“Explication” In the poem by Joy Harjo called “Eagle Poem,” Harjo talks about prayer and life and how they revolve around mother-nature. She suggests that while being one with nature, we feel we are in a place in which we haven’t imagined and the things in which we would love to do in that magnificent and calming place. After one reads the poem, he/she enjoys the lyrical type of it. This is because “Eagle Poem” sticks to one idea and extends it throughout the entire poem. For instance, it talks about prayer, nature, and animals from start to finish. In the first three lines of the poem, Harjo talks about opening oneself up to nature where you feel yourself. She does this by connecting the human body to the sky, earth, sun, and moon. The next six lines talk about the concepts and aspects during prayer and how you are in a whole other place. In these first nine lines, Harjo uses repetition with prayer and shows parallelism with the peacefulness nature and prayer can bring to oneself. Harjo also uses similes in lines ten and twenty two. She compares the circle of life to that of the eagle as well as the eagle to an angle. Joy Harjo did a tremendous job in explaining to the reader that one can relax oneself through prayer and nature. We can all relate to the idea of allowing ourselves into places not yet imagined and feeling at peace. She connects the idea of peacefulness with nature and prayer in a well thought language that allows her to still connect herself to her Native American ancestry. Harjos metaphors and images of nature and prayer are effective in getting her point across as well as making a deeper connection with her Muskogee Creek heritage. Before reading this poem, one might not be too intrigued by its title, but ... ... middle of paper ... ...t really catch the readers’ attention. Although she wasn’t writing in the major eras, she did write in the era where the style of writing was changing. This allowed her to be able to write freely and truly express herself through her words and illusions. Works Cited "Characteristics of Modern Poetry - Poetry - Questions & Answers." ENotes - Literature Study Guides, Lesson Plans, and More. Web. 09 Jan. 2012. . "Eagle Poem." Poetry Out Loud. Web. 28 Nov. 2011. . "HARJO, JOY (1951- )." Oklahoma State University - Library - Home. Web. 04 Jan. 2012. . "Joy Harjo: The Poetry Foundation." Poetry Foundation. Web. 04 Jan. 2012. .
Early on in Joy Harjo’s career, the nature and native american culture never appeared in her works. As demonstrated in her poem, “Everybody Has a Heartache” Joy goes on to talk about how everyone feels down and out but everytime they fight back from it, they are happier than before, rarely mentioning nature or native american culture. Comparing “Everybody Has a Heartache” to “My House is the Red Earth” there is a stark difference in the way nature is used
...r’.” Poetry for students. Ed. Sara Constantakis. Vol. 43 Detroit: Gale, 2013. Literature Resource Center. Web. 30 Mar. 2014. http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?>.
...otter, disturbing high pitched sounf of the oystercatcher, the cormorant, and the heron all connote the idea of an overwhelming chaotic nature of the world. The first two lines of the second stanza justify this view because we find that the speaker has gone through a personal experience of facing death. However, in the majority of the second stanza, the speaker finds a more peaceful underlying order in the next few images he sees. The butterfly, a couple quietly speaking, and the soothing warmth of nature all appeal to an underlying order, filled with peacefulness and serenity. From the different perspectives of a single experience of the speaker, the author is able to create a world where although chaos can be present through personal experience, the underlying order is still intact, as long as one is able to look at it from a more calm and peaceful vantage point.
In today’s modern view, poetry has become more than just paragraphs that rhyme at the end of each sentence. If the reader has an open mind and the ability to read in between the lines, they discover more than they have bargained for. Some poems might have stories of suffering or abuse, while others contain happy times and great joy. Regardless of what the poems contains, all poems display an expression. That very moment when the writer begins his mental journey with that pen and paper is where all feelings are let out. As poetry is continues to be written, the reader begins to see patterns within each poem. On the other hand, poems have nothing at all in common with one another. A good example of this is in two poems by a famous writer by the name of Langston Hughes. A well-known writer that still gets credit today for pomes like “ Theme for English B” and “Let American be American Again.”
Kevin Young expressed and introduced several powerful ideas about poetry. For instance, he suggested that the form of poetry occurs organically; the form suggested fuels the subject for which poems he planned to write. This further confirmed the work our class does on essays whenever we explain how the subject the poet writes about is further suggested within the poem’s form. Kevin Young opened my eyes to the external effects on poetry. For example, Kevin Young described things about his office. I found it interesting how he would keep little things around that inspired an idea about a poem or further enhanced a thought of his. On the other hand, Kevin Young stated that not everything external effects his work. He explained that watching television and listening to several different types of music in the background doesn’t necessarily always effect his writing. Additionally, Kevin Young revealed that poetry doesn’t always come easy. For instance, he responded to a students question about line breaks by stating
She wrote what she saw in a different way than other authors, which made her stand out. It all began though with the start of her life.
...she created through her lifetime had a much deeper meaning in them then you would think of just reading it once. The style in which she wrote in was very unique and no one can ever and will ever write with as much passion and authority as she did in all of her work. All the works that she created had a special meaning to her and her outlook on thing that she wanted to share with the whole world.Sometimes being different and having your own style in not so bad after all.
The purpose of the poem was to express my interests of nature and how I felt and what I experienced when I was in the woods at that time. There’s also that life and death aspect in this poem, in which the bird has the lizard in his mouth and also by the word “fire”.
In the poem, Harjo portrays the importance of recalling the past to help shape one’s identity. She uses the repetition of the word “Remember” to remind that while the past may be history, it still is a defining factor in people’s lives (l. 1). This literary technique
became more opinionated and she opened the eyes to other writers in this time period to express their true feelings. Without this push and brav...
This poem serves as a reminder that, “[n]ature ne’er deserts the wise and pure,” and that we are connected to nature as we are connected to the universe. This universal element allows the reader to develop an appreciation for nature and value the universe and the beauty of the world. In “The Eolian Harp,” we notice a lot of the same elements of nature within the poem. There is a focus on sights and sounds. As the wind blows, Coleridge claims that nature is creating music. He begins to blend the senses and combine them with nature to connect them to the
“Poe’s Theory of Poetry.” The Big Read. Handout One. N.d.. 16. Web. 19 April 2014.
Along with the imagery we get from the title, there is a lot of imagery within this poem. Let us start with the first three lines:
“Major Characteristics of Dickinson’s Poetry.” Emily Dickinson Museum. Trustees of Amherst College, 2009. Web. 23 January 2014.
“A Bird came down the Walk,” was written in c. 1862 by Emily Dickinson, who was born in 1830 and died in 1886. This easy to understand and timeless poem provides readers with an understanding of the author’s appreciation for nature. Although the poem continues to be read over one hundred years after it was written, there is little sense of the time period within which it was composed. The title and first line, “A Bird came down the Walk,” describes a common familiar observation, but even more so, it demonstrates how its author’s creative ability and artistic use of words are able to transform this everyday event into a picture that results in an awareness of how the beauty in nature can be found in simple observations. In a step like narrative, the poet illustrates the direct relationship between nature and humans. The verse consists of five stanzas that can be broken up into two sections. In the first section, the bird is eating a worm, takes notice of a human in close proximity and essentially becomes frightened. These three stanzas can easily be swapped around because they, for all intents and purposes, describe three events that are able to occur in any order. Dickinson uses these first three stanzas to establish the tone; the tone is established from the poet’s literal description and her interpretive expression of the bird’s actions. The second section describes the narrator feeding the bird some crumbs, the bird’s response and its departure, which Dickinson uses to elaborately illustrate the bird’s immediate escape. The last two stanzas demonstrate the effect of human interaction on nature and more specifically, this little bird, so these stanzas must remain in the specific order they are presented. Whereas most ...