Tone 5: The Apparition

"And that thou thinkst thee free." line 2

This poem has an eerie sense to it. The speaker seems to have been murdered by a former lover. In a source  of revenge, the man is going to haunt his murderess while she sleeps. "And that thou thinkst thee free," displays the mans intent to haunt and torture the woman's mind. "Bathed in a cold quicksilver sweat," implies that the woman will suffer from the mans ghostly presence. By killing the man, she thought she would be rid of him. She never thought he would come back to haunt her when she is with other men at night. Through the line, "wilt lie a verier ghost than I," shows that the man is willing to go to extraordinary measures to get back at this woman. He wants her to suffer more than he did. I wonder what this man did for the woman to murder him and why he so diligently seeks revenge.

Tone 4: Hazel Tells LaVerne

"ya little green pervert an i hitsm with my mop"

There were two things I noticed right away about this poem. The first was that there was no punctuation, like "next to of course god america i." But, this one was much easier to follow based on the structure. The second thing I noticed was that the speaker was uneducated. It is clear through her diction. One of the questions at the end of the poem is, "What creates the poems humor?" Personally I didn't find this poem humorous at all, besides when she refers to the frog as a "little green pervert." I thought that this poem was incredibly sad. I just pictured this poor uneducated young girl cleaning toilets and thinking to herself that she will never be worthy enough to be a princess. I think that is why she develops such a harsh tone with the frog. She sees it as a joke, or as if the frog is mocking her. She cannot even fathom the idea that kissing the frog would actually make her a princess. She puts on a rough exterior to mask the pain she feels in knowing she will never be anything more than she is. If she lets herself hope, then she will be seen as a fool. Her doubtful attitude towards the frog is simply a wall of protection, so she doesn't get hurt.

Tone 3: Getting Out

"We held on tight, and let go." line 24

The poem begins with the simile, "walking like inmates." This immediately implies confinement and unhappiness. It seems that this couple was once very much in love, but when they began living together, tension grew. Its like they couldn't adjust to living in each others lives daily. This is reflected by the tone, which is one of stress and unhappiness. After awhile of trying to coexist, "exhausted, we gave up." The end of this poem is rather sad. The couple seems to have rushed their relationship to quickly. Maybe they didn't know everything they needed to know about each other before getting married. Despite the way the couple treated each other, I think they deeply cared for one another. I thought this from the line, "Yet I think of the lawyer's bewilderment when we cried, the last day." By the way the couple acted, the lawyer was shocked they had any feelings for each other at all. I think their parting was bittersweet. Even though they loved each other, they needed to be apart.

Tone 2: Crossing the Bar

"And may there be no sadness of farewell" line 11

I found this poem to be an extended metaphor for death. The line "and may there be no moaning of the bar" and line 11 reflect the image of death. The speaker is telling people not to mourn over his passing. By the description of the sunset and tides in the poem, it seems that the speaker wants a peaceful death. Perhaps he hopes to die in his sleep. I think that he sees a peaceful passing as a reason for people not to mourn. Maybe he hopes that if people realize he didn't suffer, they would have no reason to grieve. The last stanza provides the speaker's hope in afterlife. The speaker wants to "see his Pilot face to face." His Pilot is God. A pilot is someone that steers a ship in the right direction. God is the Pilot that steered the speakers life in the right direction. "Crossing the bar" seems to be the ultimate task, which is getting into heaven.

Tone 1: My mistress' eyes

"My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun." line 1

I find this poem to be very sweet and romantic. The speaker describes his lover in a very unattractive manner. His tone while doing this seems to be satisfied and nonchalant. Its as if he doesn't care and is almost pleased that she isn't  attractive. However, despite her unfortunate looks, the man loves her. It seems that he doesn't care that society would describe her "eyes nothing like the sun" and "black wires grow[n] on her head" as unattractive. Despite everything, this woman is perfect in his eyes. This is shown in the last line, "she belied with false compare." This basically means that all her imperfections make her perfect to him.

5. next to of course god america i

"He spoke. And drank rapidly a glass of water" line 14

This poem was definitely hard for me to comprehend, and I probably still don't have an analysis close to what it is supposed to be. But, I'm going to make an attempt. The quotation in the poem and the last line imply that the speaker is talking directly to an audience. To me, God seems to be the most prominent thing in the speakers life, and America is a close second. He recites a small part of the national anthem as well as praises the nation. This leads me to believe that he is very patriotic. He seems to sarcastically say, "these heroic happy dead," meaning the soldiers and then compares them to "lions rushing into roaring slaughter they did not stop to think they died instead." I think the speaker is criticizing the mindset of the soldiers here. Being so patriotic himself, he thinks everyone should posses that same national pride that he had. He is saying that the soldiers basically went in fighting without knowing what it was they were fighting for. Also, the lack of punctuation really confused me.

4. Sorting Laundry

"Folding clothes, I think of folding you into my life." line 1

In this poem, I think sorting laundry is an extended metaphor for the woman trying to figure out what she wants. As she is folding the laundry, she is sorting the details of wanting to be with a man. The speaker uses many similes and metaphors to express that what the woman wants is the man in her life. It seems to me that this couple has had a pretty rocky relationship, and the woman is fighting to keep it together. Each simile/metaphor is an argument for why she wants to be with him. "All those wrinkles to be smoothed" refers to the issues they need to work out. "is tough to discard" is representing how hard it would be for the woman to let him and their memories together go. "In pockets, surprises" is the connection that will grow between them in time. As they continue to get to know each other, there will be surprises that will bring them closer. In the end, the woman realizes that what she wants is for them to be together. But, through the line, "left by a former lover. . . ." we see the woman is afraid the man will leave her. The end of the poem ties the metaphor of laundry together. Not being with this man will be like "a mountain of unsorted wash."