The Emperor of Ice Cream- Wallace Stevens

     If I hadn't done research on this poem and the author, I would've interpreted this in a completely different way. He never really comes out and says straight up the setting or event where this poem is taking place, which in a way makes the reader have to look deeper and come up with their own theories. Maybe because this was written in 1922, and we don't have the same customs that they did back then it was harder for me to understand, either way it made it interesting to try and interpret.
       This poem is about the death of a middle class woman and how her family and friends are preparing for the funeral. The women show up in their usual funeral dresses, cigars are made, and the flowers are brought in old newspapers. The sheet was put over her body, but the feet were left uncovered as a tradition to show mortality. Clues like "Let be be finale of seem," "to show how cold she is," are more apparent that he is talking about a funeral after I looked more into this poem, but at first I didn't really think anything of them. The thing that threw me off was the title, and why ice-cream would be mentioned. Apparently he is referring to the man they hired to make ice cream for the wake, although there has to be a deeper meaning because the poem revolves around this theme. Although I couldn't find proof that he was religious or an atheist, but I think the emperor is either referring to God or just death in general. No matter what anyone does, in the end nobody can control death besides God (or death itself).
           I liked the small descriptions that Stevens uses. Most of them don't add any meaning to the poem, but still have an impact. By saying call the muscular cigar roller, or describing that the dresser was missing knobs, and the flowers were in last months newspapers really create a mental image of what's going on. The sentences are broken up by the lines without a whole lot of rhythm, but other then that the structure is pretty standard. He repeats the last line "The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream" at the end of both stanzas to create emphasis on its' meaning, which I really liked. This poem was really interesting and I liked the way he described the event, definitely unique.

Parting Poem

As the parting time creeps nearer and nearer
I take a look around.
To the familiar smell of cinnamon spice candles,
And to my mothers home made cooking.
As it will soon be replaced by mac & cheese and take out.

To the familiar sight of my cozy room,
Filled to the ceiling with pictures and memories.
As it will soon be replaced by a bunk bed and a shared bathroom.

To the familiar warm welcome as I walk through the door,
Hugs from my parents and a wet kiss from my dog.
As it will soon be replaced by a new greeting
from a new room mate.

As I look upon these memories and smile,
I am just as anxious to create new ones.
A blank new chapter is about to begin
And as the parting time creeps nearer and nearer,
I am becoming more and more ready to say good bye.

Questions We Have About the Future

Questions We Have About the Future....

Where will I be in 10 years?
Will I be happy?
Will I make it through college in 4 years?
Will I travel?
When will I get married?
When will I die?
Will I have kids?
Will I not have kids?
Will my dreams come true?

Song of the Powers- David Mason

      
       This poem is about the struggle for power and the sacrifices that come with it. I thought it was interesting that Mason took a simple game to create such a big message, although I think it was a little bit of a stretch and over thought, it was still interesting. Personally, the only time I use this game is to determine power when something can't be solved by talking. I've never thought about it any farther then that until this poem. Each of these objects can be used on one another to defeat the other, yet there is always something that can defeat them too. It's an endless circle that only ends up with being alone. Victory doesn't always mean happiness when you are destroying someone else.
      At the beginning of the first three stanzas, the first word is "mine" which is symbolizing that each aspect of the game is only concerned about themselves which eventually leads to them being alone. The structure is extremely basic with each of the first four stanzas having the same amount of lines, 6, and the same rhyming scheme. I think this poem falls short compared to the rest in the packet, it's a no-brainer and won't leave a lasting impression for me personally.

                                                        


I completely spaced these blogs for the past two weeks, sorry! :(

Cottonmouth Country- Louise Gluck

Fish bones walked the waves off Hatteras
And there were other signs
That Death wooed us, by water, wooed us
By land: among the pines
An uncurled cottonmouth that rolled on moss
Reared in the polluted air.
Birth, not death, is the hard loss.
I know. I also left a skin there.

Louise Glück,

After rereading this poem a couple times I think Gluck is talking about dealing with negative change, which could be a death, but I think it's much bigger and broader than that. A cottonmouth it a large snake that lives in dry, barren places which paints an image for the reader. The pollution is referring to the negative changes that have spread to infect the rest of her life and how that "birth" of a change is even harder then losing something. The skin she left was referring to the cottonmouth again and how snakes shed their skins and leave parts of themselves behind to reveal the change of the new skin. This poem says so much in a way that you have to decipher and analyze which was interesting. I didn't like this poem as much as the others because I felt the writer was trying too hard to be creative and original, but it still had a good message.

The Book- Miller Williams

          My first reaction to this poem, besides it being completely creepy, was that the book could possibly be about the bible. The skin binding representing Jesus and the self sacrifice he made that brought all of the stories in the Bible together. As the owner of this book read on and went through life, he realized the depth and enormity of what it was about. After reading it a couple more times, I changed my mind.
           My second reaction was that a young man found a book and carried it with him through life. As he went through more experiences, he documented them into this blank book. It became fuller and fuller as the real world corrupted him throughout time. When the book keeper told him that this book was bound in human skin, it forced the man to take a step back and think about it's contents and his life. He realizes that he has been selfish in the way he has been living and looked out for himself, and sacrificed others for hims own happiness. It's a reflection on humanity and the desire to get ahead at any cost.
        Both of these views still being demented, and again, extremely creepy, I like that this poem can be taken in lots of different ways. I'm sure when we discuss it in class everyone will have their own ideas, which are interesting to hear.

Untitled- Stephen Crane

      Although this poem uses simple language and is extremely short, it has probably made the most vivid picture in my head out of all the other poems we have read so far. It's a pretty gruesome and depressing image, but still a huge impact is made. I feel this poem is saying how man easily destroys himself and yet while it's disturbing and he knows it's wrong, still somehow finds joy in that self pity and does nothing about it. We complain about things in our lives on a daily basis, yet don't fix something that is so easily fixable. I like that this poem leaves just enough room for the reader to make their own interpretation, yet is long enough to create a image vivid enough to want to look deeper to make that interpretation. The title also leaves another question of what this poem is really about. The title is what sums up the poem and brings it all together, without that piece the reader has to do that for themselves. I could've taken this a completely different way then another reader given the exact same poem. Stephen Crane is an amazing writer for being able to do all this in such a limited amount of words, I really liked this poem because of that.