second poem

O Captain! My Captain! - Walt Whitman

Within Walt’s writing the words used are used in a manner that is very old fashioned. The words were not unfamiliar but the contexts in which they are used were slightly confusing. Throughout the poem there was a lot of figurative language and lots of symbolism. The poem was written for Abraham Lincoln’s death and it shows a wide range of emotion from joy to sorrow. The joy was happiness about winning the war and freeing the slaves and at the end of the poem shows the sorrow and despair at what came from winning the war. He portrays Lincoln as a head of a great ship being America. Referring to the ships trip across the sea signifies the civil war and the drawing near to the end of it. He says, “rise up rise up” but the mention of the “pale and still lips” shows the Whitman realizes his great leader is dead. The sentences were long and complex and had old English thrown in to it. Some lines are long and some are short none are direct and none are simple. The poem is split up into three stanzas. At first the poem is cheerful and happy but as the poem nears the death of the captain and the realization of his death it turns dark and depressing. There is a sort of flow to the poem although there is no set rhyming pattern there is a rhythm whilst reading it that naturally occurs.

first poem

Noting Gold Can Stay - Robert Frost

The words are simple and straightforward. The poem feels slightly old fashioned with a contemporary twist to it.

There is a metaphor with in the poem without using like or as its saying that anything good and honest will eventually disappear and no longer exist.

The sentences are simple and direct.

The lines are short and the poem is not in stanzas.

The tone of the poem is at first sight light and airy but after analysis there is a feeling of darkness and hopelessness.

The last word of the first line rhymes with the last word of the second line and the last word of the third with the fourth and the fifth with the sixth.

It is very to the point and displays clearly what the writer want to portray.