Blog3: peace

“Peace” by George Herbert

Peace is a poem by George Herbert which uses Connotation/ Denotation and Imagery to not only tell the story of one’s search for peace, but also to show where he ended up finding the answer to his search. “Peace” begins by George Herbert talking about one’s search for peace; there are three main images that he gives of where peace is searched for. The first image is of him looking in a secret cave, away from society and without disturbance. The response to his first search is a “hollow wind” that answered “No, Go seek elsewhere”. The next image of him searching for peace is of him searching the land of which he saw a rainbow: the sky. But it turned out that the clouds immediately went away so the rainbow in turn disappeared. The final physical place he searches is a garden in which he found a flower that he dug up. At the root of the flower there was a worm that had eaten away the roots of the beautiful Crown Imperial. These three instances are three instances of the imagery that Herbert uses to depict and describe the search for peace.
The second main part of the poem is the part in which the denotation/connation is shown. This part of the poem is where he encounters an old man who tells him the story of a prince which lived a good life and he ended up dying from his foes. But after his death “12 stalks of wheat” grew out of his life. The Denotation of this image is the 12 stalks of wheat growing and spreading throughout the world. The connotation of this image is of Jesus being scorned upon and his foes killing him; but in the end his 12 disciples, who the wheat represented, were able to spread the word of the lord throughout the entire world. The best point of this poem is that the peace wasn’t found in any physical place, but in the message that the old man had about this prince.

blog 2: There is no frigate like a book

Dickinson emphasizes the journey and travels you can experience without even moving a foot, all from a book. The poem begins with the descriptive word "frigate", saying that there is no frigate like a book. this shows that not only is the boat something like a sail boat or a small paddle boat, but it is a large brawny ship which will embark on a journey and journey to come. Dickinson continues her journey through your imagination by speaking of how we can be taken "lands away". the use of "coursers" is to show how our imagination can even include something like a horse. the symbolism of a horse continues on the next line as "prancing poetry" speaks of the poetry which uses the word "prancing" to describe it. the importance of that is that the word prancing is used to refer to horses in their prowess and bold stance, and when used to describe poetry it emphasizes the prowess of the poetry and language.

the poem shifts to talking about the cost of the journey, which is free. the word "traverse" is used rather than travel to give the reader a sense of traveling all of the lands and the universe. when the word traverse is read in this context, it sticks out as a more descriptive word showing the essence of a vast expanse of lands. Traverse also shows how the imagination can travel the entire universe in a matter of seconds and embark on a journey to anywhere rather than just traveling there. The point of the word traverse also ties in with the discussion of the poor being able to take the journey. usually a poor person couldn't afford to travel anywhere except on foot but through a book, not only can they travel, they can traverse the entire world. The following line continues the talk about the poor being able to traverse in the story, without the "oppress" of toll. This means that the poor can travel anywhere for free using their imagination. Oppress is used in context to show how the poor are able to traverse without the burdening or weighing down of having no money.

The final two lines summarize and elaborate upon the overall point of the poem. the word "frugal" is used to represent something inexpensive yet still very useful,and it describes the "chariot". The chariot is a symbol of the book, it is a majestic stately carriage; The word chariot matches the use of the book perfectly, as the book is a majestic carriage for ones imagination to take you anywhere you want to go in the most luxurious and pristine manner possible. the final line is a continuance of the phrase above, "how frugal is the chariot that bears the human soul". the majestic carriage being the book, is what holds up or supports the human soul. this is another way of saying that a book is a very inexpensive and perfect way to hold up the imagination and feelings of our souls as humans.

blog 2: The Man He Killed

The man he killed is a very meaningful yet depictive poem. The poem begins with the speaker talking about how this certain person (which can be assumed is the man he killed by the title) who he would have been friends with had he met him at an "ancient inn". The speaker we find out in the second paragraph, is a soldier who is in the battlefield and he has just shot down the man with whom he could have been friends with, had he not been on the opposing side. The poem shows that the only reason he killed the man, was because he was his enemy of war, not because he actually had anything against the man. He was the same type of man as himself, one who had no money and sold all of his belonging to fight for the army. The speaker shows how war can put men who could potentially be good friends or acquaintances, against each other for reasons no more than the fact that they are on opposite sides of the battlefield. The speaker expresses the irrationality of war because the individual people possibly have no difference than the individual people on the other side, besides the side that they are standing on. Overall this poem gives us another instance of humanity and how destructive the things we come up with can be.