TO MARY; THE BEST GRANDMA

EVERBy Amanda Isenberger

DEDICATION “My Grandmother”

My Grandmother is sweeter than the sweetest smelling flower,

And her kindness rises above the very tallest tower. Even though she’s old in age, her beauty is immense,

And when you feel invisible, she shows you your importance.

She thinks of others before herself, and goes out of her way to be kind.

She never boasts or complains, and she keeps an open mind.

I love my Grandma very much because she’s been so kind to me,

She needs to understand that she makes many people in her life, very happy.

-Amanda Isenberger

DEDICATION Dear Grandma, You are my muse for this project because you’re

so amazing, and you don’t realize it. I want you to know that when the times were so tough, and I felt like there was no hope, you were the one thing that kept me going. You helped me see the light at the end of the tunnel, and you aided me in realizing that everything was going to be okay.

You’re so thoughtful in everything you do, and I just wanted to say thank you. I couldn’t have asked for a better person to be called my Grandma. I love you.

Love, Amanda.

“A POISON TREE” (1)“A Poison Tree”I was angry with my friend:

I told my wrath, my wrath did end.I was angry with my foe:I told it not, my wrath did grow.

And I watered it in fears,Night and morning with my tears;And I sunned it with smiles,And with soft deceitful wiles.

And it grew both day and night,Till it bore an apple bright.And my foe beheld it shine.And he knew that it was mine,

And into my garden stoleWhen the night had veiled the pole;In the morning glad I seeMy foe outstretched beneath the tree.

William Blake

EXPLICATION OF “A POISON TREE” “A Poison Tree” by William Blake is a very powerful

poem that describes what happens when you let anger seep into your thoughts and corrupt your actions. At a first glance, I thought the speaker was William Blake, and that he was telling a story about how his wrath had helped him get rid of his enemy. However, as I slowly started to peel back the poem’s thick layers, I discovered something much deeper.

The speaker metaphorically compares his anger to a seed. When he was angry with a friend, he didn’t want to plant the seed. But when he was angry with his foe, he not only planted the seed, but nourished it until it was a thriving plant. The plant bore fruit, and since it was fed with evil, the fruit was poisonous. The foe, thinking that the speaker was his friend, and that the apple would do him no harm, ate from his poison tree, and was found dead underneath it the next morning. The speaker was pleased that his foe had fallen into his deceptive trap, and that he had rid himself of his enemy. William Blake wanted the speaker to represent God, and his terrible “foe” represented Adam and Eve. The poison tree that grew and bore toxic fruit was supposed to represent the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil from the Garden of Eden. It seems as if William Blake feels God falsely led Adam and Eve to believe that he was their

friend, and the tempted them to eat the fruit of the forbidden tree. The tone of “A Poison Tree” is satisfaction. The speaker’s satisfied with his work, and he show’s no remorse for what he’s done. Blake is basically saying that God’s heart was hardened against Adam and Eve, and that he was pleased when they disobeyed him.

The thing that hit me the hardest in the poem is the main theme. The theme is the power of anger. I always thought that we were ruled by our emotions, anger being the most powerful and dictating emotion. But in actuality, anger has no supremacy over you. You choose to give anger all the power it has, and that’s the reason why I chose this poem. I’ve always had a hard time with controlling my anger at certain times, and this poem made me realize that anger has no power over you; you choose to give it power.

“THE LION AND THE LAMB” (1)

“The Lion and the Lamb”It came in like a lamb,

Its warmth and beauty on high. It brought beautiful flowers and cloudless skies,

It brought rainless days, and blooming trees. It brought magnificent and amazing memories.

Then one day, everything changed. It grew grey and dark and cold.

There’s now frost on the beautiful flowers, And the warmth was replaced with ice.

The rain and fog has been thick for awhile, The sorrow on my heart has grown.

I thought the days of summer were fast approaching, But now I see the truth.

I was fooled by the Lamb, And now,

I’m face to face with the Lion.

EXPLICATION OF “THE LION AND THE LAMB” This poem is about the month

of March’s phrase, “It goes in like a lion, and comes out like a lamb; or it goes in like a lamb, and comes out like a lion.” In this poem, March came in like a lamb, and the speaker was fooled by it. He was so happy that the days were warm, and the skies were cloudless, that he forgot that the rainy, frosty, and dreary days were approaching faster and faster. However, in the end of the poem, the speaker realizes his terrible

mistake, and his heart grows weary because he was looking forward to enjoying the warm, comfortable days of spring very much.

I chose this poem for you because I remembered that when you read this poem, you really enjoyed it. I wanted it to be dedicated it you, so that if you’re ever deceived by the Lamb, you’ll know that you weren’t the only one.

“A DREAM” (2)“A Dream”In visions of the dark night

I have dreamed of joy departed-But a waking dream of life and lightHath left me broken-hearted.

Ah! what is not a dream by dayTo him whose eyes are castOn things around him with a rayTurned back upon the past?

That holy dream- that holy dream,While all the world were chiding,Hath cheered me as a lovely beamA lonely spirit guiding.

What though that light, thro' storm and night,So trembled from afar-What could there be more purely brightIn Truth's day-star?

Edgar Allan Poe

EXPLICATION OF “A DREAM”The Poem “A Dream” by Edgar Allan Poe

is a very descriptive poem about how reality is sometimes darker than the blackest night. For the speaker of the poem, reality doesn’t seem to have treated him kindly. In the first stanza, he says, “In visions of the dark night, I have dreamed of joy departed, but awaking dream of life and light, hath left me broken hearted. This stanza explains why the speaker feels the way he does. He states that everything that brought him joy has left him, so he may possibly be talking about a lover. He also says, “hath left me broken-hearted,” which could also back up the idea of his “joy” being a lost love.

The tone of this poem is sadness and depression. The speaker seems to feel as if the only way he can escape the darkness of his reality is to thrive in his dreams. This is ironic, because

dreaming requires you to be asleep, and you sleep best in the darkness. The line, “On things around him with a ray, turned back upon the past,” alludes that the speaker is longing for another life, a life that he perhaps found in the past; a life that he let slip out of his grasp.

I wanted to share this poem with you, not because I think you’re depressed, but because I think that in some point in our lives, we want to just slip away from reality, and flourish in a dream. However, we know we can’t do that because the truth is, there’s no escaping reality. There was a point in time where I wanted to slip away and feel sorry for myself, but you made me pick myself back up, and I’m forever grateful to you for helping me back on my feet.

“THEN IT ALL BEGINS” (2)“Then it all Begins”I stand there pawing at the dirt, Behind the cold, steel starting gate. The dust is thick, the tension’s high, Snort’s and kicking ring down the line. Inhaling deep, my nostrils flaring, I see my breath, but I don’t feel the cold. I’m dead set on winning, But I can’t help fear what this race will hold. The trumpets blast, the crowd lets out a magnificent roar,Any second now, we’ll be set free from behind the barring steel

door. My rider’s calm, soothing voice whispers in my ear, I don’t know what he’s saying, but I feel our vital bond. There’s no more time to think, I know we’re starting soon, I hear the boom, the clank of the gate, and the thundering hooves. And then it all begins.

EXPLICATION OF “THEN IT ALL BEGINS”The poem “Then it all Begins”

is a very unusual poem in the fact that the speaker is a horse. The speaker is describing an intense horse race that he’s partaking in. He is very afraid of what the race will hold, yet he’s ready to participate in the race and have it over with. The speaker talks about his connection with his rider, and how his soothing words help calm his nerves. However, the soothing words don’t completely calm his nerves, because

tension keeps building during the poem. The outcome of the race is left to the mind of the reader, which gives the poem a sense of mystery.

I chose this poem for you because I know how much you love horse races. I think that most people don’t think about how the horse feels during the anticipating races, so this poem is a breath of fresh air.

“ANNABEL LEE” (3)Annabel LeeIt was many and many a year ago,

In a kingdom by the sea,That a maiden there lived whom you may knowBy the name of ANNABEL LEE;And this maiden she lived with no other thoughtThan to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,In this kingdom by the sea;But we loved with a love that was more than love-I and my Annabel Lee;With a love that the winged seraphs of heavenCoveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,In this kingdom by the sea,A wind blew out of a cloud, chillingMy beautiful Annabel Lee;So that her highborn kinsman cameAnd bore her away from me,To shut her up in a sepulchreIn this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in heaven,Went envying her and me-

Yes!- that was the reason (as all men know,In this kingdom by the sea)That the wind came out of the cloud by night,Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the loveOf those who were older than we-Of many far wiser than we-And neither the angels in heaven above,Nor the demons down under the sea,Can ever dissever my soul from the soulOf the beautiful Annabel Lee.

For the moon never beams without bringing me dreamsOf the beautiful Annabel Lee;And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyesOf the beautiful Annabel Lee;And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the sideOf my darling- my darling- my life and my bride,In the sepulchre there by the sea,In her tomb by the sounding sea.

Edgar Allan Poe

EXPLICATION OF “ANNABEL LEE”“Annabel Lee” Explication When I first read the poem, “Annabel

Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe, I almost cried. It seemed as if the speaker’s chest ripped itself open, and this was what came pouring out. The speaker is a very heartbroken man, and he uses this poem to describe his relationship he and his mysterious lover, Annabel Lee. He obviously loves Annabel Lee very much, and thinks about their relationship often, even though Annabel Lee has passed away. The lines, “But our love it was stronger by far than the love/Of those who were older than we-/Of many far wiser than we-/And neither the angels in heaven above,/Nor the demons/ down under the sea,/Can ever dissever my soul from the soul/Of the beautiful Annabel Lee,” allude that even though Annabel Lee has been taken from him, their love not only continues to thrive past the grave, but also that their love will never be torn apart by supernatural forces.

There are many images used in this poem. The sign of imagery that is seen in this poem is in the line, “In the kingdom by the sea.” The

speaker thinks of Annabel Lee as his princess, and he is her prince. Their kingdom by the sea represents happiness and wealth, and it seems as if they’re living comfortably. However, the image of the sea changes throughout the course of the poem. Towards the end of the poem, the speaker uses the sea to describe how cold, lonely, and tormented he feels. He blames the angles of heaven, who usually represent goodness, for the cause of his pain. He claims that they were jealous of he and Annabel Lee’s love, and they wanted it to end; “The angels, not half so happy in heaven, /Went envying her and me-/Yes! - that was the reason (as all men know,/In this kingdom by the sea)/That the wind came out of the cloud by night,/ Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.”

I thought you’d enjoy this poem purely because I enjoyed it. We have similar tastes, and this poem really spoke to me. Also, I know that many people think that Edgar Allan Poe was a twisted writer. I want you to know that there is a soft side to Edgar Allan Poe, and

that he doesn’t seem to be as twisted and evil as some of his writings make him to be.

“ABOUT THE BEACH”“About the Beach” My sandy shores, My clear waters, And my beaches filled with shells, Is very popular. My cloudless skies, My perfect weather, And the smell of suntan lotion, Is very popular. My welcoming waters, My perfect waves, And the fact that I never slow down, Is very popular. But most of all, My way of making each and every day an exciting new adventure, Is very popular.

EXPLICATION OF “ABOUT THE BEACH”The poem, “About the Beach” describes everything wonderful

about the beach. When the beaches’ best qualities are being described, they’re being described in the first person point of view. That makes the speaker of the poem the beach itself; and he seems to be very arrogant and self absorbed. The speaker has let his popularity get into his head and seep into his thoughts; and he has no problem with flaunting the fact that he is admired by many, and that people from around the world travel every summer to the beach to see him in all his glory.

I chose to use this poem in my dedication project because I know how much you love the beach, and how little you get to experience all the wonderful qualities of the beach. I wanted you to have this poem so that every time you have the urge to wiggle you toes around in the sand, or feel the coolness of the ocean, or feel the nice, comfortable ocean breeze travel through your hair, you’ll have this poem to look at.

“SHALL I COMPARE THEE TO A SUMMER’S DAY?”“Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?”Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate.Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,And summer's lease hath all too short a date.Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,And often is his gold complexion dimmed;And every fair from fair sometime declines,By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimmed;But thy eternal summer shall not fade,Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,When in eternal lines to Time thou grow'st.So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

William Shakespeare

EXPLICATION OF “SHALL I COMPARE THEE TO A SUMMER’S DAY?”“Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s

Day?” When you think of the poem, “Shall I

Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?” by William Shakespeare, you think of the perfect symbol of love; the poem every man should recite to his lover. However, if you begin to prowl the musty depths of the poem, you realize it contains a dark secret hidden underneath its innocent surface.

When I first read the line, “And summer’s lease hath all too short a date; but thy eternal summer shall not fade,” I thought the speaker was saying that even though the beautiful days of Summer fade away quickly, his lover’s beauty does not. But when I started thinking about his lover, I realized that there was no sign of this “lover” being real. The speaker never mentions the lover’s features, personality or anything about the lover at all. I think that if you were going to take the time to write a

love letter, you would want to make sure the person you’ve written it to, knows it’s about them; unless you wrote it about yourself. The speaker is his lover, or he’s in love with himself, to put it simply.

He’s so proud of his writings, and he wants the memory of them to last until the end of time, and makes it very clear in the lines, “So long as men can breathe or eyes can see/So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.” What’s a better way to have your poems remembered than by writing a sappy love letter that you know will be passed down generation through generation? I chose this poem for you because I thought you’d find it interesting. You like to look at things outside the box, at this poem can be looked at in many different ways.

“FOOD, FOOD, FOOD”“Food, Food, Food”I’m in love with every food, But Italian is the best. Each dish is so unique and yummy, It out does all the rest. I love the pizza, Spaghetti and meatballs, And the calamari, too. I love the veal, The meaty baked ziti, And the Pasta E. Fagioli. All the flavors are so tasty, When they come together as one.

EXPLICATION OF “FOOD, FOOD, FOOD”The poem, “Food, Food, Food” is meant to make your mouth

water, and to make you crave Italian food, every time you read it. The speaker doesn’t go into immense detail about one certain food, but instead, he brings up many different types of Italian food. The speaker probably does this because he knows that not all foods appeal to everyone. However, he knows that the poem is more likely to speak to more people, if he talks about many different Italian foods, instead of focusing on just one.

I wrote this poem for you because I know how much you look forward eating spaghetti and meatballs when you come to visit. There aren’t many Italian restaurants where you live, so Italian food is kind of considered a delicacy to you. The next time you think, ‘Boy, I wish I could have just a little taste of that delicious Italian food’, you can look to this poem, and even though it won’t satisfy your hunger for Italian food, it will help you think back on the times we’ve spent together eating out at restaurants, and making vital memories.

 

“FIRE AND ICE”(5)“Fire And Ice”by Robert Frost

Some say the world will end in fire; Some say in ice. From what I've tasted of desire I hold with those who favor fire. But if it had to perish twice, I think I know enough of hate To know that for destruction ice Is also great And would suffice.

EXPLICATION OF “FIRE AND ICE” At first, the poem, “Fire and Ice” seems to be a tad bit

confusing. It’s a very short poem, which means that there is a lot of information packed into a few short lines. The subject of this poem is whether the world is going to end in fire, or in ice. At first, the speaker states that he agrees with the group of people that think the world will end in fire. He bases his reasons as to why he thinks the world will end in fire with the mere lines, “From what I’ve tasted of desire/ I hold with those who favor fire.”

However, as the poem progresses, the speaker seems to rethink his decision to agree with the people who favor fire. The lines, “I think I know enough of hate/ to know that for destruction ice/ is also great,” show the reasons why the speaker also agrees with the people who favor fire.

I chose this poem for you, because I know you like to hear other people’s opinions on how they think the world is going to end. You’re very curious about those types of things, and I think you could see this poem in many different ways.

“YOU AND I… AND DAVOO” “You and I… and Davoo”Through the years, we’ve traveled down many roads. We’ve been to places no one really knows, We’ve been to places like Terlingua, where the cactuses grow. We’ve visited four presidents carved into stone, We’ve snuck across the border and into Mexico, We’ve been rafting, climbing, and your flight once got

cancelled by a large amount of snow.We’ve traveled to Wyoming, and been to Yellowstone, We’ve been to Bear Country and you old ranch home. We’ve driven to North Dakota to pan for gold, We’ve tried to crash a wedding, in Amarillo. We’ve learned that special moments like these come and go, But we’ve learned to keep these memories with us, wherever

we go.

EXPLICATION OF “YOU AND I… AND DAVOO” The poem, “You and I… and Davoo” is a mash-up of all the

wonderful times the speaker and an unaddressed person have had together. The speaker wanted the poem to be very personal, but not so personal that someone reading the poem that didn’t have the knowledge of the speaker and the addressee couldn’t understand what was occurring during the poem. The title of the poem seems irrelevant to the content of the poem, so perhaps the title is an inside joke between the speaker and the person the poem is addressed to. Also, the title could be a way for the person the poem is addressed to, to know that it’s to them by just reading the title.

I’ve dedicated this poem to you, because I wouldn’t have had any of those experiences without you. We’ve been to the places we’ve been, and we’ve seen the things we’ve seen because you made it happen. Not everyone can say that they’ve snuck into Mexico, or that they’ve tried to crash a wedding filled with cowboys!

BIBLIOGRAPHY Blake, William. "A Poison Tree." PoemHunter.com.

PoemHunter.com, 2001. Web. 17 May 2012. <http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-poison-tree/>.

Poe, E. A.. "A Dream." . Poem Hunter, 2002. Web. 21 May 2012. <http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-dream-2/>.

Poe, E. A.. "Annabel Lee." Poem hunter.com. N.p., 2002. Web. 21 May 2012. <http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/annabel-lee/>.

Shakespeare, William. "PoemHunter." poemhunter.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 May 2012. <http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/shall-i-compare-thee-to-a-summer-s-day-sonnet-18/>.

Frost, Robert. "Frost, Robert.." Famous Poets. N.p., 2005. Web. 21 May 2012. <http://www.poetry.org/frost.htm>.