Poetry = Perspective By: Ms. Freeman

“Introduction to Poetry” by Billy Collins I ask them to take a poem and hold it up to the light like a color slide or press an ear against its hive. I say drop a mouse into a poem and watch him probe his way out, or walk inside the poem’s room and feel the walls for a light switch. I want them to waterski across the surface of a poem waving at the author’s name on the shore. But all they want to do is tie the poem to a chair with rope and torture a confession out of it. They begin beating it with a hose to find out what it really means. This poem means that when people read poems, especially in English, they analyze every line and dissect them to see what the poem means rather than just enjoying the poem for its beauty. I relate to this poem because this is what I do with everything that has to do with literature or film. There are so many different ways to look at a poem and various lenses with which to see the meanings within that are deeper in this poem. For example, the verse where Collins is saying “But all...out of it” shows that rather than just enjoy the rhythm and beauty of the poem, people tear it apart to find out what it means. There are various ways to look at everything and people sometimes miss the true beauty by just enjoying what they read.

“Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes Well, son, I’ll tell you: Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair. It’s had tacks in it, And splinters, And boards torn up, And places with no carpet on the floor— Bare. But all the time I’se been a-climbin’ on, And reachin’ landin’s, And turnin’ corners, And sometimes goin’ in the dark Where there ain’t been no light. So boy, don’t you turn back. Don’t you set down on the steps ’Cause you finds it’s kinder hard. Don’t you fall now— For I’se still goin’, honey, I’se still climbin’, And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair. “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes I love this poem. This poem is advice from a mother to a son about the struggles and weights that the world has beared down upon her. She had to work hard for everything in her life. I love the dialect that is in the voice of the poem as well. It shows the culture and adds more to the overall meaning of the poem just knowing that she is unique. I relate to this poem because life, for me, is a constant climb. Nothing has ever come easy to me. I thank the two people that made it easier for me everyday of my life because I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for them. They saw my struggles and knew that my fight was to better myself.