Li-Young Lee & Tess Gallagher

Li-Young Lee

“The Gift”

Physically he did not receive a gift but spiritually he did. The gift his father gave him, he gave to his wife. The gift was discipline. Confidence, security & trust was what his father showed him because although he had a splinter, he thought that he would die. So he carefully executed the same thing (minus the prayer because he did not remember word for word) to his wife.

Tess Gallagher

“Choices”

The “nest” becomes an epiphany/moment of self awareness for the speaker because to think that she was going to remove something that was so beautiful which would have made her feel a way. The view itself held beauty & to take away a nest which belonged to a creature would have been wrong. Maybe she felt like, who am I? To take away something that does not belong to me. Something so innocent, at that.

 "Under the  Stars"

The “you” that was addressed in stanza 3 collides with the envelope in stanza 1 means that the envelope contained a letter to the “you”. I want to believe that the “you” is a childhood love because she showed imagery of a “couple” in stanza 3. She also reminisces on the childhood games that were played in the dark and uses the word “intimate” in stanza 4.

The “games” is referred to her childhood memories that her & “you” use to play when they were younger. Everyone had childhood games that they would be play back when they were young.

In relation to the imagery, the significance in the final line is that her mind was running rapid on things that she sees around her. You know when you’re happy & content with a thought of something that you notice the beauty of things you see everyday & you end up getting wrapped up in your own world. Well on her way to the mail drop off area her thoughts were flying. As she got closer back to home she got back into reality.

The Red Wheelbarrow

Based on this poem the literal setting I perceived is located on a farm. Reason being, the red wheelbarrow & the white chickens. Farmers need wheelbarrows to transport products from one place to another & they have white chickens that they keep, to sell & eat.

The image I get from the poem is actually I still picture, I see the remains of  the water from the rain sitting on the red wheel barrow & the white chickens inside the coup. The water is still dripping from on top of the coup so the chickens are in the coup for shelter. The symbol you find in the poem would be ``glazed with rain water``. Because rain is not often used with the term glazed but you can understand it because the rain did pour on top of the red wheel barrel. Glazed would be used as spread or making something shinier than usual so it works in both ways. The rhythm is normal, its just telling a simple story that seems unfinished. There is also no rhyming in the poem so everything seems more questionable. Whats next? The mind of the poet come to bear on the literal scenery of the poetry by choosing his words soft & simple. The first line ``so much depend upon`` does not really make you think he would of tried & make a poem out of it. More like he was starting off a regular conversation & then it led off into a poem. Think I'm reaching a little with that one? I don't think so. Some poems really do make from conversations. Or just a regular thought. ``So much depends on, a red wheelbarrow``, its true a lot depend on it. The farmer needing to transport goods from one place to another. It transformed on the third line, ``glazed with rain water``. I`d be lying if I said I knew his true emotions behind this poem but I don`t. If it was told that he was sitting in a shed right next to the coup, just staring, watching the rain pass through. Or if he was chewing on a piece of hay (I don't know) & staring from his home. Maybe then I can get an emotion. But through all that was said & given the only emotion I perceived was bland & a still life picture. The relationship between reality & imagination in this poem is that reality they are second nature to one another. The scenery & the symbol in this poem is so common as if it would be in a movie.

The Fish by Elizabeth Bishop

"Shapes like full-blown roses
stained and lost through age"

The speaker conveys in this line how age can be perceived through imagery. Taken notice in the description of it its physical appearance. ``Shapes like full-blown roses stained`` that alone gives you an image of how old & ancient the skin appears to be. My perception is that the speaker is trying to make it aware that the fish physical appearance is worn out because its stained but yet it still has the beauty of being shaped like full-blown roses, just stained. ``Lost through age`` gives us an additional assessment because it shows us how something of a beautiful nature can still be beautiful but lose its value over time. In some eyes that old beauty that was so called ``lost through age`` will be considered antique, which is another perception of beauty. In this line the speaker showed both ugly & beauty.

"He hung a grunting weight"

The speaker conveys symbolism in this line because it shows two different sides. One side, in its literal context, the fish is considered being full in weight. The other side, I highlighted on the word grunting. Grunt in its tern is the medium-sized tropical marine food fishes that utter grunting sounds when caught. So the symbol in this is that the speaker both shows what the fish is naturally & also what it is physically doing. How was the speaker able to conjure both effects? I have no idea.