2. This poem is dedicated to my mother,
Dear Mother,
Even thought we don’t have the best relationship, there are still many
things I must thank you for. And although we don’t have a good
relationship I don’t want you to think I don’t appreciate those things.
Although there is not much sentiment between us, I thought I might dig
deep to create this project for you.
Sincerely, Chawn
3. Messy Room by Shel Silverstein
Whosever room this is should be ashamed!
His underwear is hanging on the lamp.
His raincoat is there in the overstuffed chair,
And the chair is becoming quite mucky and damp.
His workbook is wedged in the window,
His sweater's been thrown on the floor.
His scarf and one ski are beneath the TV,
And his pants have been carelessly hung on the door.
His books are all jammed in the closet,
His vest has been left in the hall.
A lizard named Ed is asleep in his bed,
And his smelly old sock has been stuck to the wall.
Whosever room this is should be ashamed!
Donald or Robert or Willie or--
Huh? You say it's mine? Oh, dear,
I knew it looked familiar!
4. Messy Room was written by Shel Silverstein, Published in 1981 . This poem uses a lot
of imagery to describe the scene of a chaotic room or as you would say a room that
looks like a “ Tornado went through it.” His imagery helps to visualize the degusting
sights that he is viewing. “His underwear is hanging on the lamp. His raincoat is there
in the overstuffed chair…” Here Silverstein finds the perfect words and images to
describe clothes being out of place. Although a bit drastic, these line describe my
room to a certain extent. Silverstein knew that this poem would relate to many. His
hyperbole makes it more entertaining for the reader.
Silverstein uses an appalled tone while describing the images of the room. “Whosever
room this is should be ashamed!” This represents how much we view the mistakes of
others more than our own mistakes. We can very easily turn up our noses at other
people. By Silverstein using this hypercritical tone, he shines light on how one can
easily criticize although he knows he is not any better.
Rhyming appears to not be persistent in this poem and can be easily ignored
considering that the meter runs along smoothly. But he was clever. Every odd line
does not rhyme, while the evens lines do match. The rhyme scheme of the first twelve
lines is ABCBDEFEGHIH, then the rhyme stops at the thirteenth line.
I don’t think I need to mention why I added this poem, but I thought this “ Messy
Room” by Shel Silverstein is a nice humors poem based on a topic that you witness
every day. Silverstone focused on capturing his audience with his images and
focusing on the majority of people who have been hypercritical and who have a messy
room. He manages to tackle two subjects, by only directly discussing one.
5. No!- Chawn Christian
Ma can I please go?
It’s only a one night show.
I’ll be home real soon.
I go out every once in the blue moon.
For heaven’s sake you’ve made my bed time noon.
So can I please go and play
With Jonny, Ricky, Lu and Bobby Flay?
I promise you I won’t fall prey
To that creepy guy you saw the other day.
So ma can I please go
Ya know I’ll be the best kid there
Do something wrong?
I wouldn’t dare.
6. To come back and hear you yell?
I may as well spend a life sentence in jail.
I know you won’t post bail.
Cause here I belong
Cause I went along
With the kids who were doing everything wrong
But Ma ya know that won’t be me
You’re trust I hold to a high degree
So please Ma
Won’t you let me free
This here’s my final plea….
What’s that I hear?
I can go?
Oh never mind
it was just a big fat…
NO!
7. This poem is just a bit of humor about true circumstances. It makes light of
how often you and many other parents often say and have to say no to
their children.I thought you might find it funny. in the second stanza I say, “
Once in the blue moon.” I added this in because it is a favorite saying of
yours. I also added in a bit of hyperbole by saying, “For heaven’s sake
you’ve made my bed time noon.” To show how drastic of resistants and
constraints you sometimes show. When I say, “I promise you I won’t fall
prey, To that creepy guy you saw the other day.” I am poking fun at the
alertness you show towards everyone around. I am sure you notice, but if I
am or we are going out you will often say, “ You better watch out for that
man…” and sometimes I’ll respond in a, “ What… what are you talking
about, I saw no such person” manner.
I also mention how you know that I will be the best kid there, because I am
very respectful to others. This leads to me saying, “Do something wrong? I
wouldn’t dare. To come back and hear you yell?” I am poking fun at the fact
that I know if you hear that I have done the slightest thing that may not be
wrong, but you don’ like, I’ve just set my self up for what may as well be a
life sentence. “I know you won’t post bail. Cause here I belong. Cause I went
along. With the kids who were doing everything wrong.” I know you won’t
show sympathy, and that is “Just what I get.” The end expresses how
sometimes I have hope for a yes, but it’s a “ Yeah right” and a quick no.
8. The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
9. Robert Frost lived 1874–1963. “ Road not taken” was published in a group of poems called the “Mountain Interval” in 1920.
Robert Frost uses Iambic Pentameter to stress certain syllables of his poem to
increase its meaning and flow. Iambic Pentameter is when a line can be broken in
five parts containing two syllables each. Iambic Pentameter is a somewhat hard rule
to follow that takes a bit of “Line studying” to make sure one strictly follows the rule
as Frost has. His poem is broken into four stanzas. This was also strategically planed
to increase the flow and meaning of is poem. The four stanzas contain five lines
each follow an ABABA rhyme scheme.
This poem is often comprehended has two roads or paths of life that one must
follow. “Though as for that the passing there ,Had worn them really about the
same, and both that morning equally lay, In leaves no step had trodden black.” these
lines hint that both roads are equally worn, but at the end he returns to the thought
saying, “I took the one less traveled by,” convincing himself that road he chose was
the better one. He will not be sure which was better, because as he describes he will
probably not have a choice to go back and take the other road.
Frost describes this dilemma that many must face with the imagery of a fork in road.
This sets him up for describing himself has a traveler in the journey of life. He does
not directly say which road is better or worse, but it is a choice in life that one must
take. “I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh” the
traveler knows that once he makes his decision he can not change it. One can grasp
the idea that in this imagery Frost is saying, for better or for worse, once you choose
to follow a certain path in life, you most likely will not have the opportunity to
change it.
10. Society- Chawn Christian
You all ways told me don’t give into society
It was always against your upmost piety
You always say I think you’re wrong
And I always feel like I want to belong
But the truth is I’ve always understood
And I always knew it was for my own good
Although you really take it over the top
And somethings I wish you just drop
It isn’t the over protectiveness that makes me mad
Because I’ve never really wanted to follow the fad
So now I’ll say…
This poem’s about me and what I’ll become
Because of what you did when I was young.
11. This poem is about the things I have heard you say and will follow even though you
think I hate them. This is me saying once again that you are incorrect and I do not
think you are completely wrong for not letting be a “normal” kid. Even though we
don‟t have the best relationship I still appreciate some of the things you have done.
I don‟t always want to “fit in”. If I wanted to fit in or follow the fad, I can tell you I
wouldn‟t be me. I am sure most teens think my behavior is a bit wacky. Yes you do
really take it over the top to un-healthy levels, I have grown perfectly around this.
So now that I am older and very sarcastic and you think I want to be a “ Punk
rocker, messed up skate boarder” and I walk around calling everyone, “ Dude” I am
still usually the best kid in the room 70% of the time.
In simplicity this poem describes how even though we don‟t connect so greatly, you
are still apart of the reason I am the person I am today for better or for worse, and
hope to become the person I want to be. “You all ways told me don‟t give into
society It was always against your upmost piety”, I wrote these lines to express
how you always tell me how the majority of society is sinful which is why I shouldn‟t
follow its ways. Now I can see that following the crowd will not do me any good.
12. Ode to the strong- Christian
Ode to the strong who never looked down
You never let yourself drown
Under the sea of the world’s society
You never gave into the anxiety
From the sticks and stones
That never broke your bones
Or crushed your souls
You never let them steal your faith
Never overtaken by the wraith
Of the never ending past
Your voice will never be glassed… again.
It is only until you are at the height of fright that one can ever be
strong
That one can ever sing his song
And not go along
With popular choice
So here’s to forever strong
N e v e r t o b e a f f e c t e d by the massive throng.
13. I wrote “Ode to the strong “because I feel as though it resembles the person you
want me to be. Some where I think the direction was lost, but none the less you
made me see why being like everyone else is not something I want.
You can see that I wrote negative words, mostly “never,” to express a positive
meaning. “Under the sea of the world’s society, You never gave into the anxiety”
this is a more interesting way of putting, “ to the ways of the world, you never gave
in” or “ You never broke under peer pressure.” These lines resemble the way you
have raised me not to go along with everyone else.
I interrupt the flow of the poem by saying, “Your voice will never be glassed… again”
And I continue to build from this line. It means although she will not always be
strong, she will gain strength over time. Even thought she may make a mistake she
will not continue making those mistakes.
“It is only until you are at the height of fright that one can ever be strong” I read a
line similar to this one in a fable. Fear encourages strength. I know that the people
that have looked down on you , teased you, harassed you have molded you into
who you are today.
14. .
I know why the caged bird sings by Maya Angelou
A free bird leaps on the back
Of the wind and floats downstream
Till the current ends and dips his wing
In the orange suns rays
And dares to claim the sky.
But a BIRD that stalks down his narrow cage
Can seldom see through his bars of rage
His wings are clipped and his feet are tied
So he opens his throat to sing.
The caged bird sings with a fearful trill
Of things unknown but longed for still
And his tune is heard on the distant hill for
The caged bird sings of freedom.
The free bird thinks of another breeze
And the trade winds soft through
The sighing trees
And the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright
Lawn and he names the sky his own.
But a caged BIRD stands on the grave of dreams
His shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
His wings are clipped and his feet are tied
So he opens his throat to sing.
The caged bird sings with
A fearful trill of things unknown
But longed for still and his
Tune is heard on the distant hill
For the caged bird sings of freedom.
15. Angelou’s use of what might be called indirect metaphors creates more meaning to
the poem, because by doing this she found a connections between her life and the
life of a Caged bird. The poem is also the connection of not just Angelou, but the
minority races. The poem in simplicity is a metaphor consisting of two birds. One
birds is free and allowed to live life as it pleases while the other is trapped and
restrained and not allowed to flourish. “But a bird that stalks down his narrow cage
can seldom see through his bars of rage his wings are clipped and his feet are tied.”
This imagery is her describing how she is unable to express her full potential. Her
wings have been clipped, the people around her have taken away her rights and
freedom. “For the caged bird sings of freedom” this final line expresses how there is a
plea, longing, and want of freedom and equality that the minority races pray for.
The first four stanzas are based in comparing a caged bird and a free bird. Each gets
its own stanzas to describe it’s luxuries or struggles. By doing this Angelou allows you
to fully think of the differences and injustices taking place. The final two stanzas
focus on how even though the caged bird is tortured he still has a voice to cry out.
I know why the cage bird sings was written in 1969. Angelou was experiencing racism
first hand. She viewed how her friends were discriminated upon. This poem is a
reflection of her life and experiences with her differences in society. By writing this
poem Angelou is singing, expressing the hope that her wishes will be delivered, and
addressing the problems she wishes will be no more.
16. Animals- Christian
You know there’s nothing more I love than animals.
You’ve always found it a bit strange
And wished that I acted a bit normal
But the truth is I’ll never change
Anything else just wouldn’t be formal
For a girl who knows what a pangolin is.
Birds, reptiles, mammals
You’ll try them all on your dinner plate
it’s the one thing that I hate
And I’ll tell straight
“Animals are my love”
Humans are fine
But they’re less kind
Animals are the way to go,
but what about the world?
You’ll just sit back while the pollutants grow
And I’ll never know why you don’t care
Same interest we’ll never share
You’ll send a prayer
I’ll watch the hare
How about a new Recycling bin?
I think we should really give it a spin.
As long as it’s not made of animal skin.
17. This was meant to be another humors poem about how you and I have different
views. “You know there’s nothing more I love than animals. You've always found it
a bit strange” this describes how you have always thought that my love of animals
is a little wacky, and so do other “normal” people.
The second stanza is focusing on how although I love animals and do not eat
them, you love them just the same when you are planning on eating them. People
around me often joke about how they love animals… on their plates so I thought I
would mention this.
In the thirds stanza I say animals are my love; humans are fine, but they are less
king. This reflects of how you often criticizes me about how I favor animals over
humans
In the fourth stanza I interrupt the animal theme then focus on the world because
it is another topic you do not understand about me. “You’ll send a prayer
I’ll watch the hare” this means that while you are reading your bible, I will be
focusing on an animal encyclopedia.
The final stanza is me adding in some serious humor about that recycling bin I’ve
been suggesting.
I know this poem will probably will make you, “ Shake your head” and that is why I
added it.
18. . Does my… upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got
diamonds At the meeting of my
thighs?
Out of the huts of history's
shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in
pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and
wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in
the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror
and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's
wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my
ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of
the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.
Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.
Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.
Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.
You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.
Still I Rise by Maya Angelou
19. This is yet another poem by Angelou that shows her strength even though she
has been put down many times. Still I rise was published in 1978.
She uses rhyme and repetitive phases in her poem to increase the meaning
of her power and victory. She describes how her and her race have been
oppressed, but still they manage to rise. Again in this poem she does not
directly address the subject matter. "You may write me down in history with
your bitter, twisted lies,” one can immediately infer that she may be referring
to a person. As you read on she says, “Up from a past that's rooted in pain I
rise” by now you can probably tell she is referring to race, this line describes
how her people have a sad past, but one they will not let keep them down.
Her similes are key to this poem. They not only help to represent her
oppression and victory they also work with the imagery. “Shoulders falling
down like teardrops” and “„Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines” are prime
examples of how Angelou uses similes to show her emotions in an upright
proud manner. These create pictures of low and sad images to rich and
proud images. She creates a voice of confidence because she has risen. By
saying still I rise, it creates an idea of the feature and how soon she and her
people will no longer be oppressed.
Angelou uses questions to begin stanzas two, four, five and six. There is a
reference to “You” and the reader is forced to follow along with the poem in
20. A Friend like an Oak tree.
I wonder how you stand so tall, dear oak tree
Everything around you seems so small
But it is not thy massive height
Or that I cannot hug you tight, with fingers clasp
Dear oak tree you don’t fade away like friends of the past
My fathers and forefathers have dwelled in your company
And although you are so vast
Never have you made me feel meager.
In your presences I am eager to learn your stories
But secrets of the past dwellers, you will never share
A true friend you are
Taking such good care of your friends
As you carry them in your arms,
And protect them for the scorch
A true friend indeed dear oak tree
Continue spreading such glee.
21. I wrote A Friend Like an Oak Tree because I think it resembles the kind of
friend you want me to have. “Dear oak tree you don’t fade away like friends of
the past” this is saying that friends are not usually there for the long hall, but
a true friend is. “Never have you made me feel meager” as a true friend the
oak tree never makes it’s friends feel less than. You always say, “ Don’t try to
make someone feel less than you” so I thought this line resembled your
saying.
“In your presences I am eager to learn your stories but secrets of the past
dwellers, you will never share” this is saying true friends don’t gossip. You tell
me, “ Don’t get a friend who is going to talk about you the moment you get
up.” Secrets, a true friend will never share.
I combined your teachings about true friends, with an object that resemble
strength and longevity. You will travel through life through thick and thin with
a true friend. A true friend will be good, one that cares for and protects you.
The long arms of an oak tree resemble how a friend will reach out there arms
to help you. These are characteristics you have taught me.
22. Hector the Collector- Shel Silverstein
Hector the Collector
Collected bits of string,
Collected dolls with broken heads
And rusty bells that would not ring. Bent-up nails and ice-cream sticks,
Twists of wires, worn-out tires,
Paper bags and broken bricks.
Old chipped vases, half shoelaces,
Gatlin' guns that wouldn't shoot,
Leaky boasts that wouldn't float
And stopped-up horns that wouldn't toot. Butter knives that had no handles,
Copper keys that fit no locks
Rings that were too small for fingers,
Dried-up leaves and patched-up socks.
Worn-out belts that had no buckles,
'Lectric trains that had no tracks,
Airplane models, broken bottles,
Three-legged chairs and cups with cracks.
Hector the Collector
Loved these things with all his soul--
Loved them more then shining diamonds,
Loved them more then glistenin' gold.
Hector called to all the people,
"Come and share my treasure trunk!"
And all the silly sightless people
Came and looked ... and called it junk.
23. Hector the Collector is a poem included in one of Shel Silverstein’s books, Where the
side walk ends, published in 1974. This poem is meant to grasp the attention of young
readers. Therefore Silverstein is forced to choose a subject and words that children
will be intrigued by. He does this with absurdity and imagery.
Each line in Hector the Collector ends with a noun. Usually the noun is an object
Hector has collected or it is in relation to the object Hector has collected. This means
that in each line of the first three stanzas the readers learns of an item Hector is
collecting. This encourages the reader to continue reading to find out what other
wacky items Hector Collects.
Hectors rhyme is not consistent ,this encourages the reader to read faster, but also
makes the poem’s flow less steady. Although it may not seem so at first there is a good
connection with the uneasy flow to the theme. Without the constant rhyme the
reader is more aware of how odd and different the objects are that Hector collects.
Because the objects have little to do with each other a child or any other reader would
find bouncing from bricks to shoelaces very strange. You can not get too comfortable
reading the poem until the final stanza so the “wonder” decreases a bit just in time for
the final climax, “Junk.”
Silverstein also creates imagery by describing what the objects could not do, “Gatlin'
guns that wouldn't shoot, Leaky boasts that wouldn't float” you begin to think of
these items and an instant thought of uselessness occurs. The absurdity increases.
Silverstein makes you want to agree with the people who call it “Junk” by adding the
in the negative words. It is tactical way to persuade the thoughts of his audience.
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