Bravo 1 Angel Bravo Prof. Torres ENG113-C 25 September 2021 5 Rhetoric Paragraphs People can interpret love in many ways, and these interpretations can be good or bad. “An Answer to a Love Letter,” written by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, is a perfect example of these “interpretations” of love. This poem made roughly between the 16-17 hundred centuries talks about a woman who received a love letter from a man, but the intriguing thing about this poem is how she reacts to this love letter. This woman had her heart broken by a previous lover, and as a result, she can no longer trust or even believe in love. “Nor sighs/nor charms/nor flatteries can move/too well secur’d against a second love.” (Montagu 19-20). Lady Montagu is making a bold statement towards men and those in her time that women did not have to follow the social norm and marry to feel happy and satisfied in this life. This poem is a form of rhetoric because she tries to persuade women not to trust men and live their lives the way they want to. Some say that for a poem to be influential, it has to be lengthy, but in reality, it can be significant without length. “Dreams” by Langston Hughes is a perfect example of a short poem having a remarkable impact. This poem describes what many of us hold dear, and that is keeping our dreams alive. Hughes says in this poem, “Hold fast to dreams/For if dreams die/Life is a broken-winged bird/That cannot fly.” (Hughes 1-4). Hughes wrote this poem during the 1900s where the Jim Crow Laws were still in effect. Knowing the background of the poem changes the main point of this poem. Instead of looking at this poem with the idea of holding on to your Bravo 2 dreams, others whose ancestors were affected can find a whole new meaning. That is the beauty of literature; it is subjective to everyone based on their past experiences. Another great example of a short poem having a serious impact is “O Me! O Life!” by Walt Whitman. “The question, O Me! So sad, recurring/What good amid these, O me, O life? (...) That you are here/that life exists and identity.” (Whitman 9-11). In this poem, Whitman talks about all the horrible things that are happening in the world today. “Of the endless trains of the faithless/of cities fill’d with the foolish, (...) Of the poor results of all/of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me/Of the empty and useless years of the rest/with the rest me intertwined.” (2, 7, 8). In some ways, Whitman uses the negative point of view of the world to convince the readers that they are something special and should keep on living. He goes on to say in the last line of the poem, “That the powerful play goes on/and you may contribute a verse.” (12). In this verse, Whitman isn’t just telling those reading that they are important, but also they should contribute to this world even though it is messed up and crazy. Carpe Diem means to live your life to the fullest. “Be Drunk” by Charles Baudelaire gives an excellent example of how carpe diem. “You have to always be drunk/That’s all there is to it/it’s the only way (...) But on what?/Wine, poetry or virtue, as you wish/But be drunk.” (Baudelaire 1-4). He uses the expression, “be drunk,” not referring to alcohol but to the things that bring you joy and happiness. He reassures the reader that this is the way to live by saying, “And if sometimes/on the steps of a palace or the green grass of a ditch,/in the mournful solitude of your room/you wake again/drunkenness already diminishing or gone/ask the wind, the wave, the star, the bird, the clock, everything that is flying (...) "It is time to be drunk!” (5-10). He lets us know that it’s always time to be drunk on life no matter what or who you ask. Bravo 3 Another poem that perfectly sums up carpe diem is “To His Coy Mistress,” written by Andrew Marvell. The definition of rhetoric is persuasive reading or writing, or basically, it’s to persuade someone of something. In this poem, Whitman talks to a mistress to try and convince her to sleep with him by using negative views of life. “Time’s winged chariot hurrying near/And yonder all before us lie/Deserts of vast eternity/Thy beauty shall no more be found.” (22-25). He describes to this woman that as time goes on, so will her beauty, so she should enjoy it while it lasts. Whitman uses the irrational fear of growing up and getting old. He uses rhetoric by bringing up all the negative aspects of life so that they can both have a “good time.” As Whitman demonstrated in his poem, using rhetoric is an effective form of persuasion because it makes you look at all of the negative things in the world and even makes you act on impulse and live in the moment.
