Poetry and Figurative Language paper
Aaron Smith
ENG/340
January 8, 2013
Nicole Svee Magann

Poetry and Figurative Language paper
From this week’s readings I have chosen the following three poems; “My grandmother’s love letters” by Hart Crane, “The road not taken” by Robert Frost, and “Richard Cory” by Edward Arlington Robinson.
My Grandmother’s Love Letters
By Hart Crane (1899-1932)
There are no stars tonight
But those of memory.
Yet how much room for memory there is
In the loose girdle of soft rain.
There is even room enough
For the letters of my mother’s mother,
Elizabeth,
That have been passed so long
Into the corner of the roof
That they are brown and soft,
And liable to melt as snow.
Over the greatness of such space
Steps must be gentle.
It is all hung by an invisible white hair.
It trembles as birch limbs webbing the air.
And I ask myself:
“Are your fingers long enough to play
Old keys that are but echoes:
Is the silence strong enough
To carry back the music to its source
And back to you again
As though to her?”
Yet I would lead my grandmother by the hand
Through much of what she would not understand;
And so I stumble. And the rain continues on the roof
With such a sound of gently pitying laughter. (Thiel, 2005, pp. 295-296)
The imagery in this poem is very rich and vivid. At the beginning I see a darkness that is beginning to be lite up by fond memories, like a candle getting brighter and brighter. I can hear rain falling on the roof at the same time. The granddaughter has found some letters, perhaps in an attic. The letters are old and brown with age. And with age paper becomes brittle and could fall apart without much help. As she starts to open the letters she comes to the realization that she must be very careful. She is questioning whether or not she should read it. The sound of the rain falling on the roof sounds to her like her grandmothers laughter.
Unfortunately I could only find a couple things that rhymed. And I believe they are of no importance. I think the line “is the silence strong enough” is a hyperbole; it is an exaggeration put proves the point that silence can be strong just not in a physical manner. I liked this poem because reading it made me think of my own grandmother who was a sweet and caring lady.
The Road Not Taken
By Robert Frost (1874 – 1963)
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 keep the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads onto 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. (Thiel, 2005, pp. 297 - 298)
As I started reading this poem, I pictured a man standing at a fork in the road. The setting is a forest, in the fall. The man stands for a long time looking down both paths. He knew he could not travel both paths as a single person, and he would have to choose which on to take. He decided to take the one less traveled. Once he started down the path he chose he knew he would not be back to try the other road. Basically he had made his decision and had to stick with it. But by taking the one less traveled it made all the difference. I think this is a metaphor on life, we can take the road that most take. The easier road and go somewhere. However by taking the harder road or the road less traveled it will be more rewarding.
Line one, three, and four had rhymes; line one had wood at the end and line three had stood at the end where line four had could at the end. This is an example of a masculine rhyme. Lines six, eight, and nine had words on the end of the sentence that rhymed; fair, wear, and there. Lines 11, 13, and 14 had words at the end that rhymed; lay, day, and way. I think the structure of this poem is from a story perspective.
Richard Cory
Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869 – 1935)
Whenever Richard Cory went down town,
We people on the pavement looked at him:
He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
Clean favored, and imperially slim.

And he always quietly arrayed,
And he was always human when he talked;
But still he fluttered pulses when he said,
“good-morning” and he glittered when he walked.

And he was rich – yes, richer than a king –
And admirably schooled in every grace:
In fine, we thought that he was everything
To make us wish that we were in his place.

So on we worked, and waited for the light,
And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet through his head.
This poem conjures up images of a rich, well-dressed, handsome man. Coming into town, and all the towns people, or commoners just stare at him. All the towns’ people envied him, and wanted to be him, due to his education, grace, and wealth. He wore fancy clothes I picture a flashy sequenced suite like Elvis wore. Then one night he went home and committed suicide. I think that this poem is a metaphor that money, wealth, charms, and good looks can’t buy you happiness. Every other ending word pretty much rhymes. And I think it is written in a quatrain. I found that this poem had a clear statement for the reader. Be happy where you are, the grass is not always greener on the other side.

References
Thiel, D. (2005). Crossroads. New York, NY: Longman.