by. The narrator knows that the slaves are being tortured and that they cannot really do anything other than watch helplessly. The oaths that the slaves are whispering are them saying that one day they will be free and they can not live like this anymore. Margaret Wilson wrote this after all the slavery was done and it was ended which is why everything is only a memory. The narrator was not so much as physically living through it ans watching it as she was reliving it through the eyes of the people that were actually there. Slavery is done but it will not be erased from the African American culture or memory no matter how many years go by it can not change what has already been done.


 * "Your Algebra" - The Shins** 

You may notice certain things Before you die <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; color: rgb(16, 15, 143);"> <span style="color: rgb(14, 13, 160);">Mail them to me should they cause <span style="color: rgb(32, 31, 163);">Your algebra to fail.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; color: rgb(21, 20, 169);">Cole and Macy lost their eyes <span style="color: rgb(32, 31, 163);">To the finer points <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; color: rgb(32, 31, 163);"> <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; color: rgb(38, 36, 214);">Roll them up in coffee cake <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; color: rgb(120, 119, 238);">And dine. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; color: rgb(130, 129, 248);">You're mine. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; color: rgb(16, 15, 143);">

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Analysis: "Your Algebra" is a conversation between two people: an older, wiser narrator and a listener. Throughout the song, the narrator gives advice to the listener, sometimes in the form of warnings, sometimes in the form of instructions. In the first two lines of the song, the narrator informs the listener that he will eventually come to realize something he never thought of before. The narrator asks to be informed of this realization when the time comes, if it does turn the listener's old ideas around. The listener's old ideas are referred to as his "algebra", because algebra always works out to a logical solution. If one's algebra fails, it means that this new realization has contradicted his old beliefs in such a way that he must now question their validity. In the second stanza, the narrator speaks of two people, Cole and Macy. These two represent the general public. The narrator says that "Cole and Macy lost their eyes to the finer points". This is a warning to the listener to not focus on the minute details of life ("finer points"), lest he be blinded by the unimportant ("lose their eyes"). The song closes with the narrator issuing a directive: "Roll them up in coffee cake and dine". The narrator is telling the listener to gather the trivial details up and put them aside ("roll them up in coffee cake") and move past them ("dine").

<span style="font-size: 120%; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center; display: block;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Because I Could Not Stop for Death** By Emily Dickinson <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"> <span style="font-size: 120%; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center; display: block;"> Because I could not stop for Death, He kindly stopped for me; The carriage held but just ourselves And Immortality. We slowly drove, he knew no haste, And I had put away My labor, and my leisure too, For his civility. We passed the school, where children strove At recess, in the ring; We passed the fields of gazing grain, We passed the setting sun. Or rather, he passed us; The dews grew quivering and chill, For only gossamer my gown, My tippet only tulle. We paused before a house that seemed A swelling of the ground; The roof was scarcely visible, The cornice but a mound. Since then 'tis centuries, and yet each Feels shorter than the day I first surmised the horses' heads Were toward eternity.

<span style="font-size: 120%; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Analysis:** Emily Dickinson lived her life in solitude. She died alone, and judging by this poem, it was an almost welcome death. In the first two lines, Emily Dickinson speaks of death as though it were no more unusual than receiving a visit from a gentleman. Her nonchalance in the face of death is a common theme throughout her poem. She says that she is alone with Death and Immortality in the carriage, giving one the impression that she is on the way to her grave. When Dickinson describes the carriage ride, she says that "we slowly drove, he knew no haste", which leads one to believe that this death was a slow one, and that she did not mind it that way, because it seemed so nice. Entering the third stanza, Emily Dickinson is now using her carriage journey to explore the life that she is leaving. She sees her childhood when she passes the school, watching the children play at recess. She passes the fields of gazing grain, which perhaps signifies maturity, her adult life. Her death begins as she passes the setting sun. (This also plays into the idea of her slow death. The sun does not suddenly disappear; rather, it fades slowly into nonexistence.) She speaks of wearing a gown of gossamer and tulle, which is basically a description of a wedding gown. This could symbolize a new beginning, as opposed to an ending. The narrator's journey comes to an end at her new house, which is described as "a swelling of the ground", similar to the description of a freshly dug grave. This again exemplifies Emily Dickinson's and the narrator's comfort with death, because she calls a grave her home. As the poem concludes, the narrator says that though it has been a very long time, she does not realize it; it feels "shorter than the day".

So that's what I thought at first. Then I came up with a whole new interpretation.

Emily Dickinson was a spinster. She was never married, she lived alone. Suppose Emily Dickinson feels that marriage is basically death to herself, in that she loses her originality and herself. Suppose this "Death" of which she speaks is not just any gentleman, but her fiance. The narrator says that she is alone in the carriage with Death and Immortality, which could mean that she's stuck between the choice of going with her fiance, Death, or staying alone, Immortality. Her fiance was in no hurry to get married, but he continued on all the same. The narrator says that she "put aside [her] labor and [her] leisure too, for his civility", implying that she put her life on hold for him, since he seemed so nice. As Dickinson writes the third stanza, the narrator is relieving the stages of her life. First she passes the schoolyard, where there are children playing at recess. This reminds her of the childhood that she no longer has. Then, her carriage passes fields of gazing grain, which is ripe, possibly signifying her maturity, or adulthood, that she's now leaving. Finally, her wedding and life as she knows it comes to an end as she watches the setting sun. The narrator does say that they did not pass the sun, "he passed us", which leads the reader to believe that perhaps she is not ready to leave her past way of life just yet. She begins to feel cold, perhaps nervous. The clothing Dickinson describes her narrator wearing is consistent with the description of a wedding gown (gossamer, tulle). The narrator's carriage then stops at her new house, the description of which seems close to the description of a grave, consistent with Death being her fiance. The poem closes with the narrator expressing that it doesn't feel long at all, although it's been quite a while.

These are only my ideas, the way that I personally interpret the poem. Ms. Dickinson didn't leave a note, explaining what her meaning behind this was. Poetry is really just the reader's interpretations. There is not a right or wrong interpretation, so long as you can back it up.

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Jenny Cleary Liz Sweitzer Sammi Thomas