"Easter Wings"

"Easter Wings" by George Herbert, is an emblem poem that follows the up and down struggle of the life of a Christian. Herbert begins the poem in a positive manner and as the lines get smaller, so does the attitude of the speaker. Herbert gives all the glory to the Lord in the opening line by saying, “Lord, who createdst man in wealth and stone. Herbert is showing that he believes the Lord is above all humans and he does not deny that fact. He then comes back in the third line and just says, “Decaying more and more”. This line adds to the visual outlook of the poem, because the poem is decreasing in size at this time. After the line gets to the smallest point Herbert says, “O let me rise” , and the poem begins to increase in size. He uses this to relay the message through his words but a visual aid as well to help the reader. I love the way emblem poems can help a reader look deeper into the author’s words with the visual aid. Herbert continues the rise and fall throughout the poem and ends on a good note. This poem relays a great message that can be seen in everyone’s day to day life.

"On Something, That Walks Somewhere"

“On Something That Walks Somewhere” by Ben Jonson, is a member of his collection of epigrams written for certain people, about certain people, and in honor of other people. In this poem Jonson portrays a scene of a man walking and nearing another man. He says the man was wearing brave clothes, or nice clothes, depicting the man as possibly someone of high honor. He says the man looked important enough to be that of a statesman. So the man is getting closer and naturally he asks the man for his name and he replies,”A lord”. This obviously did not sit well for the man looked upon himself to be better than the person he was walking past. Jonson ends the poem with the line, Good lord, walk dead still. Jonson does not care for this man or the way he acts as a person. He ends the poem by saying walk around lifeless and quiet instead of flaunty and annoying. I do not blame Jonson I have encountered the same type of people and I feel the same annoyance he felt. I think he is trying to send a message in writing this poem saying it is not right to display your importance to other people just to make yourself feel better. This is a short poem but it can send a large message.

"The Flea"

“The Flea” shows once again Donne’s metaphysical love poem mode, his ability for turning even the least likely images into elaborate symbols of love and romance. This poem uses the image of a flea that has just bitten the man and his beloved to show a funny conflict over whether the two will engage in intercourse or not. The man wants to, but the woman does not, so the man uses the flea in whose body his blood mixes with the woman, to show how harmless such mixing can be. He says that if mixing in the flea is so safe, intercourse would be equally safe, for they are really the same thing. By the second verse, the speaker is trying to save the flea’s life, saying that it is “our marriage bed and marriage temple.” When the woman kills the flea, despite the speaker’s argument, he turns his argument around and says that despite the fair ideals he has just been begging, killing the flea did not really question the woman’s honor. Despite the fair ideals she has raised in refusing to sleep with him, doing so would not challenge her honor either. The man is basically trying to do whatever it takes to get the woman to sleep with him. Even though the poem was written well before our time, it still has today’s stereotypical view of a man.

"The Imperfect Enjoyment"

“The Imperfect Enjoyment” written by John Wilmot, involves a sexual encounter that is described as a battle of the sexes. Of course it comes as no surprise that in this battle, the woman loses, despite the fact that “The Imperfect Enjoyment” is a poem about premature ejaculation. Men are pictured as more powerful, and the fact that this sexual failure occurs is blamed on the woman for being “too beautiful” rather than on the man, where the blame is actually needed. The man is seen as a “martyr to love” who gets to celebrate in the glory of victory in this battle while the woman has to accept the fact that ahe has been defeated. Unlike other poems in this genre, however, this poem does feature a woman who is equal, dominant and who actually speaks. The woman gives orders, but does so using the tools of the man. This poem is a humorous poem that will keep you interested to the end. The man seems to have a problem getting aroused but of course he lays the blame on the woman. After reading “The Imperfect Enjoyment” it is advised to make “The Disappointment” the next choice for a poem to read since it highlights the woman’s feelings as well.

“The Reasons that Induced Dr Swift to write a Poem called the Lady’s Dressing Room”

“The Reasons that Induced Dr Swift to write a Poem called the Lady’s Dressing Room” is a comical poem that Lady Mary Montague writes in response to Jonathan Swift’s poem, “The Lady’s Dressing Room”. The poem by Swift was everything but compassionate towards the effort women give to looking the best. It makes sense that people would be offended by "The Lady's Dressing Room", so Lady Montagu published a response, titled "The Reasons that Induced Dr Swift to write a Poem called the Lady's Dressing room". Lady Mary takes Swift to task for his poem. She fights dirty, but considering the demeaning connotation of Swift uses, it seems called for. In her response, Lady Mary; who is an admired writer in her own right, creates a backstory that explains why Swift was angry enough to write "The Lady's Dressing Room." In Montague’s poem, she does everything but hold back on Swift. She bashes Swift and also bashes his good friend, Alexander Pope. To sum things up, Montague says the reason Swift wrote the poem is because he paid a prostitute for intercourse. When he tried to advance the scene, his male parts would not respond and he tried and tried but no response. He asks for his money back and she denies him so he storms out. This poem is extremely hilarious to follow up Swift’s writing. The two must be read together and fully understood because when they are, they can really change a view on English Literature.

"The Lady's Dressing Room"

“The Lady’s Dressing Room” is one poem in Jonathan Swift’s series of excremental poems. Swift holds nothing back in this poem from the view of a young man, Strephon, who ventures into a woman’s chamber to look around. Swift then goes into vivid detail of the horrid things Strephon sees. Swift says, “A paste of composition rare: sweat, dandruff, powder, lead, and hair. He basically is saying the woman’s chamber is gross. “But oh! It turned poor Strephon’s bowels: when he beheld and smelled the towels”, states Swift. Swift is possibly using this poem to say at least women are doing what it takes to please the man, or he is basically just bashing women. As the poem points to the idea that women are gross, it also points to the idea that sometimes being nosy can make you see things you do not want to see. The reason Strephon ventures into the chamber is unknown but when he leaves the chamber he has seen things that will always affect him. Swift says in the end of the poem, as Strephon is walking down the street, every woman he sees he connects with what he last saw in the chamber. The poem is entertaining but disturbing at the same time. Montague’s response to this poem is the funnier of the two.

Paradise Lost- Book Nine

To begin Book Nine of Paradise Lost, Milton introduces that Adam and Eve's fall is the major event in this book.  This story conveys the inner mistakes of all humankind.  I personally enjoyed Milton using such a popular and simple story of Adam and Ever to explain the catastrophe that all human's face, sin.  This flaw commited paved the way for salvation and much redemption.  I was slightly confused why Milton rambled about Adam's stregnth and skills.  He mocked the knights and Middle Age, but made Adam seem as though he was a knightly hero.  Throughout the story Satan wonders around soul-searching.  Milton shows Satan's inner agony of misery.  Milton hints that he argues within himself if he should have remained good.  He becomes jealous of Earth's beauty and plans to get vengeance.  Milton explains how Satan wandered throughout the Garden of Eden searching for the right animal to disguise himself as.  Satan's thoughts in the book became a bit overwhelming and hard to understand.  The main idea of his thoughts were that he was planning to be the evil God of hell.  Through this story Milton continues, like previous writing, portraying the woman as the weaker sex.  Eve only making a few arguments, is tricked by Satan.  Milton tries to show the wreath Adam has made as a symbol of his love for Eve.  While Eve gives Adam the option to sin also, he picks Eve over God.  I enjoyed this story not only because it was fimiliar to me, but because of the important messages it was sending.  The message of do as the Lord tells you, should be applied to our every day journey through life.  This writing also shows the significance of human's downfall to sin.  Paradise on earth was lost for Adam and Eve, but not for all eternity.

The Altar

The Altar written by George Herbert is an emblem poem that represents and speaks of the altar of Christ. This being my first experience with an emblem poem, I really enjoyed how a simple matter of the words taking the form of the topic can render your focus to the subject of the sonnet. Looking at an altar while reading the sonnet helped me visualize the scene created by Herbert. I did find myself slightly confused during the sonnet trying to decide if possibly Herbert is speaking of a true actual altar or speaking about his heart. The beginning of the sonnet almost made me think he was in fact speaking of a concrete form. He refers to scripture and basically says this altar was not built by a workman but was crafted by the Lord. That line made me believe he was referring to the heart as an altar through the sonnet. While I enjoyed the poem as an emblem I enjoyed more the message Herbert was sending. He says he is sacrificing his heart to the Lord. Herbert speaks of a broken heart and admits that he is truly regretful or sorrowful and wants to give his heart to the Lord. He ends by basically saying that he wants to give a great sacrifice to the Lord and that is his heart. He offers his heart “the altar” to the Lord in hopes that the Lord will accept his heart to be the Lords’. Great sonnet with a better message that I enjoyed thoroughly.