The Day Millicent Found the World

The Day Millicent Found the World
William Stafford

Every morning Millicent ventured farther
into the woods. At first she stayed
near light, the edge where bushes grew, where
her way back appeared in glimpses among
dark trunks behind her. Then by farther paths
or openings where giant pines had fallen
she explored ever deeper into
the interior, till one day she stood under a great
dome among columns, the heart of the forest, and knew:
Lost. She had achieved a mysterious world
where any direction would yield only surprise.

And now not only the giant trees were strange
but the ground at her feet had a velvet nearness;
intricate lines on bark wove messages all
around her. Long strokes of golden sunlight
shifted over her feet and hands. She felt
caught up and breathing in a great powerful embrace.
A birdcall wandered forth at leisurely intervals
from an opening on her right: “Come away, Come away.”
Never before had she let herself realize
that she was part of the world and that it would follow
Wherever she went. She was part of its breath.

Aunt Dolbee called her back that time, a high
voice tapering faintly among the farthest trees,
Milli-cent! Milli-cent! And that time she returned,
but slowly, her dress fluttering along pressing
back branches, her feet stirring up the dark smell
of moss, and her face floating forward, a stranger’s
face now, with a new depth in it, into the light.

*I tried to incorporate a lot of poetry words, so I apologize if this doesn't sound very deep because I was focusing on using fancy words. :)

"The Day Millicent Found the World" by William Stafford consists of three stanzas. Each stanza depicts different parts of the story. One of the things I noticed when I read the poem is the lines are end stopped because each line is not a complete thought and runs to the next line. I found this technique difficult to read the first time but as I continued to read and read it a second time, I noticed it became less challenging. The author's syntax varies, from incredibly long and descriptive sentences to short, one lines sentences. I also noticed that the poem has no rhyme scheme because it feels like the author is telling a story, so the thoughts just flow rather than have the traditional sound of rhyming poetry. Throughout the poem, Stafford uses a few literary devices. The most noticeable device was personification. He personifies the forest in every stanza to give it human like qualities and make it appear more friendly rather than an eerie forest.

Desert Places

Desert Places by Robert Frost contains four stanzas, all quatrains. In this poem, Robert Frost is telling the story of his feelings upon observing a field covered with snow. As the poem flows, the reader discovers that Frost's feelings towards the emptiness of the field are a reflection of his own isolation and depression. In the second stanza, Frost uses personification to exemplify the loneliness of the field. "The woods have it-it is theirs." In this phrase, Frost is acknowledging that the surrounding woods are all that possess the field which shows the extent of the loneliness of the snow covered field. Frost also utilizes the color of the snow to emphasize his isolation. "A blanker whiteness of benighted snow With no expression of, nothing to express." In this passage, Frost is referring to how blank and empty the color of snow is and it has no expression which he then reflects on himself by saying "nothing to express." The last stanza is when Frost outwardly states his depression. "They cannot scare me with their empty spaces Between stars-on stars where no human race is. I have it in me so much nearer to home To scare myself with my own desert places." Here, he is saying that the desert places of the universe do not frighten him because he has empty space inside him.

Sort of a Song

The initial thing I noticed about this poem was the structure and the length of the lines. The lines vary from long to short and are very end stopped so it makes the reader pause in thought. The variance in structure is what ties the title into the poem, Sort if a Song. The poem is structured like a song and flows somewhat like a song, and in historic times, poetry was used to tell stories through songs. In the second stanza, Williams uses very odd syntax. Instead of beginning the second stanza with a capital letter and a sentence, he placed a dash to create a tie between the two stanzas so the reader would understand their connection. He also has two single word sentences which provide big emphasis on those two ideas, and he put parenthesis around another idea to show a more passive emphasis that idea.

In the first stanza, Williams uses the snake as a symbol of poets. "Let the snake live under his weed and the writing be of words, slow and quick, sharp to strike, quiet to wait sleepless." In this stanza, Williams is describing poets as snakes. They wait and watch the world. Then when an idea comes to them they are "sharp to strike" their words to paper, and after they recede back to their "weed" “quiet and sleeplessly” waiting for another epiphany. The second stanza then talks about how poets connect with others and the world. "-through metaphor to reconcile the people and the stones. Compose. (No ideas but in things) Invent! Saxifrage is my flower that splits my rocks. Williams talks of how poets connect "the people" together through metaphor because "reconcile" means to bring into agreement or harmony. In that sentence, the dash shows the connection to the first stanza, and, therefore, makes the reader realize that Williams is meaning to show that poets are the ones reconciling with out having to directly say it. Then Williams makes the assertion that there are no new ideas except in tangible things and challenges people to "compose" and "invent." The last sentence was the most striking to me and ties the two stanzas together. Saxifrage is a flower that grows in between rocks and cracks them. In this sentence, Williams is saying that even the smallest ideas can change the world just like how something so fragile like a flower can split a strong, sturdy rock in half.

*Oh and I commented on Natillie's and Correy's blog.

It was a dream

I think this poem has to be taken for its literal meaning. There are no similes or metaphors no hidden meaning. I do not think we have to beat this poem with a stick to discover its true meaning. I think the fact that we don't have to do this and that the author, Lucille Clifton, being so straight forward and honest makes the poem so much deeper and leaves a stringer mark on the reader. The first thing I noticed was that there capitalized letters except in the last line, "This. This. This.", when the "greater self" is telling the dreamer the things he or she could have done differently. I think capitalizing these letters was important because it puts emphasis on the last line and really makes the poem stick in your mind and thing about the things you could have done differently. This poem was definitely easy to relate to. I sometimes look back at my almost eighteen years of existence and wonder how things would be or if I would be a different person if I had done things differently. However, I felt like this poem dwelled in the past and looked at the things the dreamer had done as all pessimistic. I think we should look at our past and not always think "what if" in a negative way because our choices define who we are and whatever mistakes we made can always be atoned for as long as we learn from them.

Alone

Alone by Edgar Allan Poe talks about Poe's tragedies and sorrows. This poem shapes Poe's life because his father abandoned them, his mother died of consumption, and his wife died of tuberculosis. So it's only natural for Poe to write these depressing types of poems. The last few lines of this poem are the lines that stood out the most to me. "From the thunder, and the storm- And the cloud that took form (When the rest of Heaven was blue) Of a demon in my view-" Here, I thought Poe was saying that everyone else saw angels not demons and their Heaven was good and blue while Poe only saw a demon. In this section from the poem, it was the diction that conveyed the sense of Heaven and Hell to me. The words "thunder" and "storm" give images of darkness and gloom. "And the cloud that took form" this part reminded me of those days where you always feel like you have a "cloud" hanging over your head which is most likely how Poe felt with all that death surrounding him. The next part (When the rest of Heaven was blue) stood out to me because its the only part in parenthesis. This structure makes it seem like Poe's Heaven is different than everyone else. Finally, Poe's use of the word "demon" even further sets apart Poe's idea of Heaven. because it refers to Hell.

The Book

The Book by Miller Williams

I held it in my hands while he told the story.

He had foound it in a fallen bunker,
a book for notes with all the pages blank.
He took it to keep for a sketchbook and diary.

He learned years later, when he shpwed the book
to an old bookbinder, who paled, and stepped back
a long step and told him what he held,
what he had laid the days of his life in.
It's bound, the binder said, in human skin.

I stood turning it over in my hands,
turning it inmy head. Human skin.

What child did this skin fit? What man, what
woman?
Dragged still full of its flesh from what dream?

Who took it iff the meat? Some other one
who stayed alive by knowing how to do this?
I starred at the changing book and a horror grew,
I starred and a horror grew, which was, which is,
how beautiful it was until I knew.

This poem really struck me. It left more of a mark on me than any other poem we have read in this class. It begins with someone telling a person the story of his discovery of a mysterious book with blank pages. Then the author, Miller Williams, tells the true nature of the book. That it is bound by human skin. Finally, the person holding the book is struck with horror as he or she finally realizes the book's real meaning. The first stanza stood out to me because it is only one line. "I held it in my hands while he told me the story." I think the one lined stanza is a symbol for the book because it is one of a kind and different from any other book because it is made of "human skin." I'm not sure if the author means for the book to be literally made out of human skin though or if the book is even a book. I think the book is a symbol for the lies that people unkowningly build their lifes on, when people turn the other way and do not understand what people have done and do to other people. "An old book keeper... told him what he held, what he had laid the days of his life in. It's bound... in human skin." This part was when I first thought the book was a symbol rather than an actual book. "What child did this skin fit? What man, what woman? Dragged still full of its flesh from what dream? Who took it off the meat? Some other one who stayed alive by knowing how to do this?" This part is reffering to the people who stole dreams from other people, who robbed them of their chance. This part was also where I saw the significance of the blank pages. The blank pages are a symbol of the people who were "dragged" still full of life from their dreams and never got to lay their life down in a book. The last stanza is what realy hit home for me. "I starred at the changing book and a horror grew, I starred and a horror grew, which was, which is, how beautiful it was until I knew." This really hit me because I could relate this to so many situations past and present. When I was reading this poem, I kept relating it to slavery. I kept thinking of the thousands of men, women, and children who were dragged from their dreams so other people could build a life for themselves. "The book" is horrific because you think something so very horrible is incredibly beautiful until you understood its true nature.

Of Mere Being

I really enjoyed the discussion we had in class about this poem because it was interpreted so many different ways, and everyone had somewhat different meanings or images from the poem. Of Mere Being by Wallace Stevens talks about a bird in a palm and the feelings involved with it. Several people take this poem for its literal meaning. There is just a bird in a palm. It is just there. This thought does go along with the title, Of Mere Being, but, to me Stevens conveys a different meaning through his diction. The first two lines of the poem were initial indicators that this poem wasn't just about a bird in a palm. "The palm at the end of the mind, Beyond the last thought," These two lines seem like the author is referring to a dream or something not conceivable in the mind with "at the end of the mind," and "Beyond the last thought." Then the author goes on to describe the bird and the palm. He uses words such as "gold-feathered," "bronze decor," and "fire-fangled feathers" these words make me think of a phoenix which is a mythical creature which makes me think even more that this poem is not just about a bird and a palm because a phoenix is not a real bird.
I remember in class people were debating the idea if whether or not this poem is about faith or not. There were two parts of this poem that make me believe this poem was, indeed, about faith. The first is in the second stanza, "A gold feathered bird Sings in the palm, without human meaning, Without human feeling, a foreign song." I think this part is talking about faith because humans cannot describe the meaning of faith or the feeling of it, because of this, I believe the author is using the bird as a symbol for faith. The second part is in the last stanza, "The palm stands on the edge of space." Heaven is typically referred to as above the earth, so when Stevens says "on the edge of space" I think he is referring to the palm as a symbol of Heaven.