In-Class Writing

On page 14 Vendler argues that poems are “written for you to say. You are the speaker of every lyric poem you read.” Which poem made it the easiest for you to identify yourself as the speaker? How does the poem’s speaker construct his or her identity in a way that “lets you in?” Or, if you like, write about the poem that made it most difficult for you to identify with the speaker? Likewise, what aspect of the speaker’s identity or voice kept you from that sense of identification?