Elegy for my Father, Who is not Dead

On the surface, it seems as if, the speaker juxtaposes his father's will to die and his will to live. It is fair to say that his father wants to die, but he wants his son to be ready to die with him. I believe that by "embarking" on this trip his father does not mean a literal death, but the willingness to let him go. In a deeper meaning, I feel this poem contrasts the differences in their beliefs of eternal life. This is proven through the excerpt " I see myself on deck, convinced/ I'll see him standing on the dock/ and waving, shouting, Welcome back." Which basically means the speaker means he'll just die and nothing will happen, while the father believes he'll be waiting for his son in heaven. Although the father's tone is optimistic-it is the speaker's pessimistic tone that sets the complete tone for the poem. The father had faith from the beginning "He's ready./ In the sureness of his faith" the speaker says. Ultimately, it's a matter of the speaker accepting or not accepting his father's word.

Lonely Hearts

The book describes these stanzas as 'Personals' in a classified section. It reminded me of a dating website. Yet, this poem makes it sound as if they are selling themselves. They are so desperate for a companion they make themselves sound appealing. Which does not really describe the real person someone is. I find the structure of this poem interesting. It begins with the question "Can someone make my simple wish come true?" Then, it ends that stanza with "Do you live in North London? Is it you?" After that, each stanza alternates ending between those two questions. Except, the last two stanza repeat "Do you live in North London? Is it you?" This repetition definitely creates a desperate tone.

Delight in Disorder

The poem begins with an oxymoron: sweet disorder. In reality, this is true, the world prefers disorder. It's a proven chemical/biological process called entropy. Entropy measures the amount of chaos in a system, and the world prefers disorder. However, beyond science, this is true of society. many people travel each year to visit the leaning tower of Pisa? Why? Because it has imperfection, there is a chance it might fall. A more prevalent example are today's style of jeans. We don't want them perfect, we want them ripped, teared and with holes. This explains the concept of Delight in Disorder. The author pulls off disorder in his poem by his structure. Many of the rhymes of his poem are imperfect. Only lines 1 and 2, 9 and 10, and 13 and 14 rhyme. The rest of the lines are inconsistent. Overall, this disorder is a natural part of life.

That Time of Year

In this poem the speaker is expressing how he is approaching death. This is not a literal death, but rather a death of his youth. To express death he uses am extended metaphor typical of the ending of fall. From the poem, the reader understands that it is about the death of youth from the line; " I am like a glowing ember/ Lying on the dying flame of my youth". Also, although the speaker to talking about his youth expiring, he is warning his friend about this event. This is presented in the repetition of "In me you can see". The speaker is not repeating I, and talking to himself. These phrases help to also create the tone. A tone, that I would consider foreboding. Basically, the end of the poem suggests loving no because it will soon be gone. Which leaves me wondering if the last two sentences deal with itself or still the death of youth?

To His Coy Mistress

I liked this poem in that it addresses a universal topic. This topic is something we all adhere, time. There are certain ways we have to spend our days and certain ways we wish we could spend it. The speaker wants to spend the afternoon with his lady walking and passing the long love's day away. Which in a way, is ironic, because part of the poem is not having the amount of time to spend with his love and how they need not let time pass. Time is also prevalent in the poem in that the speaker wishes he could go back to an earlier time so he could have loved her sooner. His love also continues into the future for the woman deserves this forever. The last two lines wrap up the poem in saying that they cannot make the sun stand still. Which ultimately means they cannot stop time at all. The seasons will continue to pass, and as the seasons pass they become older losing more and more time together. Overall, carpe diem, seize the day.

Crossing the Bar

I feel this poem is more than just a man who takes his boat out to sea at night. I think the poem is symbolic of death, and there is a tone to it which suggests a farewell. There are three lines which really struck me. "and may there be no moaning at the bar" "and may there be no sadness of farewell" "I hope to see my Pilot face to face". The sunset and evening star is calling him to not necessarily die, but to move on to heaven. While the bar, which on the sea would have to be a sand bar refers to the leaving of one life to the next. Like the land is familiar, but the sea he is beginning to float into is the unknown. When the speaker leaves on this journey, he wants no one to be sad. Finally, I think what truly proves the extended metaphor is the word Pilot. The speaker wants to meet his Pilot, Pilot, with a capital P, which ultimately means God. This person is ultimately ready for death.

My mistress' eyes

To me, this poem was really opposite of something one would write to try to tell a girl you love her and she means everything to you. The tone at the beginning of the poem is almost cynical. It is almost as if the speaker has nothing positive to say about his love. I mean it seems as if everything compares to her and is better. A A real love poem would be quite the opposite. For example, her "eyes are nothing like the sun" would be "the sun is nothing compared to her eyes". However, the last two lines of the poem create a shift in tone with the words "and yet". According to the book, the last line can be paraphrased as "as any woman who has been lied to with false comparisons..." The line before that says his love is rare. So putting these two ideas together, I think the speaker is trying to say that when men say things like "the sun is nothing compared to her eyes", it's a lie. Yet, since he is not lying to his love, his love is true? That almost seems paradoxical.