The Silken Tent
By: Robert Frost
She is as in a field a silken tent At midday when the sunny summer breeze Has dried the dew and all its ropes relent, So that in guys it gently sways at ease, And its supporting central cedar pole, That is its pinnacle to heavenward And signifies the sureness of the soul, Seems to owe naught to any single cord, But strictly held by none, is loosely bound By countless silken ties of love and thought To every thing on earth the compass round, And only by one's going slightly taut In the capriciousness of summer air Is of the slightest bondage made aware.
Significance/Speaker/Perspective/POV Title refers to the symbol used to describe the woman Admirer of the woman 3rd person
Tone/Tonal Words/ Themes
Admiring, relaxed Gently, ease, love Freedom with hidden boundaries, sense of self
Figurative Language/ Symbols
Extended metaphor of woman as tent Symbols - "Silk tent", feminine nature - Guy ropes, loose boundaries of woman - Pole, strength of the woman
Imagery
Taut ropes Sunny Summer Breeze
Structure/ Patterns
14 Lines Rhyming Iambic Pentameter
Time Period
Modern - Focus on individual - Slight optimism
Juke Box Love Song
By Langston Hughes
Significance of Title/ Speaker/ Perspective/ POV Poem is very much like a love song Infatuated man Man concentrating on his love a woman (and Harlem) 1st person
Tone/ Tonal Words/ Themes
Free, exciting, energetic Drumbeat, whirl, dance Love, Harlem nights
Figurative Language/ Symbols
Personification throughout -Harlem's heartbeat Hyperbole -Dance with you till day
Imagery
Whirl Neon lights drumbeat Heartbeat
Structure/ Patterns
Flows like a song Few end rhymes Reptition - "Dance with you" - "Take"
Time Period
Modern/ Harlem Renaissance - Jazzy - Optimistic
Wild Nights
By Emily Dickenson
Wild nights! Wild nights! Were I with thee, Wild nights should be Our luxury! Futile the winds To a heart in port, Done with the compass, Done with the chart.
Rowing in Eden! Ah! the sea! Might I but moor To-night in thee!
Interesting Information
Quote from Thomas Wentworth Higginson about the poem:
One poem only I dread a little to print that wonder Wild Nights, lest the malignant read into it more than that virgin recluse ever dreamed of putting there. . . . Yet what a loss to omit it! Indeed it is not to be omitted.
Significance of Title/ Speaker/ Perspective/ POV Title is rather evident.. Speaker yearning for a "wild night" or someone to love 1st person
Tone/ Tonal Words/ Themes
Intimate, desperate, Romantic Luxury, wild, heart Love, wild romance, restrictions to sharing love
Figurative Language/ Symbols
Metaphor (nautical) - Heart in port as someone in love - Comparing finding true love to a ship finding port Allusion - Eden
Imagery
Futile winds Rowing in eden
Structure/ Patterns
3 stanzas Each stanza is a quatrain End rhyme
Time Period
Realism/Romantic - Takes on the more romantic side - Passion - Imaginative love
Comparison
All poems involve some form of love, desire, or admiration Dickenson's poem contains more passion Frost speaks metaphorically about his subject through a tent instead of directly.
