Jenny+S

http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/usn

[]

[]



Langston Hughes Dreams Hold fast to dreams For if dreams die Life is a broken-winged bird That cannot fly.

Hold fast to dreams For when dreams go Life is a barren field Frozen with snow.

Analysis: Hold onto your dreams, and do not let them go. Giving up on your dreams is basically dying. This poem has rhyme for lines 2 and 4 for each stanza. Metaphor is in it. Life is a barren field frozen with snow. This means that a life without dreams is boring and empty.

Mark Strand Eating Poetry

Ink runs from the corners of my mouth. There is no happiness like mine. I have been eating poetry.

The librarian does not believe what she sees. Her eyes are sad and she walks with her hands in her dress.

The poems are gone. The light is dim. The dogs are on the basement stairs and coming up.

Their eyeballs roll, their blond legs burn like brush. The poor librarian begins to stamp her feet and weep.

She does not understand. When I get on my knees and lick her hand, she screams.

I am a new man. I snarl at her and bark. I romp with joy in the bookish dark

Analysis: The author compares reading and taking in so much poetry to actually eating it. He is saying he takes in so much poetry that he is happy. The Librarian does not understand why he takes in so much poetry. He is saying reading poetry makes him a whole new person. Poetic Device: Imagery is when the ink is running from the corners of the authors mouth. Also when it talks about the librarian's eyes sad and the person walking with with her hands in her dress.

Shel Silverstein The Loser Mama said I'd lose my head if it wasn't fastened on. Today I guess it wasn't 'cause while playing with my cousin it fell off and rolled away and now it's gone.

And I can't look for it 'cause my eyes are in it, and I can't call to it 'cause my mouth is on it (couldn't hear me anyway 'cause my ears are on it), can't even think about it 'cause my brain is in it. So I guess I'll sit down on this rock and rest for just a minute

Anaylsis: The mom is telling the kid he cannot lose his head because if he does, he will not be able to do anything without it. He can't see, can't talk, can't hear, can't think. Poetic Devices: Rhyme, Consonance: Can't... it..