The Veil - Elizabeth Cobbold

This poem is a masterfully written Shakespearean sonnet in which the author sticks to the very traditional structure of this type of poem. However, she has a very unusual topic of the poem. Whereas most sonnets seem to use the first two quatrains in an effort to describe the many beautiful features of their lover in a blazon, Cobbold uses the first two quatrains to describe a concept rather than a person. Cobbold uses her quatrains to describe a metaphorical veil that covers her soul and heart. She has a blazon to describe something ephemeral and intangible with phrases such as "the look devoid of guile" and "tear of rapture springing to my eye." Cobbold wants her audience to see that even though she has used a traditional poem to describe the semi-traditional topic, what she feels is not traditional in any sense by using her blazon to describe something other than the purely physical.

Her metaphors and volta at the couplet further demonstrate the originality and uniqueness of Cobbold's poem. Whereas most sonnets seem to "shout their love from the rooftops" so to speak, Cobbold does the exact opposite, hoping to use the "friendly aid" of the very veil that so ails her. Instead of generally boisterous nature of these poems, Cobbold uses the poem to express a few minor feeling and then lock them away in an attempt to "guard her pride, honor, and fame." This couplet taken into account with the rest of the obscure and hidden nature of the poem seems to go against most other sonnets, especially the Shakespearean. The way in which Cobbold chooses solely to speak of her feelings indirectly and metaphorically further pushes the shy nature found in the couplet and again challenges the traditional poem.

Yanneka King: "An Argument: On 1942"

On its face, this poem seems to provide the reader with a very nonchalant perspective of Japanese internment camps during the second World War. However, when one looks into it deeply, it seems that this poem covers up a sense of loss or anger about the situation. It is an even that the author will never be able to forget, no matter how hard he attempts to trivialize it and the structure and rhyme scheme of the poem seem to suggest just this.

The author begins the poem with an introduction much like that of a Shakespearean play. He instills upon the reader a scene, a time, and a place, all in rhythm and rhyme. He urges readers to place themselves in, what one may assume to be, his youth. With this entrance, the author immediately sets forth the tone of the entire poem. By choosing a Shakespearean play-like entrance, he almost trivializes the poem (just as his mother will try to trivialize the events later), but the content of his entrance makes it memorable and utterly unforgettable, perfectly placing the reader into the exact scene he is describing. The rhyme-scheme of the entrance seems very whimsical and much like a nursery rhyme, further presenting a trivial face. However, when one takes a deeper look into the introduction, at the imagery presented by the author, the beginning of the poem is almost made unforgettable, just like the events described by the poem.

Another significant way that the author tries to present a trivial face is by presenting the reader with a set of very trivial images along with very subtle and more unforgettable images. The author tells us of "women cooking and sewing" and "children hunting stones, birds, wild flowers," but also presents us with images of "barbed wire" and "guards in the towers." The contrast shows us that although the mother is attempting to forget all that she had seen during that period, she has still seen it and recalls the vivid imagery of it. Although the mother can trivialize it with the gentle images of her childhood, she still cannot forget the unpleasant images of her youth. Lastly, by ending the poem with the phrase "David, it was so long ago - how useless it seems..." the author again presents us with this contrast of the trivial versus something unforgettable. Although the mother tells David it was so long ago that it was useless, the ellipses suggest that it is something that she continues to think about. It is something that she can't really let go of. The content of this poem is laden with the contrasts of trivial versus memorable.

The complicated rhyme scheme of the body of the poem also seems to suggest this theme. Although it is very difficult to decipher, the poem begins with a very simple and non-complicated aabb. The author then changes the scheme to aabc and aaba, until finally ending with one simple line. The beginning of the rhyme scheme suggests that the poem should be simple and easy to read through (and poems with simple rhyme schemes are often very hard to remember), however the author really switches it up by the end of the poem. This gives the reader a sort of jolt and at least left an imprint upon my memory.

An Argument: On 1942 is a very complicated, but enjoyable poem with many different possible interpretations and ways of thinking. Although, the author may definitely be suggesting that the reader simply leave the past as it is, it is also interesting to consider that the author is demonstrating how hard it is to forget some parts of the past. Even by simply recalling different parts of her stay in the camps, the mother shows the reader that no matter how hard she tries to make it seem as if it were a simple part of life, the camps have impressed upon her more than that.

Redemption - George Herbert

In his poem, Redemption, Herbert tries to portray to the reader a desperate tenant in an attempt to change the terms of his lease with a very rich landlord. He helps give the reader this feeling of desperation by forcing he/she to keep a quick and rhythmic-like place. He places emphasis on the second and eighth syllables in most cases. (Not THRIving, I resolvED...). The hurried pace is further demonstrated by the rhyme scheme in the first stanza. By incorporating an "aaaa" rhyme scheme, the reader is encouraged to read it almost as if it were a nusery rhyme (Little Miss Muffet, sat on a tuffet/Not thriving, I resolved to be bold, and make a suit unto him, to afford)

Interestingly, Herbert changes the rhyme scheme for each stanza. He begins, as stated above, with a hurried "aaaa" then switches to "abba" before finally ending the poem with two rhyming lines. These changes in the rhyme scheme could be used to support the change in the emotions of the tenant as he continues on his journey to find his landlord. At first he is desperate, thus the hurried rhyme scheme, then confused, surprised, and lastly taken aback when he finally finds his landlord among thieves and murderers instead of at his "heavenly home." Herbert seems to use his rhyme schemes to invoke an emotion similar to his narrator.

Lastly, the rhyme scheme and the rhythm are a device for Herbert to show the reader the feelings of a distraught tenant. He hurriedly thinks of a way to lower his rent, but later as he is searching for the landlord the rhythm stays the same, but the rhyme scheme is broken up to suggest that he is confused (which indeed he is) and finds out that those tending to the landlord's property had not seen him. The tenant is further confused by the fact that he cannot find him in rich and stately places that one would believe a landlord to reside, which furthers the mixture of the rhyme scheme, but keeps the fast paced rhythm. Finally, his confusion comes to a climax as he is surprised at where he actually finds the landlord. The rhyme scheme is cut to two lines, but the rhythm again kept the same. This gives the poem the effect of grinding to a halt, almost like the tenant does when he finally reveals the location and activities of his landlord. Herbert seems to intelligently use an array of devices at his disposal to evoke the emotion of his narrator into his audience. This poem furthers my extreme love for this poet.