Yusef Komunyakaa, "Facing It"

My black face fades,
hiding inside the black granite.
I said I wouldn't,
dammit: No tears.
I'm stone. I'm flesh.
My clouded reflection eyes me
like a bird of prey, the profile of night
slanted against morning. I turn
this way--the stone lets me go.
I turn that way--I'm inside
the Vietnam Veterans Memorial
again, depending on the light
to make a difference.
I go down the 58,022 names,
half-expecting to find
my own in letters like smoke.
I touch the name Andrew Johnson;
I see the booby trap's white flash.
Names shimmer on a woman's blouse
but when she walks away
the names stay on the wall.
Brushstrokes flash, a red bird's
wings cutting across my stare.
The sky. A plane in the sky.
A white vet's image floats
closer to me, then his pale eyes
look through mine. I'm a window.
He's lost his right arm
inside the stone. In the black mirror
a woman's trying to erase names:
No, she's brushing a boy's hair.


http://poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15830
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yusef_Komunyakaa


A man is standing in front of the wall at the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial that lists all the soldiers' names who have died. He is looking in, seeing his reflection, and feeling the swell of sadness "I said I wouldn't, dammit: No tears." He feels this rush of emotion because the narrator toured in Vietnam.

There is a lot of imagery in the poem, mainly focusing around what the narrator physically sees inside the stone wall. Reflections of a woman's blouse and a woman brushing a boy's hair are some. Also, the narrator recieves images in his thoughts of some of the soldiers. He touches the name Andrew Johnson and sees him caught in a flash and boobytrap, most likely an explosion, and also a white vet appears to him without an arm. He feels like he is a window to these spirits. Both of these views in the wall halp to emphasize the narrator being trapped in it.

There is a large feeling of fearful compassion in this poem. One example is the narrator and his connection to the other names. Another would be the view of the woman brushing a boy's hair. The narrator at first thinks she is trying to erase names, possibly out of disbelief, as if she will not accept the fact that someone is not coming home.

Gwendolyn Brooks, "The Mother"

Abortions will not let you forget.
You remember the children you got that you did not get,
The damp small pulps with a little or with no hair,
The singers and workers that never handled the air.
You will never neglect or beat
Them, or silence or buy with a sweet.
You will never wind up the sucking-thumb
Or scuttle off ghosts that come.
You will never leave them, controlling your luscious sigh,
Return for a snack of them, with gobbling mother-eye.

I have heard in the voices of the wind the voices of my dim killed
children.
I have contracted. I have eased
My dim dears at the breasts they could never suck.
I have said, Sweets, if I sinned, if I seized
Your luck
And your lives from your unfinished reach,
If I stole your births and your names,
Your straight baby tears and your games,
Your stilted or lovely loves, your tumults, your marriages, aches,
and your deaths,
If I poisoned the beginnings of your breaths,
Believe that even in my deliberateness I was not deliberate.
Though why should I whine,
Whine that the crime was other than mine?--
Since anyhow you are dead.
Or rather, or instead,
You were never made.
But that too, I am afraid,
Is faulty: oh, what shall I say, how is the truth to be said?
You were born, you had body, you died.
It is just that you never giggled or planned or cried.

Believe me, I loved you all.
Believe me, I knew you, though faintly, and I loved, I loved you
All.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwendolyn_Brooks
http://poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15829

The narrator, a woman against abortion, is speaking ironically of why she should feel sorry for an aborted baby ("though why should I whine" L22) when she generally stands in opposition to abortion. The first three quarters describe everything missed after an abortion by the baby (like no birth, no childhood, no crying, no laughing, etc.)in intense feeling. It brings a very dismal mood with words such as "if I poisoned the beginnings of your breath", "you were never made", and "the damp small pulps with little or with no hair". I feel like her mood and tone help in an effort to shun abortion in its entirety because it is "murder", and also because countless details of life are left out and never created. There is also a feeling of remorse for the unborn children in the last two lines, supporting both the narrator's stand against it, and her emotional connection to the topic.

William Butler Yeats, "The Magi"

Now as at all times I can see in the mind's eye,
In their stiff, painted clothes, the pale unsatisfied ones
Appear and disappear in the blue depths of the sky
With all their ancient faces like rain-beaten stones,
And all their helms of silver hovering side by side,
And all their eyes still fixed, hoping to find once more,
Being by Calvary's turbulence unsatisfied,
The uncontrollable mystery on the bestial floor.

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=2095
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Butler_Yeats


This poem is generally about the subhuman side of man. Yeats describes how he can see the animosity of man through the mind's eye. "Their stiff, painted clothes" represents the false image that the mind can lay out for others to see. Beastly traits of mankind have been around forever, and Yeats also refers to this with "all their ancient faces like rain-beaten stones". Here, Yeats is talking about how old this characteristic of humans has been around for a very long time, like that of an ancient statue or effigy eroded from rain and age.

Walt Whitman, "A Noiseless Patient Spider"

A noiseless patient spider,
I mark'd where on a little promontory it stood isolated,
Mark'd how to explore the vacant vast surrounding,
It launch'd forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself,
Ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them.

And you O my soul where you stand,
Surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space,
Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to connect them,
Till the bridge you will need be form'd, till the ductile anchor hold,
Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O my soul.

http://poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/16158
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_whitman

This poem is about a man and his soul. After reading it a few times, I see that he is searching within himself in his soul for purpose, for a reason. He refers to his soul as a spider, patient and quite, waiting for a catch to come along. This "catch" would be the reason or purpose in his life. The man is alone in a vast surrounding of nothing as symbolized as the spider on the isolated promontory (a.k.a. a projecting piece of land), meaning his soul is in a lonesome, quiet state, waiting for something to come along patiently. The young man is fervently searching for this idea of a purpose (Line 8 "Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to connect them...") until his "gossamer thread" (thin or flimsy outreach) connects with whatever his soul may need.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning, "How Do I Love Thee?"

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right.
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

http://poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15384
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Barrett_Browning

In this poem a woman is expressing her deep love for a man, and I pick up a strong sense of romanticism. I like this because much of my own writing is based upon love, so I can relate to many of the lines. There is a repitition of "I love thee..." several times throughout, emphasizing the woman's love. Also all the ways she does love him are extended to cover many different reasons and situations. She loves him with feelings of freedom, purity, and wholeness, yet also with the idea that she needs his love - a love the woman had lost internally before, but feels that he can revive.

John Keats, "When I Have Fears That I May Cease To Be"

When I have fears that I may cease to be
Before my pen has glean’d my teeming brain,
Before high piled books, in charact’ry,
Hold like rich garners the full-ripen’d grain;
When I behold, upon the night’s starr’d face,
Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,
And think that I may never live to trace
Their shadows, with the magic hand of chance;
And when I feel, fair creature of an hour!
That I shall never look upon thee more,
Never have relish in the faery power
Of unreflecting love!—then on the shore
Of the wide world I stand alone, and think
Till Love and Fame to nothingness do sink.

http://poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/19378
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Keats


The speaker in this poem is Keats, reflecting on his thoughts about the end of his life.

Basically, Keats is expressing his thoughts of the end of his life. He thinks about before his "pen has gleaned [his] teeming brain" (before he can write or express everything his mind can create - L2) and how he may never look upon nature and the night sky. Keats comes to realize that in the end, love and fame "to nothingness do sink" (L 14), or in other words mean nothing in relation to life's beauties (like creation/expression and the stars) and life itself.

Keats uses imagery to describe the nature he may never again look upon. In lines 5-6, Keats talks about the night sky, personifying night with its "starred face". Keats also references the supernatural power of love in nature (being spontaneous, adventurous, and free-spirited). Ending the poem standing alone on "the shore of the wide world", Keats emphasizes his feeling of solitude in a pensive mood. This strengthens the effect of the possible end to one's life both for the narrator and the reader, and also hels support Keats' claim that love and fame is very small when compared to the overall greatness of being alive.

William Wordsworth, "The World Is Too Much With Us"

The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers,
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not.--Great God! I'd rather be
A pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.

http://poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15878
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wordsworth

The speaker of this poem is Wordsworth, talking about materialism.

"The world is too much with us; late and soon, getting and spending, we lay waste our powers" is basically saying lately no one has payed attention to anything except for money and greed, using their (industrial revolutionaries/citizens of London) power to gain more power. In line 8, Wordsworth speaks of being "out of tune", meaning the people are not doing as nature intended; greed and control is taking over everyone's life course.

There is a reference to three religions at the end of the poem ("Great God!" - Christianity, "a pagan suckled..." - Paganism, and "Proteus... Old Triton" - Greek Mythology). As the greater majority of people in London at this time were Christians (or catholic), the way Wordsworth says he'd rather be a Pagan (or his sight and sound of the Greek Gods) shows how disgusted he is in the demoralization of ideals at this time (further emphasizing the materialism at the time).

William Wordsworth, "My Heart Leaps Up When I Behold

My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky:
So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a man;
So be it when I shall grow old,
Or let me die!
The Child is father of the Man;
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.

http://poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/16084
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Wordsworth


The speaker in the poem is Wordsworth, thinking about being happy throughout his life.

Basically, Wordsworth is saying he becomes very happy when he sees a simple sight in nature (the "rainbow in the sky"). He was this happy as both a child ("So was is when my life began") and now as an adult ("so is it now I am a man"). Also, he wishes to remain as awestruck with nature as he grows much older ("so be it when I shall grow old").

I find that there is a use of allusion at the end of the poem, referencing Mother Nature. The text "natural piety" refers to the divinity and spirit of nature, like that of Mother Nature. Nature is the reason for Wordsworth's joy. and he hopes to continue loving it as he has since his childhood.

William Wordsworth, "I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud"

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A Poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed--and gazed--but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

http://poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15925
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Wordsworth

The speaker in this poem is a man in a ruminative mood, describing a most inspiring scene of daffodils that he saw.

This poem is about a man who thinks of a beautiful landscape he had once come upon, when he is in empty, or pensive thought. A picturesque view of daffodils fills his mind and places him in a merry and cheerful mood. The view of the sparkling waves and bay are also beautiful, yet still unable to match the daffodils.

Wordsworth's choice of words throughout the poem intensify the mood felt from this poem. A happy, carefree, cheerful feeling is expressed in several lines. The daffodils are personified by "flutteting and dancing" (L6) and "tossing their heads in sprightly dance" (L12). This along with line 13-14's "but they... out-did the sparkling waves in glee" gives the daffodils a more vivid and lively image, adding to the overall warmth picked up.

Imagery is also present throughout much of the poem. "golden daffodils, beside the lake, beneath the trees, fluttering..." (L4-6) paints a scene of ardor and beauty. Words in the second stanza such as "shine", "twinkle", and "sprightly" all help to give a bright and happy view in mind.

William Blake, "London"

I wander through each chartered street,
Near where the chartered Thames does flow,
And mark in every face I meet
Marks of weakness, marks of woe.

In every cry of every man,
In every Infant's cry of fear,
In every voice, in every ban,
The mind-forged manacles I hear.

How the Chimney-sweeper's cry
Every black'ning Church appalls
And the hapless Soldier's sigh
Runs in blood down Palace walls.

But most through midnight streets I hear
How the youthful Harlot's curse
Blasts the new-born Infant's tear,
And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse.
http://poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15818
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_blake

The narrator of this poem is a wanderer through the streets of London, observing the depressive state of the people.

The general message from this poem is about the grotesque setting of the lives of those in London. All of the people Blake meets are sad, weak, and dismal (L4). The second stanza details the mental handcuffs everyone created for themselves through their pain. The "manacles" (cuffs or shackles) it says are "mind-forged", or figuratively present (L8). More specifically, the fear and cries of adults as well as children are inflicting stress and worry on everyone's mind and body, causing almost a feeling of capture.

London itself at this time was in a disgusting state. Around this time the city was in an Industrial Revolution with no regulations on emitions, cleanliness, or sanitation. Because of the industrail boom, the black smoke saturated everything from the air, to clothes, to buildings and walls - even the "[appalling] church" (L10). Also around this time, prostitution was a large scene for many young women. Blake uses this to entail ruined marraiges (L14, 16).

Blake's use of setting is very key in describing late 18th century London. The Thames River (L2) gives a specific location, which would be in southern England, and the referance to the (many) chimney swepers and black filth at this time (1794) link directly to an Industrial Revolution. Along with two couplets in each stanza, there is also some repitition (and also, anaphora) in the poem. "...Mark in every face I meet, marks of weakness, marks of woe..." (L3-4) strengthens the pain wrought on everyone's faces. Also, "In every cry... in every infant's cry... in every voice, in every ban..." (L5-7) solidifies the view that such agony is everywhere throughout the city, on everyone's mind and in everyone's heart.

William Blake, "The Chimney Sweeper"

When my mother died I was very young,
And my father sold me while yet my tongue
Could scarcely cry 'Weep! weep! weep! weep!'
So your chimneys I sweep, and in soot I sleep.

There's little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head,
That curled like a lamb's back, was shaved; so I said,
'Hush, Tom! never mind it, for, when your head's bare,
You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair.'

And so he was quiet, and that very night,
As Tom was a-sleeping, he had such a sight!--
That thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned, and Jack,
Were all of them locked up in coffins of black.

And by came an angel, who had a bright key,
And he opened the coffins, and set them all free;
Then down a green plain, leaping, laughing, they run
And wash in a river, and shine in the sun.

Then naked and white, all their bags left behind,
They rise upon clouds, and sport in the wind;
And the angel told Tom, if he'd be a good boy,
He'd have God for his father, and never want joy.

And so Tom awoke, and we rose in the dark,
And got with our bags and our brushes to work.
Though the morning was cold, Tom was happy and warm:
So, if all do their duty, they need not fear harm.


http://poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15521
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_blake

The speaker in this poem is a friend of Tom Dacre and fellow chimney sweeper. He is adressing their lives and need of perseverance. The overall message of this poem is persistance through life, and to always keep their chin up.

The narrator loses his parents are a very young age - one to death, and one from being abandon. Having a troubled childhood and an occupation of being a chimney sweeper, life doesn't seem very rewarding or worth while. Tom Dacre's life to him also seems short of perfection (an example of Dacre's grief would be his crying from the head-shaving [L5-6] ).

The poem continues, however, changing ideas from troubled situations into determination. The narrator speaks to Dacre saying "...never mind it... the soot cannot spoil your white hair" (L7-8), a statement to look at the silver lining of each cloud. Optimism is consistent through lines 11-16 with Dacre's descriptive dream. He sees thousands of sweepers locked in their "coffins of black", referring to the dirty chimneys they clean. Following the "coffins of black" is the sight of an Angel who sets them all free to a life of happiness, humor, and cleanliness.

The last 6 lines are directed towards Dacre and the narrator to keep forward and never give up. This message of hope assures them so that the next morning, the two men are happy and warm, destined to a life without worry or harm.

There is somewhat of a ridgid form in this poem as Blake uses two couplets in each stanza. The form and rhyme scheme helps draw in the reader, which also aids one's imagination. Visual imagery also helps emphasize certain points in the text. "White hair" in line 8 refers to Dacre being wholesome, pure at heart, and generally a good man. line 12's "coffins of black" depict chimney sweeping as gloomy and degrading. Lines 13 and 16 also hold an inspiring quality with the "bright key" and "shine in the sun". This dramatizes the reassurance from leading a good life, and really helps to stress the meaning: Live a good life, do the duties you are given, and you will live a happy and blissful life.

Andrew Marvell, "To His Coy Mistress"

Had we but world enough, and time,
This coyness, Lady, were no crime.
We would sit down and think which way
To walk and pass our long love's day.
Thou by the Indian Ganges' side
Shouldst rubies find: I by the tide
Of Humber would complain. I would
Love you ten years before the Flood,
And you should, if you please, refuse
Till the conversion of the Jews.
My vegetable love should grow
Vaster than empires, and more slow;
An hundred years should go to praise
Thine eyes and on thy forehead gaze;
Two hundred to adore each breast;
But thirty thousand to the rest;
An age at least to every part,
And the last age should show your heart;
For, Lady, you deserve this state,
Nor would I love at lower rate.
But at my back I always hear
Time's wingèd chariot hurrying near;
And yonder all before us lie
Deserts of vast eternity.
Thy beauty shall no more be found,
Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound
My echoing song: then worms shall try
That long preserved virginity,
And your quaint honour turn to dust,
And into ashes all my lust:
The grave's a fine and private place,
But none, I think, do there embrace.
Now therefore, while the youthful hue
Sits on thy skin like morning dew,
And while thy willing soul transpires
At every pore with instant fires,
Now let us sport us while we may,
And now, like amorous birds of prey,
Rather at once our time devour
Than languish in his slow-chapped power.
Let us roll all our strength and all
Our sweetness up into one ball,
And tear our pleasures with rough strife
Thorough the iron gates of life:
Thus, though we cannot make our sun
Stand still, yet we will make him run.

http://poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/16076
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_marvell


Andrew Marvell is the speaker in this poem. The poem itself is a self-spoken flood of emotion for a young woman.

Marvell writes this poem to a girl because he feels they should embrace an amazing love while they are young. He repeats his eternal love for her until "the conversion of the Jews" (L10), an event that is supposed to come before the end of our world. Another example in line 44 is how Marvell says "Thorough the iron gates of life", meaning he would wish to go on in life with her by his side.

Line 22 starts some vivid symbolism and imagery. Marvell's "time's winged chariot hurrying near" can symbolize the Greek god Apollo, who carried the sun across the sky. When Marvell talks both physically and literally about the chariot quickly approaching, you can feel a sort of countdown or closing. If you consider the referance to Apollo, you may get a "sunset effect." In other words, you can feel time (symbolized as the sun) running out, or counting down as in a definite demise you cannot prevent.

Marvell continues with his dramatic lines when he talks about the end of both their lives and time with "your quaint honor turned to dust... into ashes all my lust... the grave's a fine and private place" (L29-31). Death, dust and ash, and also the grave visually is a grim and somber thought. This is a very useful effect Marvell uses because it helps to stress the need of he and the maiden to unite as one while they are still youthful.

Edmund Waller, "Go, Lovely Rose"

Go, lovely rose!
Tell her that wastes her time and me
That now she knows,
When I resemble her to thee,
How sweet and fair she seems to be.

Tell her that's young,
And shuns to have her graces spied,
That hadst thou sprung
In deserts, where no men abide,
Thou must have uncommended died.

Small is the worth
Of beauty from the light retired;
Bid her come forth,
Suffer herself to be desired,
And not blush so to be admired.

Then die! that she
The common fate of all things rare
May read in thee;
How small a part of time they share
That are so wondrous sweet and fair!


http://poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/16140
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Waller

The speaker in this poem is Waller, speaking to a rose about what message it should bring to a young lady.

The overall meaning of the poem is that of a woman Waller tries to "become more aquainted with". He sends a rose to her with a message of intended companionship. He is saying this rose is beautiful, but does not compare to her. He also continues on about how her beauty is of no worth when she hides from his admiration.

The first stanza describes the young lady's unmatched beauty compared to the rose ("When I resemble her to three, How sweet and fair she seems to be" [L4-5] ). In line 7, he is speaking to the rose directly to convey his desire to be with her, as in the words "And shuns to have her graces spied". Lines 14-15, "suffer herself to be desired, and not blush so to be admired..." in other ways is saying she is not giving into his advancements, and is making herself suffer quietly because of it.

Waller uses a strong key of apostrophe in this poem. He speaks to the rose as if he is directing a subordinate with a goal. As Waller speaks to the rose, he builds a feeling of enormity about himself that paints him as being strong and convincing. The tone of the narrator is one of a convincing matter as he tells the rose to pass on a note of persuasion to this maiden, which is supported by the text. An example would be lines 11-12: "Small is the worth of beauty from the light retired", a dramatic statement meant to try and convince the maiden to be his.

John Milton, "How Soon Hath Time"

How soon hath time, the subtle thief of youth.
Stol'n on his wing my three and twentieth year!
My hasting days fly on with full career,
But my late spring no bud or blossom show'th.
Perhaps my semblance might deceive the truth,
That I to manhood am arriv'd so near.
And inward ripeness doth much less appear,
That some more timely-happy spirits indu'th.
Yet be it less or more, or soon or slow,
It shall be still in strictest measure even
To that same lot, however mean or high,
Toward which Time leads me, and the will of Heaven.
All is, if I have grace to use it so,
As ever in my great Task-master's eye.



The speaker of this poem is John Milton. The situation is he realizes his youth is slipping away.

To me, this poem is about Milton losing his youth from the inside rather than the outside. Milton's words throughout the poem hint his getting older, such as "How soon hath time... Stol'n on his wing my three and twentieth year!" (L1-2), "But my late spring no bud or blossom show'th" (L4), and "Toward which Time leads me" (L12). Another way to look at it is time is stealing his life away in a subtle form, and his "late spring" or inner spirits show no fresh life or growth.

The aging from within shows in such statements as "Perhaps my semblance might deceive the truth... And inward ripeness doth much less appear" (L5, 7). In other words, Milton is saying his resemblance is that of youth and stamina, but on the inside much less is present. On the inside Milton feels old, and robbed of his adolescence in a way.

Milton strengthens time's power in several forms. Time is personified in Line 1 when Milton addresses it as [a] subtle thief. Continuously, line 2 gives it a physical attribute when Milton's 23rd year is stolen on time's "wing". Also, time is capitalized in the middle of line 12 to emphasize its control over Milton. This helps draw in the reader to feel like Time is a smooth criminal of young age.

John Donne, "Death Be Not Proud

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou are not so;
For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,
Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.
Thou'art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
And poppy'or charms can make us sleep as well
And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.

http://poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15836
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_donne


The speaker in this poem is a man standing up to death. He is speaking out to announce that he is not afraid of death, and death cannot kill him.
My original thought of this poem was grim, about someone dying in the poem. However, after reading it a few times and picking apart each line, I now see that the poem is about Death's temporary "victory" upon humans. The poem goes on to say that people view Death as a strong and swift force, but the speaker disagrees. He sees Death as a weak being that cannot harm him. Death eventually catches up to everyone, but in the end, we become eternal whether it be in thought or memory;once this is so, Death can no longer affect us, and Death itself becomes lifeless, useless, and no more. Line 2 shows the speaker standing against Death's might. "For thou art not so" means "you are not", saying Death you are here, but you are not strong, nor are you dreadful. Lines 7-12 state how we all obey fate. All of our lives at one time come to an end, and that is our destiny. Lines 13-14 are the more outspoken words against Death, ranting that when we do die, we wake to become eternal, thus when we cannot die, Death dies itself.

Ben Jonson, On My First Son

Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy;
My sin was too much hope of thee, lov'd boy.
Seven years thou'wert lent to me, and I thee pay,
Exacted by thy fate, on the just day.
O, could I lose all father now! For why
Will man lament the state he should envy?
To have so soon 'scap'd world's and flesh's rage,
And, if no other misery, yet age?
Rest in soft peace, and, ask'd, say here doth lie
Ben Jonson his best piece of poetry.
For whose sake, henceforth, all his vows be such,
As what he loves may never like too much.

http://poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/16365



The speaker in this poem is Ben Jonson, as a father. The situation is the loss of his son's life.
This poem's meaning to me is filled with loss, grieving, and sorrow. I see the father mourning over his son's death at a young age, and how he is filled with anguish because fatherhood has been stolen from his life. I get this meaning because the poem opens up with a goodbye to the son ("Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy."). I see that Ben is losing someone, and the idea of a friend or family comes to mind. In line 5, "Oh, could I lose all father now" tells me that he was a father, and the loss is that of his son. I also pick up a clash of envy and confusion in lines 6 and 7. "To have so soon 'scaped world's and flesh's rage, " is referring to escaping the pain of the world, and the pain that life can bring. Line 6 "..lament the state he should envy..." is where the art of confusion comes in. In other words, Jonson is saying why shouldn't we envy the son for being able to leave this world? Or why can't we be happy for those who don't have to walk life's rocky road? He obviously can't, and I think it is because of moral, and societies expectations of grieving over a loss.