A Collection
Of Classics
By Jacob
Fox
Table Of Contents (organized in alphabetical order)
Page 1 ...................................................................................................................................................... Cover Page
Page 2 ........................................................................................................................................... Table of Contents
Page 3 ............................................................................................................ After the Sea-Ship by Walt Whitman
Page 4 .................................................................................The Ballad Of The Automobile by Ellis Parker Butler
Page 5 ................................................................................................................. The Ball Poem byJohn Berryman
.............................................................................................................. A Barefoot Boy by James Whitcomb Riley
Page 6 ............................................................................................................................ Choke Hold by Jacob Fox
............................................................................................................... Concord Hymn by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Page 7 ............................................................................................... Cynthia in the Snow by Gwendolyn Brooks
............................................................................................... Dewdrops Dancing Down Daisies By Paul McCann
Page 8 ............................................................................................................................ Flint by Christina Rossetti
.................................................................................................................................................... Irony by Jennifer T.
Page 9 ...................................................................................................................... London, 1802 by Wordsworth
............................................................................................................ The Man From Peru by Anonymous Author
Page 10 ................................................................................................... Nothing Gold Can Stay by Robert Frost
......................................................................................................................................... Numb by Jacob Fox
Page 11 ............................................................................................................ Ode to My Wrist by Barbara Hilton
.......................................................................................................................................... Peace by Silvia Hartmann
Page 12 .................................................................................................................. A Peace Sign By Paul McCann
............................................................................................................................ Sonnet 1 by William Shakespeare
Page 13 .................................................................................................................Spelling by Anonymous Author
...................................................................................Stopping By Woods On a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost
Page 14 .................................................................................................................................................... Studies by Soo Young
....................................................................................................................................... Summer Sun by Jacob Fox
Page 15 .......................................................................................................................... To Autumn by John Keats
Page 16 .................................................................................. Two Sunflowers Move in the Yellow Room by William Blake
Page 17 .............................................................................................................................. Favorite, Least Favorite
2
After the Sea-Ship by Walt Whitman (free verse)
After the sea-ship, after the whistling winds,
After the white-gray sails taut to their spars and ropes,
Below, a myriad myriad waves hastening, lifting up their necks,
Tending in ceaseless flow toward the track of the ship,
Waves of the ocean bubbling and gurgling, blithely prying,
Waves, undulating waves, liquid, uneven, emulous waves,
Toward that whirling current, laughing and buoyant, with curves,
Where the great vessel sailing and tacking displaced the surface,
Larger and smaller waves in the spread of the ocean yearnfully flowing,
The wake of the sea-ship after she passes, flashing and frolicsome
under the sun,
A motley procession with many a fleck of foam and many fragments,
Following the stately and rapid ship, in the wake following.
http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/wwhitman/bl-ww-afterthesea.htm
Explanation: This poem represents free verse very well. There is no rhyming or
rhythm. It
sounds almost as if the author is just telling me a story in every day speech. I
believe
Whitman used free verse so the reader would just focus more on the
descriptiveness of the poem
rather than rhyming and word patterns.
3
The Ballad Of The Automobile by Ellis Parker Butler
When our yacht sails seaward on steady keel
And the wind is moist with breath of brine
And our laughter tells of our perfect weal,
We may carol the praises of ruby wine;
But if, automobiling, my woes combine
And fuel gives out in my road-machine
And it's sixteen miles to that home of mine-Then ho! For a gallon of gasoline!
When our coach rides smoothly on iron-shod wheel
With a deft touch guiding each taut drawn line
And the inn ahead holds a royal meal,
We may carol the praises of ruby wine;
But when, on some long and steep incline,
In a manner entirely unforeseen
The motor stops with a last sad whine-Then ho! For a gallon of gasoline!
When the air is crisp and the brooks congeal
And our sleigh glides on with a speed divine
While the gay bells echo with peal on peal,
We may carol the praises of ruby wine;
But when, with perverseness most condign,
In the same harsh snowstorm, cold and keen,
My auto stops at the six-mile sign-Then ho! For a gallon of gasoline!
ENVOY
When yacht or Coach Club fellows dine
We may carol the praises of ruby wine;
But when Automobile Clubmen convene
Then ho! For a gallon of gasoline!
http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/ellis_parker_butler/poems/4272.html
Explanation: This particular poem tells a story like a ballad does and has the
repeated refrain “Then ho! For a gallon of gasoline!” The story is just about
different means of travel but how sometimes cars are not the most reliable or
enjoyable.
4
The Ball Poem
by
John Berryman (blank verse)
What is the boy now, who has lost his ball,
What, what is he to do? I saw it go
Merrily bouncing, down the street, and then
Merrily over-there it is in the water!
http://www.types-of-poetry.org.uk/07-blank-verse.htm
Explanation: This poem contains five lines, each line ten syllables long, following
the weak, strong pattern. Also it does all that without rhyming, which makes it a
great example of blank verse.
A Barefoot Boy by James Whitcomb Riley (imagery)
A barefoot boy! I mark him at his play—
For May is here once more, and so is he,—
His dusty trousers, rolled half to the knee,
And his bare ankles grimy, too, as they:
Cross-hatchings of the nettle, in array
Of feverish stripes, hint vividly to me
Of woody pathways winding endlessly
Along the creek, where even yesterday
He plunged his shrinking body—gasped and shook—
Yet called the water "warm," with never lack
Of joy. And so, half enviously I look
Upon this graceless barefoot and his track,—
His toe stubbed—ay, his big toe-nail knocked back
Like unto the clasp of an old pocketbook.
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=174216
Explanation: The imagery in this poem really paints a clear picture. You can actually see a
dirty looking
boy standing barefoot. The author really wanted to give his readers a sense of how filthy
the boy was, he used words like dusty and grimy to do this.
5
Choke Hold by Jacob Fox
Life’s choke hold squeezes out the happiness.
Pretending to be something you’re not only tightens the grip.
Putting evermore strain on something that already reached its breaking point.
How far can you push something over the edge?
How far can an object fall? How deep can it sink? What can save it?
Only love can make a body float above the surface, climb any mountain, allow a
body to feel.
Love is more than a feeling, it’s the soul’s ability to be more.
Concord Hymn by Ralph Waldo Emerson
By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April's breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard round the world. (hyperbole)
The foe long since in silence slept;
Alike the conqueror silent sleeps;
And Time the ruined bridge has swept
Down the dark stream that seaward creeps.
On this green bank, by this soft stream,
We set today a votive stone;
That memory may their deed redeem,
When, like our sires, our sons are gone.
Spirit, that made those heroes dare
To die, and leave their children free,
Bid Time and Nature gently spare
The shaft we raise to them and thee
http://www.eliteskills.com/analysis_poetry/Concord_Hymn_by_Ralph_Waldo_E
merson_analysis.php
Explanation: The hyperbole labeled above is an extreme exaggeration.
Obviously no gun shot could be heard all the way around the world. The
statement simply means that the gun shot fired that started the battles of
Lexington and Concord was very influential because it was one of the events
that sparked the American Revolution.
6
Cynthia in the Snow by Gwendolyn Brooks
It SHUSHES (onomatopoeia)
It hushes
The loudness in the road.
It flitter-twitters,
And laughs away from me.
It laughs a lovely whiteness,
And whitely whirs away,
To be
Some other where,
Still white as milk or shirts,
So beautiful it hurts.
http://www.dowlingcentral.com/MrsD/area/literature/Terms/Onomatopoeia.html
Explanation: Onomatopoeia is present in this poem when it says “it shushes, it
hushes, it flitter-twitters” because sounds are represented through words.
Onomatopoeia allows you to actually hear the snow moving around in your head.
Dewdrops Dancing Down Daisies (alliteration)
By Paul McCann
Don't delay dawns disarming display .
Dusk demands daylight .
Dewdrops dwell delicately
drawing dazzling delight .
Dewdrops dilute daisies domain.
Distinguished debutantes . Diamonds defray delivered
daylights distilled daisy dance.
http://home.vicnet.net.au/~poems/ps/html/alliteration_examples.html
Explanation: This whole poem contains alliteration. Every word begins with the
consonant sound made by the letter D. I think the author used alliteration to add
emphasis and emotion to each word. It also gives the poem a unique, interesting look,
and a pleasant sound.
7
Flint by Christina Rossetti
(similie)
An emerald is as green as grass,
A ruby red as blood;
A sapphire shines as blue as heaven;
A flint lies in the mud.
A diamond is a brilliant stone,
To catch the world's desire;
An opal holds a fiery spark;
But a flint holds a fire.
http://library.thinkquest.org/J0112392/simileclassics.html
Explanation: This poem has similes in lines 1-3. It compares emeralds to grass,
ruby's to blood, and sapphires to heaven all using the word “as” to do so.
Rossetti uses similes to emphasis the redness of the ruby, and the greenness of
the emerald. The similes enhance the description of the poem.
Irony by Jennifer T. (irony)
The shards of glass littered the cold, black asphalt
like sparkling stars strewn across the night sky.
Their brilliance catching the corner of my eye,
making me slow down, just to look at them a little longer.
In my awe of the sheer beauty of merely broken glass,
I couldn't help but think
How someone else's tragedy
could be so beautiful to me.
http://www.teenink.com/poetry/all/article/12008/Irony/
Explanation: This poem is ironic because normally broken glass is associated
with pain, violence, and destruction. The author here though sees broken glass in
a different light and describes it as beautiful and compares in to stars in the night
sky.
8
London, 1802 Wordsworth: (Italian sonnet)
Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour:(a)
England hath need of thee: she is a fen(b)
Of stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen,(b)
Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower,(a)
Have forfeited their ancient English dower(a)
Of inward happiness. We are selfish men;(b)
Oh! raise us up, return to us again;(b)
And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power.(a)
Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart;(c)
Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea:(d)
Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free,(d)
So didst thou travel on life's common way,e)
In cheerful godliness; and yet thy heart(c)
The lowliest duties on herself did lay.(e)
http://www.sonnets.org/basicforms.htm
Explanation: This poem has the rhyme scheme abbaabba cdd ece which is an
acceptable rhyme scheme for an Italian Sonnet. It is also fourteen lines.
The Man From Peru by Anonymous Author (rhythm, limerick)
There was an old man from Peru
Who dreamt he was eating his shoe.
He awoke in a fright
In the middle of the night
And found it was perfectly true.
http://www.jokes2go.com/poems/7995.html
Explanation: This poem is an example of a limerick because it follows the rhyme
scheme of aabba. The first two lines rhyme with the last two lines and the
middle two lines rhyme with each other. The poem is also a good example of
rhythm because in the first, second, and fifth lines it kind of goes da DUM da da
DUM da da DUM whem you read it.
9
Nothing Gold Can Stay by Robert Frost
Nature's first green is gold, (symbolism)
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/frost/gold.htm
Explanation: Frost uses symbolism in the first line of this famous poem. “Natures
first green” symbolizes youth while “gold” symbolizes how valuable youth is.
Frost goes on to say “her hardest hue to hold” which is just saying youth doesn’t
last forever, everyone eventually loses their innocence.
Numb by Jacob Fox
Why does the light dim down when there is no light to shed?
When does the dying stop and the living begin?
Living half a life is like living no life at all.
Going through everything in a daze not noticing the beauty around until it is too
late.
When the body becomes numb and there’s no room to escape, no feeling to
feel, where do you go, where do you hide?
And in the end when all is said and done, nobody sees the potential for life that
was stamped out, all that is seen is what was done, and that’s really all that
matters.
10
Ode to My Wrist by Barbara Hilton
I pick up the bell
Its weight falls heavy on my hands
Gong!
The bell resounds
Loudly and proudly (internal rhyme)
In the next moment
A bolt of burning pain through the wrist
The bell falls back to the table
And I’m left standing there
My wrist sprained
Bummer
Explanation: This poem is a good example of an ode because it’s dedicated to
something the author was inspired by, her wrist. Her wrist has meaning to her
because as said in the poem, she sprained it. Barbara also includes an internal
rhyme in line five. I believe she included the internal rhyme as a clever way to
give the reader an idea of what the bell sounded like.
Peace by Silvia Hartmann
The wind is now (metaphor)
a roaring, smashing
monster of destruction,
raking all man's work
from the valleys,
from the vales,
and sends them spinning,
broken flying but all of that is
not its core,
its center is in truth
eternal stillness
bright blue skies
and all you hear
are gentle whispers
far away
and unimportant.
http://silviahartmann.com/metaphor-poem.php
Explanation: The metaphor in this poem is “the wind is now a roaring, smashing,
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monster of destruction” because in compares the wind to monster of destruction
without using like or as. The metaphor lets the reader understand just how
powerful the wind was and it sucks you deeper into the poem.
A Peace Sign
By Paul McCann (acrostic)
People need love care and friendship .
Every word that we let slip.
All the prayers that come from our heart
Could be the sign for peace to start
Everyone must play their part .
http://home.vicnet.net.au/~poems/ps/html/acrostic_examples.html
Explanation: This poem is an acrostic because the letters to the word “peace”
begin each line. Then each line has something to do with the word peace. This
style does well to show the author’s feelings or goals about peace.
Sonnet 1 by William Shakespeare
From fairest creatures we desire increase,(a)
That thereby beauty's rose might never die,
But as the riper should by time decease,(a)
His tender heir might bear his memory:
But thou contracted to thine own bright eyes,(b)
Feed'st thy light's flame with self-substantial fuel,(c)
Making a famine where abundance lies,(b)
Thy self thy foe, to thy sweet self too cruel:(c)
Thou that art now the world's fresh ornament,(d)
And only herald to the gaudy spring,(e)
Within thine own bud buriest thy content,(d)
And, tender churl, mak'st waste in niggarding:(e)
Pity the world, or else this glutton be,(f)
To eat the world's due, by the grave and thee.(f)
http://www.shakespeares-sonnets.com/sonnet/1
Explanation: This poem by Shakespeare is a typical Elizabethan Sonnet. It is a
14 line poem with a catchy rhyme scheme of abab cdcd efef gg. For example,
increase rhymes with decease, and be rhymes with thee.
12
Spelling by Anonymous Author (nonsense poem)
Beware of heard, a dreadful word
That looks like beard and sounds like bird.
And dead: it's said like bed, not bead;
For goodness' sake, don't call it deed!
Watch out for meat and great and threat.
(They rhyme with suite and straight and debt.)
A moth is not a moth in mother,
Nor both in bother, broth in brother.
http://f2.org/humour/language/nonsense.html#Spelling
Explanation: This poem contains lot of rhythm and is intended as a fun way to
help children learn to spell. That fits the criteria of a nonsense poem because
they are normally intended for children and have a lot of rhythm. It is a happy,
jolly poem and could be just considered nonsense.
Stopping By Woods On a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost (end rhyme)
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
http://www.ketzle.com/frost/snowyeve.htm
Explanation: In this poem, every word at the end of every line rhymes with
another word at the end of a line. In other words, this poem uses end rhymes in
every line. For example know rhymes with though, and snow. Also lake rhymes
with shake and mistake.
13
Studies
by Soo Young (diamante)
Studies
Unhappy, difficult
Boring, succeeding, sleeping
Library, pencil, card, outside
Interesting, exciting, failing
Happy, easy
Play
http://pages.uoregon.edu/leslieob/diamantes.html
Explanation: This poem is a diamante because two opposite terms are in the
first and last lines. In the second line, unhappy and difficult serve as the
adjectives describing studies. In the third line, boring, succeeding, and sleeping
are the -ing words. Then in the fourth line, library and pencil have to do with
studies while card and outside have to do with play. This format continues
through the rest of the poem.
Summer Sun by Jacob Fox
The suns rays brighten.
Illuminating it all.
Making it golden.
This is an example of a haiku because it is only three lines follows the 5,7,5
rhyme scheme. Also haiku's are generally about nature and since the poem
above is about nature it fits that criteria.
14
To Autumn by John Keats
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run;
To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.
Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep,
Drows'd with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
Steady thy laden head across a brook;
Or by a cider-press, with patient look,
Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.
Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies; (assonance)
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Autumn
Explanation: The assonance in this poem uses the repeated “i” vowel sound in
the words sinking, light, wind, lives and dies. In this case assonance is used to
show the contrast of the words lives and dies. Assonance connects the words
together and gives them a special flow.
15
Two Sunflowers
Move in the Yellow Room by William Blake (personification)
"Ah, William, we're weary of weather,"
said the sunflowers, shining with dew.
"Our traveling habits have tired us.
Can you give us a room with a view?"
They arranged themselves at the window
and counted the steps of the sun,
and they both took root in the carpet
where the topaz tortoises run.
http://library.thinkquest.org/J0112392/personificationclassics.html
Explanation: Personification is well represented in this poem because sunflowers
are given voices, a human characteristic.
16
Favorite: My favorite poem is Spelling whose author is anonymous. I like it
because it tells how the English spelling rules are complicated and sometimes
make little sense. Like how in the poem it says “beware of heard, a dreadful word
that looks like beard and sounds like bird.” It has a nice rhyme but shows how
rules for the pronunciation of some words don’t apply for others, which can be
frustrating. The whole poem is basically just a play on words with lots of rhyming
which I like.
My Least Favorite: My least favorite poem is Ode to My Wrist by Barbara Hilton
because the theme to the poem is boring and the ending is weak. The poem is
just about someone spraining their wrist by ringing a bell. Then the ending just
comes suddenly, “bummer.” I think a better word could've been used.
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