3 Poems

What intrigues you about this poetic conversation? quoting directly from the texts, what do the poets say about the power of poetry and about the experience of life? Do you relate to anything the poets claim or are you feeling like a stranger in a strange land? It is intriguing to me that Strand can hold an intelligent discussion about such a broad topic that seems to deeply connect both with his feelings and his brain. It seems like he is very appreciative of other works of any poetry. It is also intriguing how Strand's analysis of this poem lends him to enlightenment of things he wish he could put into words, and yet Strand is unchanged. According to the essay, the poem provides Strand with, "the sense that I am still myself." It was very interesting to me that Strand could have all these distressing thoughts, and then this poem reassures him that he is right in his thoughts, but that everything will be okay. In Marvell's poem he said, "tear our pleasures with rough strife through the iron gates of life." This quote discusses the experience of life. Life is something incomprehensible, thus the iron gates, but through it we still experience pleasure, even through the rough times. We have to balance our physical struggle, our pleasure, and iggnorance to the world around us to lead a life worth being proud of. I relate to directly to claims the poets make. Pretty much any quote from the poem or essay I could dig into and analyze and apply. I feel as if poetry is the preservation of the concious feelings of different eras, and it is interesting to see how what they felt at the time relates to the collective unconcious that I am aware of now. We are all connected as human beings, and the feelings can be sympathized with today.