Poetry Project
Izzy Bonecutter
Growth as a Poet
5/7/14
Throughout the process of this poetry unit I have grown in my understanding of poetry by writing, reflecting, and reading poems. Every day my understanding was increased by the practice, and knowledge I developed throughout the past couple of months learning about poetic devices and poetic skills. I have emotionally matured as a poet throughout connecting and being truthful with myself and my audience while writing poems. The perspective I based my poem on has grown in sophistication from my first draft by extending on my personal perspective and putting it into a stronger perspective by making comparisons and personal connections for the reader. My main perspective was trying to convey that many of us are not aware of the beautiful life we live and we are not able to be grateful and content with the days we are living. I tried to make this evident and guilt trip the audience by sharing a story of a poor woman in a developing country who has struggles but is content with the way her life is and is so grateful for the days she has. I began with writing my poem with just the story of the woman and didn't add any personal connections. The poem in my first draft ended with, “the coconut leaves tango on the shaken lifeless tree tops that peer over Tamarindo. Pure Vida.” As I started to find the importance of personal connections and got inspired by other’s poems I developed my poem and it than read, “The coconut leaves tango on the shaken lifeless tree tops that peer over Tamarindo. I Blink into my own breath. My mind returns to the fortuitous days that are my own and I live with courage to share, from above, from within, from around, I see pura vida.” This change helped inspire the audience and helped me get my perspective across clearly by being the change and admitting to having a life I will be content with.
Throughout drafting my poems I had made significant changes that made my poem stronger and more emotionally connective to the reader. One of the significant changes I made throughout my drafts were word placement. The change I made was shifting words in a certain stanza to make my poem flow smoothly and make sense to the reader. The stanza read, “Peace covered villages are walked by chickens, strutting on strong limbs, with content crows.” As I read through this line I was confused because I felt like the important part of this stanza and the main subject were the chickens with content crows. I think my main subject got split apart by the little detail about the chickens strutting on strong limbs. I began to play with words and ended up changing the stanza to read, “Peace covered villages are walked by chickens, with content crows, strutting on strong limbs. This changes the intellectual message of the poem because it clears up the importance of the stanza, (chickens with content crows,) and adds the detail on the end, (strutting on strong limbs.) The placement of these words helps the stanza flow in the readers mind. This change impacts the emotional message of the poem by making the stanza that strongly conveys figurative language that compares chickens to the people clearer so that is has a stronger emotional effect.
Another important change I made from my first drafts to my last was that I chose my word choice wisely so that it had a stronger effect on the reader by using powerful language. In my earlier draft I had written, “A small woman walks her tiny village,” this was the opening line of my poem so I was trying to make it intriguing. As I read over this line over and over I decided it was bland and didn't have enough detail or strong enough word choice. I began to look through the thesaurus. My end draft read, “A petite woman parades her meager village.” As I read my new line I started to feel more of a connection to the woman. I began to see her in better detail along with her village. Even though the words meant the same thing, the more complex word choice impacted me with stronger detail. This change that I made improved the intellectual message of the poem because it extended on stronger word choice and made the readers think and make connections and develop strong imagery in their mind. This change also impacted the emotional message of the poem because throughout the poem I carry on the story of this exact girl and being able to have a better picture of her and her placement improve visual imagery where readers can emotionally connect. Overall the change was important to get the reader familiar with the woman and have the reader start out reading a strong line before the rest of the poem so that they feel caught in the poem.
The last strong change I made in my poem was adding figurative language like similes. In my first draft I had written the line, “She sits, with a grin of gratitude and fulfillment.” I decided that the line could contain more detail to create imagery for the reader. I chose to explain in detail and compare her to a stone. In my final draft I wrote, “Like a silver stone she sits, with a grin of gratitude and fulfillment.” I knew that the color silver represented grace, sophistication, and elegance. This was portraying that she felt like she was in her own type of luxury. I was trying to portray that she was content and in place with her life, so this is why I compared her to a silver stone. The change impacts the intellectual message of the poem because it makes the reader make connections between the color silver and the woman and how she connects to a stone. The change impacts the emotional message of the poem because it helps the reader understand how the woman emotionally feels. (Mostly by adding the color description of silver.) Once the reader can understand the main character, they can start to connect to them emotionally. The change I made improves my poem because it stretches the reader’s mind to compare the simile.
Growth as a Poet
5/7/14
Throughout the process of this poetry unit I have grown in my understanding of poetry by writing, reflecting, and reading poems. Every day my understanding was increased by the practice, and knowledge I developed throughout the past couple of months learning about poetic devices and poetic skills. I have emotionally matured as a poet throughout connecting and being truthful with myself and my audience while writing poems. The perspective I based my poem on has grown in sophistication from my first draft by extending on my personal perspective and putting it into a stronger perspective by making comparisons and personal connections for the reader. My main perspective was trying to convey that many of us are not aware of the beautiful life we live and we are not able to be grateful and content with the days we are living. I tried to make this evident and guilt trip the audience by sharing a story of a poor woman in a developing country who has struggles but is content with the way her life is and is so grateful for the days she has. I began with writing my poem with just the story of the woman and didn't add any personal connections. The poem in my first draft ended with, “the coconut leaves tango on the shaken lifeless tree tops that peer over Tamarindo. Pure Vida.” As I started to find the importance of personal connections and got inspired by other’s poems I developed my poem and it than read, “The coconut leaves tango on the shaken lifeless tree tops that peer over Tamarindo. I Blink into my own breath. My mind returns to the fortuitous days that are my own and I live with courage to share, from above, from within, from around, I see pura vida.” This change helped inspire the audience and helped me get my perspective across clearly by being the change and admitting to having a life I will be content with.
Throughout drafting my poems I had made significant changes that made my poem stronger and more emotionally connective to the reader. One of the significant changes I made throughout my drafts were word placement. The change I made was shifting words in a certain stanza to make my poem flow smoothly and make sense to the reader. The stanza read, “Peace covered villages are walked by chickens, strutting on strong limbs, with content crows.” As I read through this line I was confused because I felt like the important part of this stanza and the main subject were the chickens with content crows. I think my main subject got split apart by the little detail about the chickens strutting on strong limbs. I began to play with words and ended up changing the stanza to read, “Peace covered villages are walked by chickens, with content crows, strutting on strong limbs. This changes the intellectual message of the poem because it clears up the importance of the stanza, (chickens with content crows,) and adds the detail on the end, (strutting on strong limbs.) The placement of these words helps the stanza flow in the readers mind. This change impacts the emotional message of the poem by making the stanza that strongly conveys figurative language that compares chickens to the people clearer so that is has a stronger emotional effect.
Another important change I made from my first drafts to my last was that I chose my word choice wisely so that it had a stronger effect on the reader by using powerful language. In my earlier draft I had written, “A small woman walks her tiny village,” this was the opening line of my poem so I was trying to make it intriguing. As I read over this line over and over I decided it was bland and didn't have enough detail or strong enough word choice. I began to look through the thesaurus. My end draft read, “A petite woman parades her meager village.” As I read my new line I started to feel more of a connection to the woman. I began to see her in better detail along with her village. Even though the words meant the same thing, the more complex word choice impacted me with stronger detail. This change that I made improved the intellectual message of the poem because it extended on stronger word choice and made the readers think and make connections and develop strong imagery in their mind. This change also impacted the emotional message of the poem because throughout the poem I carry on the story of this exact girl and being able to have a better picture of her and her placement improve visual imagery where readers can emotionally connect. Overall the change was important to get the reader familiar with the woman and have the reader start out reading a strong line before the rest of the poem so that they feel caught in the poem.
The last strong change I made in my poem was adding figurative language like similes. In my first draft I had written the line, “She sits, with a grin of gratitude and fulfillment.” I decided that the line could contain more detail to create imagery for the reader. I chose to explain in detail and compare her to a stone. In my final draft I wrote, “Like a silver stone she sits, with a grin of gratitude and fulfillment.” I knew that the color silver represented grace, sophistication, and elegance. This was portraying that she felt like she was in her own type of luxury. I was trying to portray that she was content and in place with her life, so this is why I compared her to a silver stone. The change impacts the intellectual message of the poem because it makes the reader make connections between the color silver and the woman and how she connects to a stone. The change impacts the emotional message of the poem because it helps the reader understand how the woman emotionally feels. (Mostly by adding the color description of silver.) Once the reader can understand the main character, they can start to connect to them emotionally. The change I made improves my poem because it stretches the reader’s mind to compare the simile.
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