Refusal by Maya Angelou

Refusal

Beloved,
In what other lives or lands
Have I known your lips
Your Hands                                                     
Your Laughter brave                                          
 Irreverent.
Those sweet excesses that
I do adore.
What surety is there
That we will meet again,
On other worlds some
Future time undated.
I defy my body's haste.
Without the promise
Of one more sweet encounter
I will not deign to die.

Maya Angelou

Commentary:
I chose to read this poem because the title of this poem seemed intriguing for me. " Refusal" could be the title of a young girl who does not want to pay attention to her parents or a young girl that does not want to be with her boyfriend anymore. I wanted to find out what the poem was about, so I decided to chose this poem for one of my posts for Maya Angelou( and the last since this is the 10th poem I have posted with commentary for Maya Angelou).
Just by taking a look at the poem, I knew that the poem would short and quick to the point because of its length. I also knew ahead of time that the poem would contain a lot of detail because it was short and Maya Angelou is very deep in all her poems.
After I finished reading the poem, I had to read it once more to fully comprehend the poem. When I finished doing this, I had grasped what Maya Angelou was expressing in her poem. I understood word for word and stanza by stanza. In the poem, "Refusal," Maya Angelou is talking about a lover that the speaker lost. The speaker of this poem refuses to give up his memorie because she knows that they will be reunited after death.
It is really sad when we lose our loved ones due to natural causes like death. This poem can be dedicated to almost any soul that one has lost in life.
Maya Angelou used figurative language to transmit her message to take advantage of the people and love that surrounds you because one day they may not be present.
Maya Angelou used imagery in her poem, "Refusal."
In the poem, she says, "Those sweet excesses that I do adore." In this phrase, Maya Angelou is saying that she adores the features that her lover had. Then, she says, " Of one more sweet encounter I will not deign to die." She uses the same descriptive word to describe the lover's actions. Sweet can mean enchanting or wonderful.

A Country Life By Katherine Philips

 
A COUNTRY LIFE

How sacred and how innocent
    A country life appears;
How free from tumult, discontent,                                   

 From flattery or fears!

This was the first and happiest life,
    When man enjoy'd himself;
Till pride exchangëd peace for strife,
    And happiness for pelf.

'Twas here the poets were inspired,
    Here taught the multitude;
The brave they here with honour fir'd,
    And civilised the rude.

The golden age did entertain
    No passion but of love;
The thoughts of ruling and of gain
    Did ne'er their fancies move.

None then did envy neighbour's wealth
    Nor plot to wrong his bed;
Happy in friendship and in health,
    On roots, not beasts, they fed.

They knew no law nor physic then,
    Nature was all their wit:
And if there yet remain to men
    Content, sure this is it.

What blessings doth this world afford
    To tempt or bribe desire!
Her courtship is all fire and sword,
    Who would not then retire?

Then welcome dearest solitude,
    My great felicity;
Though some are pleas'd to call thee rude,
    Thou art not so, but we.

Them that do covet only rest,
    A cottage will suffice:
It is not brave to be possest
    Of earth, but to despise.

Opinion is the rate of things,
    From hence our peace doth flow;
I have a better fate than kings,
    Because I think it so.

When all the stormy world doth roar,
    How unconcern'd am I!
I can not fear to tumble lower,
    Who never could be high.

Secure in these unenvy'd walls,                                                      

 I think not on the state,
And pity no man's case that falls
    From his ambitious height.

Silence and innocence are safe;
    A heart that's nobly true
At all these little arts can laugh
    That do the world subdue.

While others revel it in state,
    Here I'll contented sit,
And think I have as good a fate
    As wealth and pomp admit.

Let some in courtship take delight,
    And to th' Exchange resort;
Then revel out a winter's night,
    Not making love, but sport.

These never knew a noble flame,
    'Tis lust, scorn or design:
While vanity plays all their game,
    Let peace and honour mine.

When the inviting spring appears,
    To Hyde Park let them go,                                                                            
And hasting thence be full of fears
    To lose Spring-Garden show.

Let others (nobler) seek to gain
    In knowledge happy fate,
And others busy them in vain
    To study ways of state.

But I resolvëd from within,
    Confirmëd from without,
In privacy intend to spin
    My future minutes out.

And from this hermitage of mine,                                      
 I banish all wild toys,
And nothing that is not divine
    Shall dare to tempt my joys.

There are below but two things good,
    Friendship and Honesty;
And only those of all I would
    Ask for felicity.

In this retir'd and humble seat,
    Free from both war and strife,
I am not forc'd to make retreat,
    But choose to spend my life.



Commentary:
I chose to read this poem because the title intrigued me and I wanted to continue reading the poem. The title, " a country life," reminded me of a summer that I spent in the country in Mexico. The country life is very calm and tranquil. I decided to read this poem because it would remind me of the times I spent with my grandparents in Mexico as a young girl.
After I finished reading the poem, I thought that it was very calming. The tone of the poem was tranquil. The tone helped to establish the feeling that the country makes one feel. It also helped us picture the country and to feel more connected with the idea that the author, Katherine Philips transmitted in this poem.
I understood the poem from beginning to end. The first stanza talks about the tranquility of the country. The country life is a happy place and does not invoke fear.
The second stanza says that a man enjoys himself in that place and lives happily. His soul has peace.
The third stanza states that the view of the country life inspired many poets, like it inspired Katherine Philips to write this poem.
The next stanza says that the country life was a golden age. The author says that the country life entertained feelings of love. When one looks at the country sight, one feels calm and relaxed. That is the feeling that love projects.
The next stanza says that in the country, there are no bad thoughts of stealing money or envy about other people's possessions. No one thinks about being unfaithful or being with another person one is not married to.
The next stanza says that in those times, there were no rules or police needed to enforce the law because everyone knew what was right and what was wrong.
The next stanza says that this place was a true blessing, which in fact it was because who would not want to live in peace and without any disturbance?
The next stanza says that the country causes great happiness to the speaker.
The next stanza says  that for the people that live in the country, they only need a simple house to live in. They do not need a castle to live in or anything fancy.
The next stanza says that the speaker lives better than  king. He says that his fate is better than of a king's.
The next stanza says that the speaker is not concerned with what happens outside of his world. He only cares about the country.
The next stanza says to not worry about the rich, even if they fall from the cloud on which they are on.
The next stanza says that the people of the country conform with being silent. They do not need an extravagant life full of parties and laughter.
The next stanza says that the same thing that she said in stanza ten. She says her fate is better than the wealthy.

The poem goes on talking about the country life and all its virtues and advantages. The speaker loves the country life and would not leave it, not even for a mansion and good lifestyle.

On the fair weather just at the Coronation by Katherine Philips

Katherine Philips On the Fair Weather just at the Coronation, it having rained immediately before and after So clear a season, and so snatch'd from storms, Shows Heav'n delights to see what man performs. Well knew the Sun, if such a day were dim,                                     It would have been an injury to him: For then a cloud had from his eye conceal'd The noblest sight that ever he beheld. He therefore check'd th' invading rains we fear'd, And in a bright Parenthesis appear'd. So that we knew not which look'd most content,                      The King, the people, or the firmament. But the solemnity once fully past,  The storm return'd with an impetuous haste                                                                                     And Heav'n and Earth each other to out-do,       Vied both in cannons and in fire-works too. So Israel past through the divided flood, While in obedient heaps the Ocean stood: But the same sea (the Hebrews once on shore)  Return'd in torrents where it was before.                                                                                                                                                  Commentary: I looked at the title of this poem and  I thought the poem was going to be a  bit boring. It was only after I read it  that I realized that it was not boring  like I thought it was.  The poem talks about what exactly  what the title suggests. Katherine was  very direct when choosing the title for  her poem. For unknown reasons, she  chose to not engage the reader or grab  the reader's attention by choosing a  surprising title. Since the poem was  written in the seventeenth century,  maybe in that era, attention grabbers  were not necessary.   In the poem, Katherine Philips is  expressing the actions that occurred  while a king was being coronated at  some ceremony.  The actions that Katherine Philips  expresses are just the weather that  took place in the coronation.  In the poem, Katherine Philips says,  "And in a bright Parenthesis appear'd.   So that we knew not which look'd most  content, The King, the people, or the  firmament." In this phrase, Katherine  is saying that when the king was given  the crown, it was raining. Since it was  raining, you could not really see who  was happy for the king's coronation.   This poem was very informative. It is  really surprising to see that Katherine  simply talked about the weather in the  coronation. From this poem, I learned  that different eras express different topics.

Human Family by Maya Angelou

Human Family

I note the obvious differences

in the human family.
Some of us are serious,
some thrive on comedy.

Some declare their lives are lived
as true profundity,
and others claim they really live
the real reality.

The variety of our skin tones
can confuse, bemuse, delight,
brown and pink and beige and purple,
tan and blue and white.
                                    
I've sailed upon the seven seas
and stopped in every land,
I've seen the wonders of the world
not yet one common man.

I know ten thousand women
called Jane and Mary Jane,
but I've not seen any two
who really were the same.

Mirror twins are different
although their features jibe,                                                                        

and lovers think quite different thoughts
while lying side by side.

We love and lose in China,
we weep on England's moors,
and laugh and moan in Guinea,
and thrive on Spanish shores.

We seek success in Finland,
are born and die in Maine.
In minor ways we differ,
in major we're the same.

I note the obvious differences
between each sort and type,
but we are more alike, my friends,
than we are unalike.

We are more alike, my friends,                                                     

than we are unalike.

We are more alike, my friends,
than we are unalike.

Commentary:

I choose to read this poem from Maya Angelou because the title was a bit out of place. Usually people will say,"American Family," or something between those margins.
It was only after I finished reading the poem that I realized why Maya Angelou named her poem the way she did. We are all humans. At the end of her poem, she expresses that we are all alike. Just thinking about that; Family members are similar in the way that we act. Some relatives have that same smile or that same face gesture. So, since we, humans are all alike, we are also all a family. This is what I concluded from comparing humans to a family. After this conclusion, I realized that her title made perfect sense with the poem and that there was nothing confusing about it.
After analyzing the poem " Human Family," I noted that Maya Angelou used figurative language to come across her audience to express what she believes are the differences between humans and how similar we really are.
Maya Angelou used repetition in her poem to express her point that all humans are alike. In the poem, She says, "We are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike," in the last couple of stanzas. In total, she repeats it three times. Maya Angelou was very smart to add this type of figurative language to her poem. First of all, she put this phrase at the end of the poem. Next, she repeated it like three times. With this type of combination, the reader kept this phrase in their mind long after finishing reading the poem. This made Maya Angelou get her point across successfully, which is what most poets and writers want to achieve through their writing.




"Human Family" by Maya Angelou- YouTube Video

Touched by an Angel by Maya Angelou

Touched by an Angel

We, unaccustomed to courage exiles from delight live coiled in shells of loneliness until love leaves its high holy temple                                         and comes into our sight to liberate us into life. Love arrives and in its train come ecstasies old   memories of pleasure.                                   ancient histories of   pain. Yet if we are bold, love strikes away the chains of fear from our souls. We are weaned from our timidity In the flush of love's light we dare be brave And suddenly we see that love costs all we are and will ever be. Yet it is only love which sets us free.

Maya Angelou

Commentary:
So, first of all, I looked at the title of the poem. And, just from the title itself, I could hypothesize a lot of things. First, I thought that the tone might be angelic and calm. Second, I could figure out the main idea of the poem. I thought that it would talk about angels since the title read, " Touched by an angel"
After I read the poem, I thought that it was a very soothing poem. It talks about love and how it brings life into us.
In the first stanza, Maya Angelou says that we are not accustomed to have courage and that we live in loneliness until love comes into our lives, and thus frees us from the loneliness.
In the second stanza, Maya Angelou talks about what happens when love comes into our lives. We start remembering good times we had before and also the bad times.
In the third stanza, Maya Angelou says that love takes away our fear.

Next, in the last stanza, Maya Angelou says that love also takes our our timidity. When you fall in love with a person, confidence begins yo grow between the two. Then, you will notice that you have lost all the timidity you first had when you meet him or her. That is what Maya Angelou must have meant when she added this to her poem. In the end of the poem, Maya Angelou says love changes everything from us and we find out that only love can set us free. Love is everything to us and without it we are nothing.
When I analyzed the poem, I found that Maya Angelou used various figurative language to transmit to her audience her point of view on love.
All throughout the poem, Maya Angelou used personification. She says," ...until love leaves its high holy temple and comes into our sight to liberate us into life. Love is an idea, but it is not a person or a human. In this phrase, Maya Angelou is expressing love like if it is a human being. Love can come to you, but in a sentimental way. Love can not actually come towards you. Also love can not liberate you like a human would.
Also, Maya Angelou says that love arrives in a train. As far as i know, humans can arrive on trains, but not love or ideas. Lastly, Maya says that love sets us free. For these reasons, I believe Maya Angelou used personification in this phrase. Overall, Maya Angelou used personification in her entire poem because she wanted to better come across her point and for her poem to be descriptive and engaging. By treating love as a person, she was better able to explain what love does when it enters our lives. 

Poem-Maya Angelou. Touched by an Angel. YouTube video 

Song by Katherine Philips

Katherine Philips Song 'Tis true our life is but a long disease, Made up of reàl pain and seeming ease. You stars, who these entangled fortunes give,     O tell me why     It is so hard to die,         Yet such a task to live! If with some pleasure we our griefs betray, It costs us dearer than it can repay, For time or fortune all things so devours,     Our hopes are crossed,     Or els the object lost,         Ere we can call it ours. Commentary: When I first looked at the title of this poem, it intrigued me because the title was, " Song." Does it talk about what songs make us feel or is it simply a song in a poem. I wanted to read the poem to find out and clear all my doubts. Before reading the poem, I looked at how many stanzas this poem had. I thought that this poem was surely the shortest poem Katherine Philips ever wrote. All the other poems I have read by Katherine are medium to long. So, I thought that the shorteness of this poem had some kind of importance or significance. I read the poem in its entirety. The poem was very deep in meaning. First of all, the poem was written using old English. She says, "Tis true our life is but a long disease. Instead of saying "it is," Katherine Philips says 'tis. This says a lot about in what era the poem was written. Katherine Philips wrote all her poems in the seventeenth to eighteenth century. The first line of the poem is very thought provoking. Katherine says, "Tis true our life is but a long disease." Here, Katherine Philips is saying that on a day-to-day basis, we live with struggles and everyday we have problems to face. The day-to-day struggles that we, humans face is the long disease that Katherine Philips is talking about in her poem. Next, Katherine Philips says,"O tell me why It is so hard to die, Yet such a task to live!" At first I was a bit confused because I am used to hearing people say that it is so easy to die, but hard to live. Then I looked at it further, and since she is from a different time period, maybe she thought that it was hard to die as well as to live. When I think about it, it is hard to die. No one ever knows when our time will come, and that is what makes it so hard. For all the interesting quotes that Katherine Philips included, I thought that this poem was very thought provoking.

Commentary for Anntrell-Poetry Project: Nikki Giovanni poem #6

Poetry Project: Nikki Giovanni poem #6:                I Wrote A Good Omelet I wrote a good omelet...and ate a hot poem... after loving you Buttoned my car...and drove my coa...







My commentary:

I am commenting on a post that my classmate, Anntrell put on her blog.

When I read the poem for the first time, it was a bit confusing. I did not understand the literary meaning of, " I wrote a good omelet." So, I read it a second time, this time I payed close attention.

The only confusion was that she replaced some of the words. After that I understood the poem perfectly.

Anntrell said that love can be a bit distractful and I agree. Love makes us blind and it disables us from seeing the flaws of the loved one.