Poem Response Essay
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English 1213: English Comp. 2
C. Verschage
Professor of English & Humanities
Initial Assessment: Poetry Response Essay
Poetry?
Some of you may see the word "poetry" and think "Yuk?
Can't we start with something fun? But poetry can be fun
if you understand how to approach it. For example,
poetry is not to be read over quickly (just to get it done
and out of the way), rather it is to be read slowly,
carefully, and attentively. Each line is to be thought
about and considered. According to the text, Literature:
An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama, "good
poems yield more if read twice; and the best poems -after ten, twenty, or a hundred readings -- still go on
yielding" (741).
Every day in American society, we are exposed to
poetry in some form. For example, songs on the radio or
CDs are poems set to music, ads may use poems to sell a product, and many cards you buy at the
store for various occasions have poems written inside of them. In fact, the first published texts from
this country were poems. Consequently, poems are an important part of our lives and culture, and
according to the Literature text, the work of a poem is "To touch us, to stir us, to make us glad, and
possibly even to tell us something" (742).
Suggestions for Reading Poems
To assist you in reading the poems, here are a few suggestions:
Read the poem straight through the first time, just to get a feel for the piece. Allow your mind
to flow with the piece; don't worry about what expectations you should have or what a
specific word or image should mean during the initial reading.
For the second reading, read for the exact sense of all the words; if there are words you don't
understand, look them up in the dictionary. Don't just skip it and think that you'll figure it out
later. The meaning of one word could alter the meaning of the entire sentence. Dwell on
any difficult parts as long as you need to do so.
Try to paraphrase the poem. This generally involves going through the poem line-by-line and
rewriting it in your own words. By doing this, it will help you get at the various meanings and
nuances within the poem. Also, it would be a good idea to include within your paraphrase
ideas that the poem may imply or suggest.
Purpose of Assignment
Your poem response essay will function as the initial assessment of your writing skills as a college
writer as a student coming into this class. By reading your work, I will discover if you are ready
intellectually and rhetorically for English 1213: English Composition 2.
Poem Response Essay
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Pre-Writing Activities
Invention Technique. For this assignment, I'd like you to use either a listing or a clustering
activity. The point of this activity is to assist you in generating information for your essay.
Your invention technique will be worth a total possible of 10 points.
Completed 2-4 Tier Formal Outline. Then once you've completed the listing or
clustering activity, I'd like you to group and organize the information (plus any other
information that comes to mind) and construct a 100-word (or less) 2-4 tier formal outline. It
should have a working title at the top of the page, your thesis statement underneath the
working title, and then followed by your main headings using roman numerals, and your
subheadings using letters and numbers. Your outline will be worth a total possible of 15
points.
Assignment
Choose ONE of the following poems and then write a 5-7 paragraph (at least 500 words) essay that
presents your personal response to the ideas presented within the poem. Your response will be in
the form of an argumentative essay that presents your own perspective on the poem, and that uses
reasons and examples (from your own personal experience, observations you've made, and/or
material from the text) to support and develop your perspective. In writing the essay, you should use
your skills and knowledge on essay writing that you learned in English 1113: English Composition 1.
Although your essay will be handwritten, I'd like you to double-space it (write a line, skip a line),
and then once you've completed writing the essay in class, please hand it in to me with your
invention technique and outline.
Grading the Initial Assessment
In grading your essay, I will be looking at the following elements:
01. Formatting. Does the paper adhere to standard college formatting.
02. Content. Does the essay grab its audience at the beginning and draw readers into the
piece? Does it have a thesis? Does it provide reasons for the thesis? How well does it
support its reasons? How well does it conclude and wrap up its presentation?
03. Organization & Structure. How well is the essay organized and structured? Does it
have an introduction, a body, and a conclusion?
04. Language Usage. How well does essay incorporate and use standard American English?
Does the author make use of figurative language or analogies? How well does it use
grammar, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, mechanics, etc.?
05. Creativity. Does the author take the “usual approach” to the topic or does the author try to
bring out something new and different about the topic? Does the author try to think “outside
the box”?
NOTE: For this assignment only, I am not expecting you to include a Works Cited
page. However, for the rest of the essays that you will write for this course, one will
be expected.
Poem Response Essay
Anonymous
“The Marriage Song”
Sometimes when we're alone
I look up and see you
fifty years from now all gray and
Wrinkling, still everything to
Me
And I imagine a love
That could only come from fifty years of hoping through unCertainty, through better worse and
You and me
And I can't wait
Now, I don't know just what's got into me
In love like this I thought I'd never be
She's changed my mind, and through
All this time
I've known I'd always want her
In my life
Say, old man,
After all your
Time, why are you still smiling?
What have you done? What do you know?
For 50 years, as far as I reMember, every day I've
Seen here smiling back at me
And she's still the cutest girl I know
She makes it feel
Like autumn all the time
And she's the little girl
Who loved a little boy
In his dream
Now, I don't know just what's got into me
In love like this I thought I'd never be
She's changed my mind, and through
All this time
I've known I'd always want her
In my life
Sometimes when we're alone
I reach up and take her sweet
face in my hand; that’s how it
goes and we both know
That we’ll be in this ‘till the end.
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Poem Response Essay
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ED O.G.’s
Be a Father to Your Child
Be a father, if not, why bother, son
And now you wanna come around for a day or two?
A boy can make ‘em but a man can raise one
It’s never too late to correct your mistakes
If you did it, admit it, and stick with it
So get yourself together for your child’s sake
Don’t say it ain’t yours ‘cause all women are not
And be a father to your child.
whores
Ninety percent represent a woman that is faithful
Ladies, can I hear it? Thank you
When a girl get pregnant, her man is gonna run around
Dissin’ her for nine months, when it’s born he wants to come around
Talkin’ about “I’m sorry for what I did”
And all of a sudden he now wants to see his kid
She had to bear it by herself and take care of it by herself
And givin’ her some money for milk won’t really help
Half of the fathers with sons and daughters don’t even wanna take ‘em
But it’s so easy for them to make ‘em
It’s true, if it weren’t for you then the child wouldn’t exist
After a skeeze, there’s responsibilities so don’t resist
Be a father to your child.
You see, I hate when a brother makes a child and then denies it
Thinkin’ that money is the answer so he buys it
A whole bunch of gifts, had a lot of presents
It’s not the presents, it’s the presence, and the essence
Of bein’ there and showing the baby that you care
Stop sittin’ like a chair and having the baby wonder where you are
Or who you are – fool, you are his daddy
Don’t act like you ain’t ‘cause that really makes me mad, G
To see a mother and a baby suffer
I’ve had enough of brothers who don’t love the
Fact that a baby brings joy into your life
You could still be called daddy if the mother’s not your wife
Don’t be scared, be prepared ‘cause love is gonna getcha
It will always be your child, even if she ain’t witcha
So don’t front on your child when you know it’s your own
‘Cause if you front now, you’ll regret it when it’s grown
Be a father to your child
Put yourself in his position and see what you’ve done
But just keep in mind that you’re somebody’s son
How would you like it if your father was a stranger
And then tried to come into your life and tried to change tha
Way your mother raised ya – now, wouldn’t that amaze ya?
To be or not to be, that is the question
When you’re wrong, you’re wrong, it’s time to make a correction
Harrassin’ the mother for being with another man
But if the brother man can do it better than you can
Let him, don’t sweat him, duke
Let him do the job that you couldn’t do
You’re claimin’ you was there, but not when she needed you
Poem Response Essay
Stephen Shu-ning Liu
My Father’s Martial Art
When he came home Mother said he looked
like a monk and stank of green fungus.
At the fireside he told us about life
at the monastery: his rock pillow,
his cold bath, his steel-bar lifting
and his wood-chopping. He didn’t see
a woman for three winters, on Mountain O Mei.
“My Master was both light and heavy.
He skipped over treetops like a squirrel.
Once he stood on a chair, one foot tied
to a rope. We four pulled; we couldn’t
move him a bit. His kicks could split
a cedar’s trunk.”
I saw Father break into a pumpkin
with his fingers. I saw him drop a hawk
with bamboo arrows. He rose before dawn, filled
our backyard with a harsh sound hah, hah, hah:
there was his Black Dragon Sweep, his Crane Stand,
his Mantis Walk, his Tiger Leap, his Cobra Coil…
Infrequently he taught me tricks and made me
fight the best of all the village boys.
From a busy street I brood over high cliffs
on O Mei, where my father and his Master sit:
shadows spread across their faces as the smog
between us deepens into a funeral pyre.
But don’t retreat into night, my father.
Come down from the cliffs. Come
with a single Black Dragon Sweep and hush
this oncoming traffic with your hah, hah, hah.
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Poem Response Essay
Stephen Crane’s
War is Kind
Do not weep, maiden, for war is kind,
Because your lover threw wild hands toward the sky.
And the affrighted steed ran on alone,
Do not weep.
War is kind.
Hoarse, booming drums of the regiment,
Little souls who thirst for fight,
These men were born to drill and die.
The unexplained glory flies above them,
Great is the battle god, great, and his kingdom
A field where a thousand corpses lie.
Do not weep, babe, for war is kind.
Because your father tumbled in the yellow trenches,
Raged at his breast, gulped and died,
Do not weep.
War is kind.
Swift blazing flag of the regiment,
Eagle with crest of red and gold,
These men were born to drill and die.
Point for them the virtue of slaughter,
Make plain to them the excellence of killing
And a field where a thousand corpses lie.
Mother whose heart hung humble as a button
On the bright splendid shroud of your son,
Do not weep.
War is kind.
Langston Hughes’s
Cross
My old man’s a white old man
And my old mother’s black.
If ever I cursed my white old man
I take my curses back.
If ever I cursed my black old mother
And wished she were in hell,
I’m sorry for that evil wish
And now I wish her well.
My old man died in a fine big house.
My ma died in a shack.
I wonder where I’m gonna die,
Being neither white nor black?
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Poem Response Essay
Anne Bradstreet’s
The Author To Her Book
Thou ill-formed offspring to my feeble brain,
Who after birth did’st by my side remain,
Till snatched from thence by friends, less wise than true,
Who thee abroad exposed to public view;
Made thee in rags, halting, to the press to trudge,
Where errors were not lessened, all may judge.
At thy return my blushing was not small,
My rambling brat (in print) should mother call;
I cast thee by as one unfit for light,
Thy visage was so irksome in my sight;
Yet being mine own, at length affection would
Thy blemishes amend, if so I could:
I washed thy face, but more defects I saw,
And rubbing off a spot, still made a flaw.
I stretched thy joints to make thee even feet,
Yet still thou run’st more hobbling than is meet;
In better dress to trim thee was my mind,
But nought save homespun cloth in the house I find.
In this array, ‘mongst vulgars may’st thou roam;
In critics’ hands beware thou dost not come;
And take thy way where yet thou are not known.
If for thy Father asked, say thou had’st none;
And for thy Mother, she alas is poor,
Which caused her thus to send thee out of door.
Anne Stevenson’s
The Victory
I thought you were my victory
though you cut me like a knife
when I brought you out of my body
into your life.
Tiny antagonist, gory,
blue as a bruise. The stains
of your cloud of glory
bled from my veins.
How can you dare, blind thing,
Blank insect eyes?
You barb the air. You sting
With bladed cries.
Snail! Scary knot of desires!
Hungry snarl! Small son.
Why do I have to love you?
How have you won?
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Poem Response Essay
Sharon Old’s
“Rites of Passage”
As the guests arrive at my son’s party
they gather in the living room –
short men, men in first grade
with smooth jaws and chins.
Hands in pockets, they stand around
jostling, jockeying for place, small fights
breaking out and calming. One says to another
How old are you? Six. I’m seven. So?
They eye each other, seeing themselves
tiny in the other’s pupils. They clear their
throats a lot, a room of small blankets,
they fold their arms and frown. I could beat you
up, a seven says to a six,
the dark cake, round and heavy as a
turret, behind them on the table. My son,
freckles like specks of nutmeg on his cheeks,
chest narrow as the balsa keel of a
model boat, long hands
cool and thin as the day they guided him
out of me, speaks up as a host
for the sake of a group.
We could easily kill a two-year-old,
he says in his clear voice. The other
men agree, they clear their throats
like Generals, they relax and get down to
playing war, celebrating my son’s life.
John Newton’s
Amazing Grace
Amazing grace (how sweet the sound)
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.
‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed!
Though many dangers, toils, and snares
I have already come;
‘Tis grace has brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.
The Lord has promised good to me,
His word my hope secures;
He will my shield and portion be
As long as life endures.
The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,
The sun forbear to shine;
But God, who call’d me here below;
Will be forever mine.
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Poem Response Essay
King David’s
Psalm 51
01. Be gracious to me, God,
according to Your faithful love;
according to Your abundant compassion,
blot out my rebellion.
02. Wash away my guilt,
and cleanse me from my sin.
03. For I am conscious of my rebellion,
and my sin is always before me.
04. Against You – You alone – I have sinned
05.
06.
07.
08.
09.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
and done this evil in Your sight.
So You are right
when You pass sentence;
You are blameless when You judge.
Indeed, I was guilty [when I] was born;
I was sinful when my mother
conceived me.
Surely You desire integrity
in the inner self,
and You teach me wisdom deep within.
Purify me with hyssop,
and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be
whiter then snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones You have crushed rejoice.
Turn Your face away from my sins
and blot out all my guilt.
God, create a clean heart for me
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not banish me from Your presence
or take Your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore the joy of Your salvation to me,
and give me a willing spirit.
Then I will teach the rebellious
Your ways,
and sinners will return to You.
Save me from the guilt
of bloodshed, God,
the God of my salvation,
and my tongue will sing
of Your righteousness.
Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare Your praise.
You do not want a sacrifice,
or I would give it;
You are not pleased
with a burnt offering.
17. The sacrifice pleasing to God is
a broken spirit.
God, You will not despise a broken
and humbled heart.
18. In Your good pleasure, cause Zion
to prosper;
build the walls of Jerusalem.
19. Then You will delight
In righteous sacrifices,
whole burnt offerings;
then bulls will be offered on Your altar.
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Poem Response Essay
W.H. Auden’s
“The Unknown Citizen”
(To JS/07/M/378 This Marble Monument Is Erected by the State)
He was found by the Bureau of Statistics to be
One against whom there was no official complaint,
And all the reports on his conduct agree
That, in the modern sense of an old-fashioned word, he was a saint,
For in everything he did he served the Greater Community.
Except for the War till the day he retired
He worked in a factory and never got fired,
But satisfied his employers, Fudge Motors Inc.
Yet he wasn’t a scab or odd in his views,
For his Union reports that he paid his dues,
(Our report on his Union shows it was sound)
And our Social Psychology workers found
That he was popular with his mates and liked a drink.
The Press are convinced that he bought a paper every day.
And that his reactions to advertisements were normal in every way.
Policies taken out in his name prove that he was fully insured,
And his Health-card shows he was once in the hospital but left it cured.
Both Producers Research and High-Grade Living declare
He was fully sensible to the advantages of the Installment Plan
And had everything necessary to the Modern Man,
A phonograph, a radio, a car and a frigidaire.
Our researchers into Public Opinion are content
That he held the proper opinions for the time of year;
When there was peace, he was for peace; when there was war, he went.
He was married and added five children to the population,
Which our Eugenist says was the right number for a parent of his generation,
And our teachers report that he never interfered with their education.
Was he free? Was he happy? The question is absurd:
Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard.
Jared Carter’s
“Roadside Crosses”
This is a state where nothing marks the spot
officially. They crop up now and then
out on the Freeway, or in rustic plots
sometimes, near S-curves in the country, when
the corn’s knee-high: a cross, or even two
or three, made out of poles or boards, whitewashed or painted. They seem to have a view
of nothing at all: only the blurred lights
of oncoming cars, and the eighteen-wheelers
roaring by. Memory has a harsh sting –
blown back like the fine grit that settles
while you walk here now – no special healer,
merely a friend or brother stopped to bring
a can of flowers, to set among the nettles.
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Poem Response Essay
Jerome Stern’s
What They Learn in School
In the schools now, they want them to know all about marijuana, crack,
heroin, and amphetamines,
because then they won’t be interested in marijuana, crack, heroin, and
amphetamines.,
but they don’t want to tell them anything about sex because
if the schools tell them about sex, then they will be interested in sex,
but if the schools don’t tell them anything about sex,
then they will have high morals and no one will get pregnant, and
everything will be all right,
and they do want them to know a lot about computers so
they will compete with the Japanese,
but they don’t want them to know anything about real science
because then they will lose their faith and become secular humanists,
and they do want them to know all about this great land of ours so they
will be patriotic,
but they don’t want them to learn about the tragedy and pain in its real
history because then they will be critical about this great land of ours
and we will be passively taken over by a foreign power,
and they want them to learn how to think for themselves so they can get
good jobs and be successful,
but they don’t want them to have books that confront them with real ideas
because that will confuse their values,
and they’d like them to be good parents,
but they can’t teach them about families
because that takes them back to how you get to be a family,
and they want to warn them about how not to get AIDS
but that would mean telling them how not to get AIDS,
and they’d like them to know the Constitution,
but they don’t like some of those amendments except when they are
invoked by the people they agree with,
and they’d like them to vote,
but they don’t want them to discuss current events
because it might be controversial and upset them and make them want
to take drugs, which they have already told them about.
and they want to teach them the importance of morality,
but they also want them to learn that Winning is not everything—
it is the Only Thing,
and they want them to be well-read,
but they don’t want them to read Chaucer or Shakespeare or
Aristophanes or Mark Twain
and they don’t want them to know anything about art
because that will make them weird,
but they do want them to know about music so they can march in the band,
and they mainly want to teach them not to question, not to challenge, not
to imagine, but to be obedient and behave well so that they can hold
them forever as children to their bosoms as the second millennium
lurches toward its panicky close.
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