Essay

Poetry Essay
Chandler Lorentz

Sky is not even the limit. These poems combined have the message of no matter who we are, or the paths that we have taken, all of us are capable of so much.
Winston Churchill being a poet is clearly not something that is thought of when he is mentioned, but I was able to find simple connections from his poem to my idea of life and how we must excel to achieve our greatest potential. Loss is always tough to deal with, regardless of what it is. The loss of my grandmother was devastating in 2011, but even simple things such as a good idea or drive, we must excel to replace or attempt to come to grips that they are actually gone. Only once we've moved past from the past, then and only then, can we reach a better future. Allusion is prevalent in many of the poems, either the constellations in "peace on Earth" or of the author's ancestors in "waking in Europe". These devices give the reader another tool of greater scope into what those before us saw, and the future for us all they envisioned.
The theme all around these poems link together with few ideas of contrast between them. Once the full potential of an individual or group is realized, anything is possible. Whether it be to make those before us proud, or take a step back and see those alive today who rely on us (such as a pet, who do their entire lives), many factors can increase our morale in ourselves. We must act to make the world a better place, to aim where no one thought possible, so future generations do not pay the price for our inability to act. They are not yet here to act, so we must for them. Those who came before are no longer alive to do anything, it all falls on us, and simple texts such as these shows aspects of life we can all relate to.

Poem Analysis Six Pack

The way in which so many things are bigger than just a normal, boring routine. We are a minuscule, rather insignificant tiny piece of the whole universe. Many things we cannot even see from our quite small blue marble. But the things we do on this planet must have meaning. There are many aspects of human life that can be similar to the stars. Space is so chaotic, so much emptiness to cross just to see the next star, the next planet. It is no different than our world. We must cross times of emptiness, times of slow progress to see over the next hill.

My six poems each can show a different viewpoint of this idea that there is more to things then just on Earth. And we as a species need to realize this blatant truth soon. In "To the moon", allusions are present throughtout referencing Shakespeare and Milten. Both prominent in our history. Being written at the turn of the century, it grasped the concept of going to the sphere in the sky that seems so close, yet is 239,000 miles away. That gray circle which in fact does sustain our lives on this planet. To never just settle, to dare to go farther than ever thought possible, that is what this poem is trying to say.

"Loss" reveals a different idea of what makes us human. With certain things starting out with so much promise and so much hope, we as individuals and as a collective society must deal with these facts of life. Loss of love, or loss of a good idea. Either way they are both gone. The rhyme, and almost couplet quality of the poem shows that how something so filled with hope, can have equal or even greater effects in the negative once it is gone forever.

Carbon is the sixth element in the periodic table, and the simplicity of the poem about it I have selected are quite a contrast to the seriousness of some of the other poems. Well there may not be any profound meaning, it does more than just list facts about an element we all need to live, considering we are carbon based life forms. The allusion to other elements, and how Carbon can combine with them to give us so many useful things, can show how mankind can use a simple thing such as Carbon, to create marvels that will stand the test of time.

Peace on Earth allows us to think about how we look up at the same stars, and see the same shapes that our ancestors have for tens of thousands of years. It is no coincidence the same names and ideas the ancients had about these constellations, are still named the same and remembered today. Many allusions throughtout, in a subtle way, referencing Orion the hunter, and the bears Ursa Major and Minor. When we look upon the stars, it compels us to go farther than we ever have before. To colonize to worlds. To meet new people. To figure out exactly what is the human experience, and how it can be improved for each person who share a brief existence in time. That is what defines us as a species.

Who we are and where we have come from, is a central idea of "waking in Europe". Especially for many of us in the United States and the west in general. Walking the same hills, listening to the same river (Rhine) that our ancestors once did, gives a sense of nostalgia as if we were walking right along side those who came before us. Looking to the past, and all that happened, only further gives us fuel to strive towards the future.

The british bulldog himself rounds out the six poems I have selected. Poor Puggy wug allows us to look at a simpler side of human life, and just life in general on Earth. Not two years removed from commanding the British army in the greatest and deadliest conflict in human history, Sir Winston Churchill can still find solace in what makes us human. Even if it is just to make his daughter feel better. Poor puggy wug shows how even man's best friend can take our attention from the horrors that once were war. Brief moments like these are the solace that all men and women hope to strive for in their lives.

Arty stuff

Waking in Europe

by Norbert Krapf

Waking in Europe

After hanging suspended
       between cultures,
                  above valleys
of rolling clouds
        with the Atlantic
                  turning below,
        then spinning
on an express train
        from easy Amsterdam,
I reel into bed
        in a Cologne hotel.

Next morning, as cathedral
bells lift me out
of a first-night sleep,
my eyes open to gothic
towers climbing outside
the window, then skip
down the cobbled street
to the corner where two
little girls chattering
German jump rope.

Smiling, I set my watch
to European time
and tune my ears
to the guttural waters
of the ancient Rhine
flowing behind the medieval
cathedral from the hills
of my ancestors in the south.

This poet historian is describing his experience of being in Europe. The ancient Rhine referring to the famous German river. Being able to relate yourself to a place that still can seem as ancient as a hotel just off the Rhine, requires you to go back in your family's past. He seems to be aware of his Germanic roots. While we all will not visit where our family has come from, if we are able, it will give us a greater appreciation for those who came before. 

Loss

Loss

Loss seem to bring a feeling of sorrow
Loss seem to make you feel hollow

Loss of someone close can make you shed tears
Loss of the opportunity to tell them you cared

Loss of the moment you could have created
Loss of the confidence because it faded

Loss of not ever getting to see their face
Loss of memories you wish not to embrace

Loss of the look in their eye
Loss of the feeling not to cry

Loss of a future, from a past you regret
Loss of a chance, you will now never get

Loss of a love that came with so much promise
Loss of a lover who you felt was very modest 

Marcquiese Burrell

Loss is something we all live with, and contrary to the one poem we read, it does not get easier with each instance of loss. Rather it is a compounding effect that can cause our resolve, our will to dwindle and eventually shatter. Many people just simply give up because the loss of so many loved ones, or the loss of so many hopes, desires, and dreams have been crushed. But as  a species, we must be able to overcome any obstacle if we are to survive for another millennium and so on. 

After the Sea-ship

After the sea-ship, after the whistling winds,
After the white-gray sails taut to their spars and ropes,
Below, a myriad myriad waves hastening, lifting up their necks,
Tending in ceaseless flow toward the track of the ship,
Waves of the ocean bubbling and gurgling, blithely prying,
Waves, undulating waves, liquid, uneven, emulous waves,
Toward that whirling current, laughing and buoyant, with curves,
Where the great vessel sailing and tacking displaced the surface,
Larger and smaller waves in the spread of the ocean yearnfully flowing,
The wake of the sea-ship after she passes, flashing and frolicsome
under the sun,
A motley procession with many a fleck of foam and many fragments,
Following the stately and rapid ship, in the wake following.
Read more at http://www.blackcatpoems.com/w/after_the_sea_ship.html#p5mVS5uhyM01LEJA.99

Walt Whitman describes the waves that go on the side of the ship in a variety of ways. I have only seen the ocean once, and it was awesome. Being out in the middle of the ocean I am sure is way different. The effect the ship has on displacing nearby water must be breathtaking

To the Moon

BLESS thy bright face! though often blessed before
By raving maniac and by pensive fool;
One would say something more-- but who as yet,
When looking at thee in the deep blue sky,
Could tell the poorest thought that struck his heart?
Yet all have tried, and all have tried in vain.
At thee, poor planet, is the first attempt
That the young rhymster ventures. And the sigh
The boyish lover heaves, is at the Moon.
Bards, who -- ere Milton sung or Shakspeare played
The dirge of sorrow, or the song of love,
Bards, who had higher soared than Fesole,
Knew better of the Moon. 'T was there they found
Vain thoughts, lost hopes, and fancy's happy dreams,
And all sweet sounds, such as have fled afar
From waking discords, and from daylight jars.
There Ariosto puts the widow's weeds
When she, new wedded, smiles abroad again,
And there the sad maid's innocence -- 't is there

That broken vows and empty promises,
All good intentions, with no answering deed
To anchor them on the substantial earth,
Are shrewdly packed. -- And could he think that thou,
So bright, so pure of aspect, so serene,
Art the mere storehouse of our faults and crimes?
I'd rather think as puling rhymsters think,
O; love-sick maidens fancy -- Yea, prefer
The dairy notion that thou art but cheese,
Green cheese --than thus misdoubt thy honest face.

To the moon, to the moon, to a simple sphere of cheese. Back in the 1800's, technology of astronomy was still mostly crude and many people did actually believe still that the moon was made of cheese. This poem is just about the appreciation and feeling one author describes when he looks up, and sees that glowing orb of wonderment.