Sunday, February 5, 2012

If We Must Die By Claude McKay

About The Poet

Claude McKay was born on September 15 1889 in Clarendon Jamaica.He was a Jamaican-American poet and writer.His most notable work was a novel titled "Home To Harlem".He died on May 22 1949 in Chicago Illinois.

Summary Of Poem
If we must die is about losing nobly.No one wants to fail. But,if we are going to fail we might as well fail fighting and be honored afterwards.

Paraphrase Of Poem Lines
If we must lose we don't want to lose without a fight.
We want to fight until the end.
We want to be known and remembered.
We want to fail nobly.
We don't want to shed any blood or tears in vain.
We want to be honored for trying.
We all have to try.
Even if it seems impossible we still must be brave.
Even If It's hard we have to give it our all and try our hardest until the end.
We might see others fail but we won't end up like them.
We must fight until the end.

Figurative Language In Poem
In this poem the poet uses a simile to show how he doesn't want to end up beaten and battered like a wild animal no one will care for nor remember in the line "If we must die-let it not be like hogs".

Theme Of Poem
The theme of the poem is that no one wants to lose and be forgotten.

Invictus By:William Ernest Henley

About The Poet

William Ernest Henley was born on August 23 1849 in Gloucester England.He was a poet a critic and a editor.He died July 11 19503.

Summary Of Poem
This poem is about how we control our fate.Nothing can hurt us unless we let it.Even when it seems bad we have to remember we control our lives.

Paraphrase Of Poem Lines
Out of nowhere.
Small and unnoticeable
I'm thankful for my strength and knowledge of my unconquerable soul.

I never cower away no matter how bad the situation.
I have felt the pain but i don't let it get to me.

Beyond pain there is the truth.
So I am not scared.
I know nothing can surpass me since I am in charge of me.
Because I control me.

Figurative Language In Poem
In the poem invictus the poet uses a metaphor to show how he controls his future and how he is in charge of it in the line "I am the master of my fate".

Theme Of Poem
This poem is about how we can determine our selves and our future no matter what.

Personal Commentary
This poem is very famous and well-known. I've read it and heard people talk about it a lot.It is famous because it is motivating and it can easily be related to by most.

We Wear The Mask By Paul Laurence Dunbar

About The Poet

Paul Lawrence Dunbar was born on June 27 1872.He was the first nationally-accepted African American writer.In 1900 he was diagnosed with tuberculosis.He died February 9 1906 at the age of 33.

Summary Of Poem
"We Wear The Mask" is about the way we all change our face and personalities when our surroundings change.We don't want people to know we are sad and melancholy because of what others put us through.

Paraphrase Of Poem Lines
We look as though we are something that we are not.
We show a completely different face than what our emotions feel.
We put up that face to hide the pain others put us through.
We try our best to smile.
We say a thousand unnoticed lies.

The world sometimes figures out our lies.
So we lie even more.

We smile but our true feelings sometimes show.
We sing but our true feelings sometimes show.
We lie to the world and they believe us.

Figurative Language In Poem
This poem uses a hyperbole to express how serious the mask is and exaggerate it's power in the line "With torn and bleeding hearts we smile".


Theme Of Poem
The theme of the poem is how we pretentiously put up a front acting as if we are okay when we are not.We act like we are something we are not.

Personal Commentary
I like this poem because it is about something almost everyone can relate to.Everyone does it even when they don't think they are doing it. This poem was written by one of  America's most famous African-American poets.Even though Paul Laurence Dunbar didn't live long his poetry will be read for a very long time.

The Road Not Taken By:Robert Frost

About The Poet

Robert Frost was born on March 26 1874 in San Francisco California.He was a poet and a playwright.His first poem was "My Butterfly,My Elegy" and his last poem was "The Prophets Really Prophesy as Mystics the Commentators Merely by Statistics," .He died on January 29 1963 in Boston Massachusetts.

Summary Of Poem
The Road less traveled by is about the decisions we have to make in life.Most people take the easy road but,some people take the less traveled by road.The ones that take the easy road soon wish they had taken the other road but, the ones that take the other road soon reap the benefits.


Paraphrase Of Poem Lines
There are two options.
Sorry I can't take both,
So I looked down one path for a long time,
so long I couldn't look any longer.

Then I took the other path that was just as long.
It could be more beneficial.
It was beautiful and looked unused.
People who had taken the easier path
had not known the difference between the two.

I walked down the beautiful path few had traveled before.
I will always remember the journey.
I know I will have to make this decision again.
Though I won't end up in the same exact situation again.

I will tell others again and again.
The two options I had
and I took the better option
And it has changed me for the better.

Figurative Language In Poem
The poet used personification in this poem to show how easy it would be to choose which ever option he wanted and how they were right in front of him in the line"And both that morning equally lay"

Theme Of Poem
The theme of the poem is that there are always going to be two options with outcomes. You can choose which ever option you want but you can't choose the out come.If you take the path others don't you will be rewarded.

Personal Commentary
I've heard and read this poem a lot of times in the past. It is a good poem by one of America's most famous poets Robert Frost.This poem can help people in life because everybody has to choose between two options from time to time.