Cartoon Physics, part 1

The stanzas and examples in Nick Flynn’s poem, “Cartoon Physics, part 1,” creates a child-like and suspenseful tone that allows the readers to understand the importance of a child’s imagination and ignorance. The stanzas are in a pattern of three lines, one line, two lines, and one line. This creates a constant flow that leaves the reader in the suspense a child might be in to find out more about the world, like the reader wants to read more about the subject of the poem. The examples of the kind of knowledge a kid should have is created by comparing their knowledge to that of the impossible physics of a cartoon. Kids should think that anything is possible, such as running “into a burning house” or drawing “a door on a rock.” Flynn is creating this suspense to find out more information to point out that kids know everything that they need to know and that for kids, this quality of being naive is good and healthy.

Driving to Town Late to Mail a Lette

Robert Bly, in his poem “Driving to Town Late to Mail a Letter,” uses a calm, pleasant tone, created by imagery and syntax tools, to invite the reader into his experience of mailing the letter. By describing the “swirls of snow” or the “cold iron,” the reader can easily relate to the little experiences of a snowy night that may seem insignificant, but in this poem, create the scene. The short sentences, some even broken up into different clauses, allows the reader to remain calm and let each idea create the picture of a snowy night. These tools create a calm tone that allow the reader to get lost in this snowy night and “waste more time” just like the author writes.

School Day Afternoon

Through his childlike tone he creates through imagery and connotation,  Dave Etter shares the exciting feeling of a child being home alone, in his poem “School Day Afternoon.” The fact that the child is creating a sugar sandwich shows that he is having fun on his own, as this is something his mother would not allow him to eat as a snack. Instead of doing homework, the kid goes to explore “the birds and the gigantic blue silo” which he brings in at the end of his poem as well. This is also imagery of freedom, as his parents would not let him winder the fields alone, especially before his homework. His detailed dreams and the fact that he places an exclamation point after stating that his mother is “not coming home till dark” shows that he is excited and has no worries since he is home alone. This exciting imagery of a child is what Etter uses to make his readers feel the excitement of being a child experiencing freedom.

The Meadow

Kate Knapp Johnson, in her poem “The Meadow,” share his experience of over thinking by creating a calm tone through his imagery. Johnson’s poem uses the imagery of the thinking by the window in order to make her poem relatable and understandable. Her readers know the feeling of looking out the window or onto a landscape to ponder on an idea. Instead of simply stating that the time has passed, Johnson explains that “two inches of snow have fallen over the meadow.” This calm imagery shows how lengthy and time consuming it is to space out, get lost in a train of thought, and over-analyze. Through the calm imagery of looking out onto a meadow, the readers themselves are getting lost in a dream of looking onto a beautiful landscape. Johnson connects to her audience in this short poem through this imagery and leaves her readers with a calm tone to begin their own lengthy thought process.

Prometheus Poem

How do we react to the loss of power?

We feel our way through the dark, we light candles

Then we call an electrician.

How do we react to the loss of wifi?

We work at Starbucks, we breakdown in stress

Then we call Ms. Shepherd.

If the whole country’s economic system failed,

How do we react to the loss of stability?

We panic, we cannot function, we try and tackle unemployment.

Then we call upon our congress, our president.

When we call out to our congress, our mayor, our electrician, we expect to saved.

When we call out to our wifi controller, we expect to saved.

We praise those who help us with joy and thanks,

However, Lonely and longing for a rescuer is left President Prometheus.

Who restored our stability, our chance for progress,

Who restored his people’s power.

American Cheese

Jim Daniels, in his poem “American Cheese,” gives off a child-like, reminiscing tone to his readers by appealing to the tastes and experiences of his childhood, and the child-hood many Americans have experienced. The reader right away acknowledges the speakers conflict with his adult life when he tells himself that the fancy cheeses are okay in lines four and five. When he speaks about his “Day-old Wonder Bread” and folded slice of American Cheese, the reader can easily relate to their small, yet pleasant memories of their life at home. The speaker explains that his mom does not even remember him being a “cheese eater, plain like that,” because even though it was not a big deal, the small things are a big deal to the reader when it comes to remembering his simple life before he was an adult. By these small details of the speaker’s childhood, the reader walks away with memories of their childhood, reminiscing on their simple lives growing up as well.

Advice from the Experts

“Advice from the Experts,” by Bill Knott, leaves the reader in suspense by his short, detailed lines that lead the reader to understand the act the speaker is about to commit. The first line uses the word “I lay” showing that the speaker is currently making some sort of action, the reader now continue reading to find out what he/she will do. The next line says “my feet against,” showing that the speaker is getting ready to take action. The next two lines are in past tense, showing that the speaker is now taking into consideration the different factors that may have kept him from his action, which the reader now knows is to jump. Because Bill Knott took the reader through the decision process and the preparation for the jump, they are left in suspense of whether or not the speaker will jump or listen to the gawkers.