POETRY ANALYSIS

Alone, Looking for Blossoms Along the River 
by Tu Fu

The sorrow of riverside blossoms inexplicable,
And nowhere to complain -- I've gone half crazy.
I look up our southern neighbor. But my friend in wine
Gone ten days drinking. I find only an empty bed.

A thick frenzy of blossoms shrouding the riverside,
I stroll, listing dangerously, in full fear of spring.
Poems, wine -- even this profusely driven, I endure.
Arrangements for this old, white-haired man can wait.

A deep river, two or three houses in bamboo quiet,
And such goings on: red blossoms glaring with white!
Among spring's vociferous glories, I too have my place:
With a lovely wine, bidding life's affairs bon voyage.

Looking east to Shao, its smoke filled with blossoms,
I admire that stately Po-hua wineshop even more.
To empty golden wine cups, calling such beautiful
Dancing girls to embroidered mats -- who could bear it?

East of the river, before Abbot Huang's grave,
Spring is a frail splendor among gentle breezes.
In this crush of peach blossoms opening ownerless,
Shall I treasure light reds, or treasure them dark?

At Madame Huang's house, blossoms fill the paths:
Thousands, tens of thousands haul the branches down.
And butterflies linger playfully -- an unbroken
Dance floating to songs orioles sing at their ease.

I don't so love blossoms I want to die. I'm afraid,
Once they are gone, of old age still more impetuous.
And they scatter gladly, by the branchful. Let's talk
Things over, little buds ---open delicately, sparingly.

PPSSSSTT:

Paraphrase:  A man walks along the river after he leaves his job.  He looks for blossoms and thinks of their beauty.  He doesn't want them to leave existence so he tells them to open delicately and sparingly.

Purpose:To let others know of the great beauty that nature holds.  After this is told, revision leaves the deeper purpose of family members.  Not wanting them to die, to blossom with old age.

Structure:  Stanzas of four lines each

Shift:  This poem doesn't really contain a shift.

Speaker:  The narrator is the man walking along the river bank.  (Fictional)

Spelling/Diction/Grammar:  There isn't really and words that are WAY out there.

Theme: Enlightening, inspirational

Tone:  Educational, lifting

Memorial Day 
by Joyce Kilmer
"Dulce et decorum est"

The bugle echoes shrill and sweet,
But not of war it sings to-day.
The road is rhythmic with the feet
Of men-at-arms who come to pray.

The roses blossom white and red
On tombs where weary soldiers lie;
Flags wave above the honored dead
And martial music cleaves the sky.

Above their wreath-strewn graves we kneel,
They kept the faith and fought the fight.
Through flying lead and crimson steel
They plunged for Freedom and the Right.

May we, their grateful children, learn
Their strength, who lie beneath this sod,
Who went through fire and death to earn
At last the accolade of God.

In shining rank on rank arrayed
They march, the legions of the Lord;
He is their Captain unafraid,
The Prince of Peace . . . Who brought a sword.



PPSSSSTT:
Paraphrase:  An army heading into battle questions their motives.  Peace brought by sword.

Purpose:  To learn the strength of the army and its intentions

Structure:  An ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH rhyme scheme

Shift:  Marching into battle then questioning the purpose of peace by sword.

Speaker:  The soliders

Spelling/Diction/Grammar: No strange words or phrases

Theme: Pressing

Tone: Compelling, Heartfelt



Mount Houvenkopf 
by Joyce Kilmer
Serene he stands, with mist serenely crowned,
And draws a cloak of trees about his breast.
The thunder roars but cannot break his rest
And from his rugged face the tempests bound.
He does not heed the angry lightning's wound,
The raging blizzard is his harmless guest,
And human life is but a passing jest
To him who sees Time spin the years around.

But fragile souls, in skyey reaches find
High vantage-points and view him from afar.
How low he seems to the ascended mind,
How brief he seems where all things endless are;
This little playmate of the mighty wind
This young companion of an ancient star.



PPSSSSTT:
Paraphrase:  A mountain observes all that is around him: The stars, the thunder, blizzards, humans, stars, and wind

Purpose:  To look at life in a different perspective

Structure:  One stanza of 8 and one of 6

Shift:  No shift

Speaker:  The mountain

Spelling/Diction/Grammar:  Skyey is the only odd word

Theme:  Powerful, compelling

Tone:  Massive, Behemoth

Mending Wall

BY ROBERT FROST

Something there is that doesn't love a wall,

That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,

And spills the upper boulders in the sun;

And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.

The work of hunters is another thing:

I have come after them and made repair

Where they have left not one stone on a stone,

But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,

To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean,

No one has seen them made or heard them made,

But at spring mending-time we find them there.

I let my neighbour know beyond the hill;

And on a day we meet to walk the line

And set the wall between us once again.

We keep the wall between us as we go.

To each the boulders that have fallen to each.

And some are loaves and some so nearly balls

We have to use a spell to make them balance:

"Stay where you are until our backs are turned!"

We wear our fingers rough with handling them.

Oh, just another kind of out-door game,

One on a side. It comes to little more:

There where it is we do not need the wall:

He is all pine and I am apple orchard.

My apple trees will never get across

And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.

He only says, "Good fences make good neighbours."

Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder

If I could put a notion in his head:

"Why do they make good neighbours? Isn't it

Where there are cows? But here there are no cows.

Before I built a wall I'd ask to know

What I was walling in or walling out,

And to whom I was like to give offence.

Something there is that doesn't love a wall,

That wants it down." I could say "Elves" to him,

But it's not elves exactly, and I'd rather

He said it for himself. I see him there

Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top

In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.

He moves in darkness as it seems to me,

Not of woods only and the shade of trees.

He will not go behind his father's saying,

And he likes having thought of it so well

He says again, "Good fences make good neighbours."

PPSSSSTT:
Paraphrase: A man wondering why his fence makes a good neighbor

Purpose: The purpose of a fence

Structure:  No stanzas

Shift:  Walking along the wall to wondering why it makes good neighbors

Speaker:  The confused man

Spelling/Diction/Grammar:  No strange words

Theme:  Compelling

Tone:  Confused, Needing Answers



A Drinking Song 
by William Butler Yeats
WINE comes in at the mouth
And love comes in at the eye;
That's all we shall know for truth
Before we grow old and die.
I lift the glass to my mouth,
I look at you, and I sigh.





PPSSSSTT:
Paraphrase:  A man is drinking.  He sees a girl and wishes they could be dating.  He eventually gives up on the idea

Purpose:  To show the ups and downs of life.  This man is clearly in one of the pits but will soon rise after a couple days.

Structure:  One stanza with 6 lines.  ABCBAB rhyme scheme

Shift:  From being hopeful to letting go

Speaker:  The Alcoholic is narrating

Spelling/Diction/Grammar:

Theme:  Hopeful then Depressed

Tone:  Sad, Gloomy