Death, be not proud

This poem is patterned in three groups of four ines followed by two couplets. The first group of four lines states that many see death as nightly and powerful but the speaker says this is not true. The nest two groups provide example of this. The speaker says death looks like sleep and sleep brings us pleasure. The speaker also says that death is ruled by chance, kings, war, and sickness and because of this these things are more mighty than death. The last two couplets say how the speaker knows that death will be short and then he will move on to eternal life where he will no longer have to worry about death. This poem ends with the paradox, "death, thou shalt die." Meaning that when we are in eternal life and no longer concerned with death, death will be dead.

Lonely Hearts

This poem is set up in the form of a villanelle. It repeats the questions Can someone make my simple wish come true? and Do you live in North London is it you? From this you can infer that the tone is desperate. This poem refers to the Personals portion of the newspaper in which people solicit companionship from others. The poem's title "Lonely Hearts" is an explanatory title because it is saying that all of these people are lonely and looking for companionship. the types of people in these poems are often stereotyped and avoided. these include Gays, bisexuals, Jewish, inexperienced, etc. While these people are often judged differently and set apart they are still seeking the same thing as every other person in the world.

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

The Pattern in this poem is very distinct. Two lines are used at the beginning of the poem then repeated as the last line of each stanza, repeated back and forth with another one. then in the last stanza both lines are combined to make a coherent sentence. This poem is a son speaking to his dying father. He talks of different people who are dying and encourages his father to be as strong as them and not die. The poem also uses many paradoxical expressions such as "dark is Right" line 4, "blinding sight" line 13, and curse, bless me now" line 17. These contribute to the poems meaning. The wise man knows that the dark is right. Grave men see the blinding sight, or heaven. These techniques and patterns contribute to the poem's purpose and the story behind its characters.

Edward

This poem is set with a man speaking with his mother. He tells her of the bad things he has done such as killing his hawk, his steed, and his father. the first two stanzas the man is lying. in the third stanza he admits to killing his father. it might be assumed thats the mother wanted him to kill his father or she told him to kill his father. the mother wanted the wealth and now the man feels guilty, the poem gets less innocent as it goes on. The poem uses a specific pattern. There is a repetition of Edward, Edward and Mother Mother which allows the reader to know who is speaking. Also The last line of each speach has an "O" letting the reader know that that person is done speaking and a new topic is coming up. The pattern through out this poem allows the reader to avoid confusion and lets them learn more about the characters.

Batter My Heart Three-personed God

This is a poem taht any religious person can relate to. All humans are sinners. We are constantly confronted with temptation. However, the author or speaker of this poem seem to have hit rock bottom. He claims to be married to the devil and wants God to save him. He says," Divorce me, unite or break that knot agian" The speaker obviouse feels that he must be punished inorder for him to repent. He uses paradox to describe his need for God. For example, he says he can not be free unless God imprisions him. This poem/prayer seems very desperate to me and heart-felt. The Speaker prays for God to save him and bring him closer to him.

Next to of course God America I

The format, or syntax, of the poem is especially important to the meaning. This poem has very little to no punctuation. This leads to the belief that this is being sad very quickly with no concern toward the reader's comprehension. The man being quoted begins his speech with phrases from patriotic songs followed my paradoxical word that point out how Americans should not really be so patriotic. For example he says, "why talk of beauty what could be more beautiful than these heroic dead" This line points out that we are at home talking about the war and being patriotic there are men who are dead because of it and there is no beauty in that.

Much Madness is Divinest Sense

This poem, Like Barbie Doll, also is critisizing society's view on uniquness. Society is the opinion of the majority of people. The poem claims that if you agree with society's beliefs then society will say you are sane. However, the author says that in reality, the person who forms their own opinion is actually the sane one who thinks on their own. This poem uses the paradox, madness equals sense while sense equals madness, to prove a point. IF people always alow others to make decisions for them then they have given up their own thinking process and are there for mad. This was an interesting idea that can easily be realated back to The Barbie Doll peom. If the girl were never told by society athat she was ugly she may have been able to make the decision to be happy with herself and would not have given up her uniqueness.