War is King by Stephen Crane

Do not weep, maiden, for war is kind,
Because your lover threw wild hands toward the sky
And the affrighted steed ran on alone,
Do not weep.
War is kind.

Hoarse, booming drums of the regiment,
Little souls who thirst for fight,
These men were born to drill and die.
The unexplained glory flies above them.
Great is the battle-god, great, and his kingdom--
A field where a thousand corpses lie.

Do not weep, babe, for war is kind.
Because your father tumbles in the yellow trenches,
Raged at his breast, gulped and died,
Do not weep.
War is kind.

Swift blazing flag of the regiment,
Eagle with crest of red and gold,
These men were born to drill and die.
Point for them the virtue of slaughter,
Make plain to them the excellence of killing
And a field where a thousand corpses lie.

Mother whose heart hung humble as a button
On the bright splendid shroud of your son,
Do not weep.
War is kind! 


Paraphrasing: 

War is kind

Do not cry, woman, because war is kind

Because your lover threw his hands to the sky

And the frightened horse ran away alone

Do not cry.

War is kind.

Rough, booming drums of the regiment,

Young men who desire for war,

They were born to run their drills then go to battle and die.

They are inexplicably glorified for their fight,

Great is the battle god, great, and his kingdom

A field where a thousand dead bodies lie.

Do not cry, child, because war is kind.

Because your dad drove into the trenches,

beaten by war he died,

Do not cry,

War is kind. 

Flying flag of there troop,

With red and gold crest, 

These men were born to fight and die. 
Commend them for they are going to kill others,
Show them how excellent it is that they are killing,
and their splendors a field of a thousand corpses. 


Mother whose heart is heaving with mourning, 
On the great deeds of your son, 
Do not cry,
War is kind!


Initial Reaction: 
This poem is satirical, but blunt. It changes the tone of war from a somber, heavy one to a light and joyous one. Telling the wives and children of lost soldiers not to cry, for the murder and death that ensues during war is a great thing. It's an honor to die and excellent to kill. Don't cry, because the loss of a loved one in war is a good thing, is essentially what the poem is saying. 


SWIFTT:
Crane repeats the odd phrase “war is kind” in many stanzas to further satirize the hostile entity. Crane uses long sentences in the poem, which is also somewhat lengthy itself. Crane uses war-time imagery, “Hoarse, booming drums of the regiment…” to show the gruesomeness of war. The “eagle with crest of red and gold” is a symbol of America in the war. The young men fight for this symbol and for the freedom of America, but the men think that they have no choice in the war. There is no usage of simile or metaphor. However, there is an allusion to both Lucifer and Ares, the god of the underworld and the god of battle: “Great is the battle-god, great, and his kingdom-- A field where a thousand corpses lie.” There is irony in which war is seemingly glorified, however Crane goes on to explain that war is a pointless battle in which men are killed for something they feel forced into. Crane uses alliteration in the line, "heart hung humble." The tone of this song is bitter and sarcastic. Men go into the military thinking it is their obligation; their deaths are predetermined. The theme of “War is Kind” is glorification of death at war and outrage about Crane’s world. War in fact isn't kind at all. Man is at the mercy of fate and does not have a choice in the matter. 


Conclusion: 

Further analysis of the poems shows that Crane's satirizing of war is truly bitter. He is so angry with war that he juxtaposes it against words and situations that show how truly horrid it is. 

The Lamb By William Blake

Little Lamb, who made thee? 

Does thou know who made thee,

Gave thee life, and bid thee feed

By the stream and o’er the mead;

Gave thee clothing of delight,

Softest clothing, woolly, bright;

Gave thee such a tender voice,

Making all the vales rejoice?

Little lamb, who made thee?

Does thou know who made thee?

Little lamb, I’ll tell thee;

Little lamb, I’ll tell thee:

He is callèd by thy name,

For He calls Himself a Lamb.

He is meek, and He is mild,

He became a little child.

I a child, and thou a lamb,

We are callèd by His name.

Little lamb, God bless thee!

Little lamb, God bless thee!

Paraphrasing:

Who created you, Little Lamb? Do you know who made you, gave you life and fed you, by the water, gave you beautiful clothing, soft clothing; gave you voice, made everyone rejoice? Who created you, Little Lamb? Do you know who made you? Little Lamb, I'll tell you, Little Lamb, I'll tell you: he has the same name as you, he also calls himself the Lamb. He is humble, and he is kind, he is a little child. I am a child, and you are a lamb, we also have his name. Little Lamb, God loves you! Little Lamb, God loves you!

Initial Reaction:

This poem is an interesting one. On it surface, it oddly seems to be questioning and describing a lamb created by God. I feel that the mention of the lamb and God is some kind of homage to God and his Christian followers. It seems as though Blake is comparing God's followers to lambs, to mindless followers. The poem is clearly highly religious and seems to even allude to the birth of baby Jesus. 

SWIFTT:

Blake separates his questions to the lamb from other parts of the poem. When he is directly speaking to the lamb he doesn't indent, to show contrast between the questions and the description. When Blake refers to God in the poem he capitalizes the first letter of the name God is called by to make it distinguishable. This is also intentionally done to allude back to the Bible where God is referred to as He. Blake uses a variety of complex and simple sentence structures in order to both pose the questions asked and to answer them. The first stanza is primarily comprised of the questions (often rhetorical) to the lamb. The second stanza is the reply filled with statements and exclamations. This poem uses the image of a lamb all throughout the poem. Blake is very descriptive when he describes the coat of the lamb by saying, “Softest clothing, woolly, bright”. Blake also invokes the senses when he says the lamb has such a “tender voice”. There are no similes in this poem, and there are very few actual uses of figurative language, but the entire poem is about comparing the lamb to Christ.The tone of the poem is happy, inquisitive, and religious. Blake is constantly asks questions throughout the first stanza, such as “Little lamb, who made thee?” The lamb itself in the poem is a symbol of Christ and throughout the second stanza Blake does a fantastic job of showing this. The major theme of this poem is the comparison of the little lamb to Christ and Christians. The Christ aspect is found in the comparison to baby Jesus, however, Blake then says that he and the lamb have the same name.

Conclusion:

My initial thoughts about the poem were correct. It's highly religious and is clearly talking about God and Jesus. To deepen the level of the poem, Blake brings himself into it, saying that he and the lab have the same name. That he is a lamb. yet also Christ is the lamb. That Blake and the other Christian "lambs" are the same. They are related because they are in-fact brothers and sisters in their "sharing of the same name". 

Musee des Beaux Arts By W. H. Auden

About suffering they were never wrong,
The Old Masters; how well, they understood
Its human position; how it takes place
While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along;
How, when the aged are reverently, passionately waiting
For the miraculous birth, there always must be
Children who did not specially want it to happen, skating
On a pond at the edge of the wood:
They never forgot
That even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course
Anyhow in a corner, some untidy spot
Where the dogs go on with their doggy life and the torturer's horse
Scratches its innocent behind on a tree.

In Breughel's Icarus, for instance: how everything turns away
Quite leisurely from the disaster; the ploughman may 
Have heard the splash, the forsaken cry,
But for him it was not an important failure; the sun shone
As it had to on the white legs disappearing into the green
Water; and the expensive delicate ship that must have seen
Something amazing, a boy falling out of the sky,
had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on. 


Paraphrasing:
The wise men understood the way of man- that life goes on even when odd things happen. Everyday things continue, such as eating, opening a window, or going for a walk. The wise men waited for Christ to be born, an event that some dreaded. Children went skating, unaware of the importance of this event. When Christ was crucified, the wise men never forgot. Somewhere the crucifier’s horse still carried the murderer.

In a piece of art by Breughel, everyone is doing their own thing and doesn’t notice a boy, Icarus, falling from the sky. A farmer may have heard the boy’s cry for help, but for him it was not a significant event in comparison to his work. Icarus’ foot sinks unnoticed. There were some people out on the water, possibly close by, but none of them noticed Icarus either. Everyone was too wrapped up in their own life to take notice Icarus falling from the sky and drowning in the water.


Initial Reaction:
The poem “Musee des Beaux Arts” seems to be about how people begin to feel as their grow old and their lives come to an end. I saw it as a poem about the story of life and also the human condition. How people are so unaware of each other, that as the old die in one place the young are being born in another. As someone opens a window in one place, someone is eating our dully walking somewhere else. What is perplexing about the poem is its allusion to the painting Icarus by Breughel. The painting depicts a boy being drowned and crying for help. A farmer hears his cry and ignores it, seeing the boy’s struggles as unimportant. Then, out of nowhere, a ship appears to save the boy and he is saved and sails away. This part of the poem is slightly harder to understand, but seems to point to the the state of human life as well. 

SWIFTT:

W. H. Auden uses different literary devices in the poem “Musee des Beaux Arts.” The title itself, “Musee des beaux Arts,” is French for museum of fine arts, foreshadowing the usage of a painting in Auden’s poem. The first section of the poem is longer than the second. Auden uses language that has to do with children because they are absorbed in activities that distract them from what is going on around them. For example, instead of saying especially, Auden says “specially.” “Musee des Beaux Arts” refers to a piece of art to describe a boy falling from the sky. There is religious imagery in that Christ is born and crucified: “…when the aged are reverently, passionately waiting for the miraculous birth”. There is no figurative language in the poem. It's a more direct approach to writing. Auden’s tone in the poem is nonchalant and goes with the flow, like what happens in “Musee des Beaux Art.” The tone is also contemptuous towards the ignorance and selfishness of mankind. The main theme of the poem is universal apathy, a universal indifference to things going on in human life. Humans are indifferent to the happenings around them and other’s suffering.

Conclusion:

Upon analysis of the poem, I feel that Auden descriptively and eloquently expressed the idea that  that mankind is indifferent to their surroundings. When I first read the poem, my interpretation wasn't really correct. However, after deep reading and further analysis of the lines of the poem and their meanings my thoughts on the poem have changed. This poem by Auden expresses the universal indifference that humans have adopted, ignoring everything but things that directly concerning them.

Siren Song by Margaret Atwood

This is the one song everyone;
Would like to learn: the song;
That is irresistible:

A song that forces men;
To leap overboard in groups;
Even though they see the beached skulls.

A song nobody knows;
Because anyone who had heard it;
Is dead, and the others can’t remember.
Shall I tell you the secret;
And if I do, will you get me;
Out of this trap?
I don’t enjoy it here;
Being trapped on this island
Looking beautiful like a goddess;
With these two crazy girls,
I don’t enjoy singing;
The three of us are deadly.

I will tell the secret to you,
To you, only to you.
Come closer.

This song is a cry for help: Help me!
Only you, only you can,
You are unique.

Finally,
it is a boring song;
but it works every time. 

Initial Reaction:

The title clearly gives away the surface meaning of the poem: it's about a siren. From past reading I knew what a siren was, so the mythological allusions made a lot of sense. At first reading it seems that the siren is unhappy and discontent with her life and a femme fatal. She didn't like her life as a creature who lures sailors to their death with her beautiful song. And she surely didn't like the company she kept, of two other sirens. Oddly, at the end of the poem the tone changes. The siren goes from sad and forlorn about her life of killing witless men to sinister. As though she is leading the poem's victim to his death as well. 

SWIFTT:

The author of the "Siren Song," Margaret Atwood uses syntax, diction, imagery, figurative language, tone, and theme in her to add complexity to the poem. The first two stanzas seem detached, while in the fourth stanza, there is a shift to first person point of view. The diction demonstrates a siren drawing men in. She says, “You are unique” so that the man feels special. The song is “irresistible,” something the man cannot live without and is drawn to like a magnet. When the siren pleads, “Help me,” she establishes a sense of friendship which takes advantage of the man’s vulnerability. Atwood uses bird imagery to refer to the two other sirens. The “feathery maniacs” are the other two sirens while the main siren claims she is in a “bird suit” as a way to fit in with the other sirens.There is no figurative language, no usage of simile, metaphor, or personification. However, there is an allusion to sirens, which are mythical creatures, disguised as beautiful women whose voices draw in men. Those men are usually killed, but sometimes they get free and forget the song thereafter.

The tone of the poem is manipulative, pleading, and sinister. The sirens are trying to draw the man in. They tell him he is “unique,” and that nobody else knows this secret song.

The theme of “Siren Song” is deception and manipulation. Three sirens trick a man, a sailor, into listening to their song, drawing him in so that they can eventually kill him.

Conclusion:

My initial thoughts on the poem were correct. It's about a shady Siren whose evil intentions are shrouded by her lustful and enticing allure. There are, however, some things that I missed when reading the poem. The "secret" that the Siren tries to whisper, her cry for help, is actually the song. This is not a story of a sad Siren, this is her luring an unsuspecting victim to his death. Even though the listener sees the skulls and the three feathery women, he will still jump to his death and the craggy rocks of the island shore. 

To Marguerite by Matthew Arnold

Yes! In the sea of life isolated like islands;
Being repeatedly separated;
Dotted across the wild sea;
We humans live alone.
The islands feel the tight grasp of the sea;
And yet they still realize their lack of limitation.


But when the moon illuminates their hollows;
And they are soothed by spring;
Nightingales sing divine songs of hope;
And their lovely sounds echo from shore to shore;
Across the sounds and channels of the sea.


Oh! Then great desire causes sadness;
That is sent to the farthest parts of the mind;
For certain, at some point in time,
We were all connected together
But now we are broken into pieces as water separates us;
I hope that we can mend our broken relationship in time.


Who ordered that our relationship
Should be ended just as fast as it started?
Whose desire was this?
A God, a God had his way!
And broke our islands into pieces. 


Initial Reaction: 
When I first read To Marguerite I could understand that we also somewhat of an allegory of love. That the islands were symbols of people, of lovers. The author, Matthew Around is saying that people like islands themselves because they are all alone. They make star off connected to each other, or even connect to each other later in life, but they will also be broken up by the water, they will always end up alone. The water also clearly represents life and conflict, as the islands are also being moved and changed by the water. In the poem's final stanza, Around questions who truly decides the fate of the islands. And why the connect (love) of the islands is broken. He answers himself that it is a God who puts the distance between all the people.  



SWIFTT:
The author's syntax and word choice have to do with the sea and words that have to do with islands and the sea. In the first stanza he uses words like shoreless, enisled,islands, flow. In the second stanza he makes references to the night and more nature. He mentions the spring which represents rebirth and new starts. He also mentions nightingales which represent good fortune. In the third stanza he talks about distances in land terms. He uses words such as caverns, continent, watery plain, marges. Then in the last stanza, he is talking about his desires and comparing them to a fire that would be kindled or cooled. Arnold uses a lot of imagery in this poem. For one, he uses the image of people being islands on their own. He uses the seas as images for vast distances and he uses fire as an image for longing and desires. The whole poem is a metaphor comparing people to islands isolated in a large sea. The tone of the poem is sad and expresses longing. Arnold is expressing his desires throughout the poem. The theme of the poem is that distance from your love can lead to total isolation. 


Conclusion: 
I think my initial reaction to the poem was very close to what I think he was trying to say. I understand that the islands were really people and that the poem was both ab out humanity as a whole and some love that Around shared with a girl. A love that he feels was broken apart by God. A love he hopes will be mended in time.