"Seventeen"

The poem, "Seventeen" really struck my emotions quite hard. I am an extreme animal lover and this poem just really got to me because I couldn't ever imagine doing anything of this sort to an animal. I understand that it was the best thing for the dog, because he would've suffered more if the author wouldn't have put it out of its misery but, it's just so sad. The part that really touched my emotions was when he talked about when he went to kill it the tail wagged a bit. This just made me so sad, simply because I love animals and I couldn't ever imagine doing this to an animal, even if it was the best thing for the animal.

Seventeen

1. The title focuses on this idea because seventeen is a right of passage, and a loss of innocence because he had to kill the dog, and these are things that a seventeen year old shouldn't have to do.
2. The author heavily uses descriptive adjectives in the poem to help describe the injured dog.
3. The speaker of the poem is believes that the other driver is a complete idiot, he is really irritated when the driver turns and does that with the dog in the back. The speaker thinks that the author isn't thinking, and for being an older person, he should be more concerned.
4. Killing the dog would be characterized as a symbolic action because it is showing that the author is dealing with what he planned to do, and then there are random feelings that cause him to doubt his decision.   

"Dulce de Decorum Est"

"Dulce de Decorum Est"
Wilfred Owen

Questions about the text: Is this poem about war? If so, is it from the soldiers point of view, or a refugees? What does "Dulce et Decorum Est" mean?

Personal Response: The wording of this poem made me feel like I was being transported into the life of the author. The imagery that was used was so vivid that I felt like I was on the battlefield, although I was unaware whether or not I was the soldier or the refugee.


Overall Thoughts about the text: I thought this poem was extremely vivid. The author used such good imagery, that I felt like I was sitting there watching the scene take place before my very eyes. The wording in the poem was also very simple to understand, minus the title, I mean, that was in a different language. The wording also made me think that this poem was talking about World War II because of the reference to the gas and the gas masks, but when I looked at the years that the author, Wilfred Owen was born, I realized that there was no way that the poem was talking about World War II because it wasn't even thought about at that time.

"AD"

"AD"
Kenneth Fearing

Questions about the text: What does "a race of brand-new men", mean? What is the author referring to in "no ambition required, no brains wanted, and no character allowed"?

Personal Response: This poem used satire in the form of writing because it's showing something is wrong by ridiculing it's wrongness. I thought it was interesting that the poem alluded to the fact



Overall thoughts about the text: This poem really gave the impression that the reader should get up and join the army. The author used very descriptive words to get people excited about joining the military forces. This poem used many adjectives to make their point clear and dignified. Also, the language causes the reader to feel as if they're needed and it makes them want to enlist because they feel as if they will make a difference in the country.

"Ode to American English" & "Fat Is Not a Fairy Tale"

“Fat Is Not a Fairy Tale” 

Jane Yolen

Questions about the text: What inspired the reader to write this poem? What is the meaning behind the poem? Why is the poem titled “Fat is Not a Fairy Tale”? Why does the reader say “I am thinking of a fairy tale, that is not yet written, for a teller not yet born”, why does the teller have to be someone who isn't born? Also, on that subject, when the author uses the word “Born” is he relating it to something else? Such as the teller won't be able to tell a story about these things if they haven't opened their eyes to the flaws of beauty?

Personal response to the text: This poem really was a beautiful poem to read because I enjoyed what the author was trying to get across about fairy tales. I thought that the point was very clear, that the author believed that fairy tales should be about people of all sizes and the princesses in question shouldn't be figures that were extremely skinny and disproportionate.

Overall thoughts about the text: I thought this poem was very beautiful, mainly because I thought that the topic of the poem was something that was intriguing. I thought that the poem was a very interesting thought because during this time period all of the fairy tales involved characters that were somewhat thin, and that was just what was expected. I found it very endearing of the author to come out and write a poem about what she felt was right, and how she believed that these stories should be handled. Overall, I thought the poem was a very good read and I actually enjoyed reading it, unlike many poems I have read, or tried to read, before.

“Ode to American English”

Barbara Hamby

Questions about the text: What does “pill popping Hungarian goulash” mean? What does Brentano's on the Avenue de l'Opera mean? Why is the US vocabulary so much less dignified than the British vocabulary? What exactly is the “battle cry of the bible belt”?

Personal response to the text: This poem really made me feel a sense of American Pride while reading it. I felt as if the author was just missing America so much, and the things that she was saying that she missed were just simple things, but they really showed how much she loved America and the American culture, and I found that really cool. This poem also made me laugh a lot. The simplicity of the things that she was comparing from British culture to American culture was just too funny.

Overall thoughts about the text: I really enjoyed this text because I felt like they used many references that were extremely American, such as “Valley girls” and “hip hop stereos shaking the windows of my dining room like a 7.5 earthquake”. Anyone who has lived in an American city has experienced these things, or at least heard about one of the two. I also enjoyed the poem because I liked how it was written in a narrative form. This helped me to better understand and comprehend the poem, and it's meaning. Honestly, I just really liked this poem. I thought it was cool, because it was written in 1972, so it shows the things and people that were popular during the time that this poem was created, and I find that to be really interesting.