Wiki Poetry Project
Spencer Powell
Robert Frost (1874-1963)
Robert Lee Frost grew up in Lawrence, Massachusetts with his mother and grandfather.
After graduating high school, Frost attended Dartmouth for a few months but decided that college
was not for him. He began to write soon after this and married Elinor White in 1895. Frost longed
to be an accomplished writer but could not seem to get any progress here in America. In 1912
Frost took his wife and six children and moved to England to try and succeed as a writer. England
is where Frost had his first collection of poems published and this eventually led him becoming a
very successful poet. Eventually Frost moved back to the United States and purchased a farm for
him and his family. However, he was in for a lot of grief and depression after this because his wife
died in 1938. Also, he lost four of his children. Two of these deaths were due to mental
breakdowns and another to suicide. After the deaths of his wife and children, Frost began to still
write as he traveled to many places. He ends up dieing on January 29, 1963. In today’s society
many consider Robert Frost to be America’s best poet.
The Flood
By Robert Frost
Blood has been harder to dam back than water.
Just when we think we have it impounded safe
Behind new barrier walls (and let it chafe!),
It breaks away in some new kind of slaughter.
We choose to say it is let loose by the devil;
But power of blood itself releases blood.
It goes by might of being such a flood
Held high at so unnatural a level.
It will have outlet, brave and not so brave.
Weapons of war and implements of peace
Are but the points at which it finds release.
And now it is once more the tidal wave
That when it has swept by leaves summits stained.
Oh, blood will out. It cannot be contained.
Basically what this poem is doing is depicting blood as a flood that will always be let lose.
The poem starts out with a comparision between blood and water. Frost states that blood can be
harder to contain than water because it is always going to be let lose no matter what a person does
to stop it. The term “slaughter” is used to refer to some type of action such as murder that will allow
blood to be spilt. The poem goes on to talk about how the devil is simply not the cause of all the
blood but the fact that the need for blood will always allow it to exist. Then, it discusses how the
flood has been built up so much that it has to be released somehow. The outlet is what causes the
blood to be released. The outlet can be something that is considered bad such as war or good
such as peace. The poem concludes with a statement about leaves summiting stains. This refers
to the fact that some of the blood will be left behind to show what has happened. An example of
this could be a war battlefield.
My person reaction to this poem is that Frost is right in the point he is trying to convey. He
wants people to realize that blood will always be present in a person’s life. Events such as death
are going to happen no matter how much you do not want them to. A person has to deal with this
realization and learn to adapt to the hardships that come along with it.
Langston Hughes (1902-1967)
Hughes started writing poetry when he was in the eighth grade. His father paid for him to
attend Columbia University to study engineering but Hughes decided to pursue his writing career
instead. Most of Hughes’ poems center around African American culture like his first published
poem, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers.” This poem allowed Hughes to become a well-known writer in
the African American community. After traveling for many years, Hughes purchased a home in
Harlem, New York in 1924, a time period often referred to as the “Harlem Renaissance.” During
this time period Hughes wrote many poems and continued to strive as a writer. By the end of his
career, Hughes had written sixteen books of poetry and two novels. Today he is considered to be
the most well-known Harlem Renaissance writer.
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Merry-Go-Round
By Langston Hughes
Where is the Jim Crow section
On this merry-go-round,
Mister, cause I want to ride?
Down South where I come from
White and colored
Can't sit side by side.
Down South on the train
There's a Jim Crow car.
On the bus we're put in the back—
But there ain't no back
To a merry-go-round!
Where's the horse
For a kid that's black?
This poem is about a young, black child that is asking a man where he is supposed to sit on
a merry-go-round. The poem takes place during a time in America where blacks and whites were
segregated. The poem starts out with the boy asking where the Jim Crow section of the merry-goround is. The term “Jim Crow” refers to places that are specifically designated for black people
during this time period. The young boy then goes on to talk about how he is always segregated
from white people. He cannot sit beside a white person, he has to ride in a black-only car, and he
has to sit in the back of a bus. The poem then concludes with the boy asking the man where he is
supposed to sit.
I really like this poem a lot because it shows the true feelings of Langston Hughes towards
the treatment of his fellow African Americans. I believe that Hughes is simply making fun of the
segregation laws in his poem. The young boy in the poem knows that he can probably just sit
wherever he wants but simply chooses to make a scene about it. Many people would consider this
child to be what most call a “smart-Alec.” Hughes is pointing out the fact there is a specific section
for blacks in basically everything except for a merry-go-round. I feel as if white people during this
time period would have found this poem to be upsetting, which is exactly what Hughes wanted to
achieve.
Lucille Clifton (1936-2010)
Clifton grew up in Buffalo New York and showed a lot of promise at a young age. She
graduated from high school when she was sixteen and went on to attend Fredonia State Teachers
College. Lucille loved to write and got a huge break when she was awarded the YW-YMCA Poetry
Center Discovery Award. This award allowed her to get some exposure and eventually led to her
poetry collection, Good Times, getting published in 1969. This poetry collection received praise
throughout the nation, and the New York Times named it one of the best books of the year. Clifton
then used her success to become a professor at many well-known colleges such as Saint Mary’s
and Duke. At the end of her career, Clifton was one of most well-known poets in the world. Some
of her achievements include four Pulitzer Prize nominations for poetry and a National Book Award.
wishes for sons
by Lucille Clifton
i wish them cramps.
i wish them a strange town
and the last tampon.
I wish them no 7-11.
i wish them one week early
and wearing a white skirt.
i wish them one week late.
later i wish them hot flashes
and clots like you
wouldn't believe. let the
flashes come when they
meet someone special.
let the clots come
when they want to.
let them think they have accepted
arrogance in the universe,
then bring them to gynecologists
not unlike themselves.
This poem is basically about a mother wishing that her sons would experience woman
problems. The first stanza is talking about how women get cramps caused by their menstrual cycle.
The mother wishes that her sons would experience these cramps and be in a strange town with
only one tampon left and no 7-11. She wants them to know how awful it feels to be in this kind of
situation where you do not know anybody and there is not a place you can go to get more tampons.
The second stanza talks about how a woman sometimes has her menstrual period early. The
mother wants her sons to experience the humiliation that comes with this. The last line of the
stanza is referring to pregnancy. Clifton then goes on to write about how women have hot flashes
and clots. She wants these two symptoms to come when her sons are around a special person to
let them know how uncomfortable a situation it can be. The last part of the poem talks about how
women have to go to gynecologists. The mother wishes that her sons could experience such an
awkward experience such as this.
To me this poem shows how much women have to go through. It made me think about how
men have it a lot easier than women do when it comes to their bodies. We do not have to deal with
all these awkward and humiliating situations that women do. I think that it would be good for men
to experience these situations because it would make them more aware of what it means to
actually be a woman. I know that I have a lot more respect for women after reading this poem.