End of Unit Reflection

a.  What did you do well in this unit?
 I think I did well with learning how to write poetry. My poems have improved a lot durign this unit. I have a better understanding of figurative language. 

b.  List two or three specific things you learned that were new or challenging for you.
I learned what allusions and personification are. I didn't know what they were before this class but now I understand them better.

 c.  Decide what you would like to keep exploring, were you to study poetry again next year.  Describe this.
I would like to study figurative language, to understand and use it better.

link to portfolio: https://sites.google.com/site/sofiagonzalezsportfolio/english

final 3 poems and rationales

Poem Rationales

I used to believe in Magic

I used to believe in magic.
I believed anything could happen.
Everything was magic.

A table was a lion’s cave,

A stick was a sword,

A pool was an ocean.

An armchair a spaceship

A doll my friend,

My Grandmother’s living room,

A castle,

A rainbow,

A bridge to a magical land.

I was many things,

A cowgirl,

A lion,

A penguin,

A princess,

A ninja,

A mother,

A teacher,

I was anything

Now a table is a table,
a couch is a couch,
a stick is a stick,
and a pool is a pool.

Life is hard.

Growing Up Poem: I used to believe in Magic

I chose to include my poem about growing up because it is one of my favorites. It also talks about my opinion about growing up. The title of my poem was “I used to believe in magic”. I chose this title because I think it is the best way to start my poem; it is the same as my first line. My poem has an extended metaphor, personification, and metaphors. The third passage uses an expended metaphor in the third passage to describe what I used to “be”. I use personification in the line in which I say “a doll my friend”, because I say the doll is my friend, I give it a human quality. The metaphors are mostly when I say what an item used to be when I was small, like a table a cave, or a pool an ocean, as they aren’t that item, but I’m not using “like” as that would make it a simile. I separate the lines in a way to give emphasis to what used to be and what it really is. The mood of my poem is nostalgic. It gives the feeling that the person (me) who is telling it isn’t ready to grow up, and want to be a child just a little bit longer. That she misses the simplicity and innocence of a kid’s life, how easy it was to have fun. This is what I was trying to express, that I’m in no hurry to grow up, and that I would like to a kid just a little longer.

Isn’t it Queer

Isn’t it queer

We value

Looks so much?

Critical of others

To bring ourselves up

Schadenfreude

At others insecurity

Every day

Beauty becomes more unreachable

Hopeless to obtain

A vision of perfection

Too high to get a hold off

Its queer,

Isn’t it?

Self-Image Poem: Isn’t it Queer

I picked this poem because of all my poems this is the one I’m proudest of. The title of this poem is “Isn’t it Queer” because it is the first line of my poem, and I think it is also fits the mood of the poem, it is a very good title because you don’t really know what it could be about. I don’t really use any figurative language, only in the last two lines of the fourth verse. I say that beauty is “a vision of perfection too high to get a hold off”. This is a metaphor because I say that perfection is hard to reach, like if it was an object on a shelf, which it is not. I use two of my top ten words, queer and schadenfreude. The line breaks help to the mood of the poem, and so does the white space, as it makes the poem sound as it does. The tone of the mood to me is somewhat innocent. To me it is like a question someone is asking about why people think physical appearance is so important these days, and how it continues to get harder and harder to achieve every day.

Thank You

For my life,

For loving me,

Thank you

For everything

Thank you

For always being there for me.

For believing and supporting me

Thank you

For everything

Thank you

For the superfluous attention,

The serendipity

Of me being your daughter.

Thank you

For the succor you give

Whenever I need it.

Thank you

For everything

Child to Parent Poem: Thank You

I picked this poem because it is my final poem and it is a good example of all I have learned about poetry in class, I consider it some the best poems I have ever written. I don’t use any figurative language in this poem at all. I do use line breaks to make the meaning of the poem be clearer and more meaningful. The mood of this poem is grateful, and the line breaks make the tone depicts this. I also use a few words from my top 40 words, as I couldn’t find a way to apply some of my top 10 words. To me this poem means that as a child you get everything you have from your parents: your life, your stuff, your beliefs, everything. This poem thanks my parents for all the life they have given me. I thank them for making me the person I am today and for all the support and opportunities they give me, for their love and for always being there when I need them. For always looking out for me, for always wanting the best of me. This poem is about how lucky I am to be the daughter of such amazing parents who think so highly of me and are so proud of me.

Parent/Child Poem

Thank You

For my life,

For loving me,

Thank you

For everything

Thank you

For always being there for me.

For believing and supporting me

Thank you

For everything

Thank you

For the superfluous attention,

The serendipity

Of me being you daughter.

Thank you

For the succor you give

Whenever I need it.

Thank you

For everything

Isn't it Queer

Isn’t it Queer

Isn’t it queer

We value

Looks so much?

Critical of others

To bring ourselves up

Schadenfreude

At others insecurity

Every day

Beauty becomes more unreachable

Hopeless to obtain

A vision of perfection

Too high to get a hold off

Its queer,

Isn’t it?

Those Winter Sundays by Robert Haydon

Those Winter Sundays 

Sundays too my father got up early

and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold,

then with cracked hands that ached

from labor in the weekday weather made

banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him.

I’d wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking.

When the rooms were warm, he’d call,

and slowly I would rise and dress,

fearing the chronic angers of that house,

Speaking indifferently to him,

who had driven out the cold

and polished my good shoes as well.

What did I know, what did I know

of love’s austere and lonely offices?

Response


What days did the father get up early? 
Everyday, that's why it says Sundays too.

What do we know about the father? How would you describe him?
The father is a very hard worker, he got up early everyday to work, but no one recognized his work. He was nice and kind, he polished his son's good shoes.

What would it be like to live in this family? What makes you think so?
I think the parents fought a lot (chronic angers). The father would go and work all day for his family, but his work was under appreciated. I think the son knew that his parents fought but he didn't understand it.

What is this poem's most important message?
Kids don't really understand.  They don't really get their parents' struggles, like in this case how hard his dad worked or how his parents were on edge.

How well does the poet use language? What key words or phrases stand out? 
I think this poet uses language really well. He his word choice is great and very creative. 

•  blueblack cold
•  chronic angers of that house
•  love’s austere

Poems

The Drum

daddy says the world is

a drum tight and hard

and i told him

i’m gonna beat 

out my own rhythm

—Nikki Giovanni

Mother to Son

Well, son, I'll tell you:
Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
It's had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor—
Bare.
But all the time
I'se been a-climbin' on,
And reachin' landin's,
And turnin' corners,
And sometimes goin' in the dark
Where there ain't been no light.
So, boy, don't you turn back.
Don't you set down on the steps.
'Cause you finds it's kinder hard.
Don't you fall now—
For I'se still goin', honey,
I'se still climbin',
And life for me ain't been no crystal stair.

-Langston Hughes

 

Titles Station Reflection

Poem, by Langston Hughes

I loved my friend.

He went away from me.

There’s nothing more to say.

The poem ends,

Soft as it began—

I loved my friend. 

                                 Foghorns, by Lilian Moore

The foghorns moaned

           In the bay last night

so sad

so deep

I thought I heard the city

           crying in its sleep.

Suspense, by Debra Chandra

Wide-eyed

the sunflowers

stare and catch their summer

breath, while I pause, holding basket

and shears.

"Keepsake” by Eloise Greenfield    
Before Ms. Williams died
She told Mr. Williams
When he gets home
To get a nickel out of her
Navy blue pocket book
And give it to her
Sweet little gingerbread girl
That's me
I ain't never going to spend it

This Is Just to Say, by W. C. Williams

I have eaten

the plums

that were in

the icebox

and which

you were probably

saving

for breakfast

Forgive me

they were delicious

so sweet

and so cold

What are two ways that titles can contribute to the meaning of poems? Give an example for each way using a specific poem we read.
1. Titles can give us an idea of what a poem is about, explain it. 
"Keepsake” by Eloise Greenfield    
Before Ms. Williams died
She told Mr. Williams
When he gets home
To get a nickel out of her
Navy blue pocket book
And give it to her
Sweet little gingerbread girl
That's me
I ain't never going to spend it

2. Titles can also be less obvious, give the poem a double meaning.

Poem, by Langston Hughes

I loved my friend.

He went away from me.

There’s nothing more to say.

The poem ends,

Soft as it began—

I loved my friend.   

How purposefully are you using titles in your own poems?

I'm not using titles very well. I have a hard time coming up with a good title. I need more practice in naming my poems.