Robert Lowell has a different style of writing that I found difficult to follow. Lowell’s passion for war and man-kind shines through his poems, but what he relates these feelings to had me slightly lost. Lowell takes one idea, in this instance in the poem “For the Union Dead,” of death. He uses the destruction of a landmark, the Boston Common, which is being torn down to build a parking garage over. In the seventh stanza a description of what occurred during the hardships of war is described, “Two months after marching through Boston,/half the regiment was dead;/ at the dedication,/ William James could almost hear the bronze Negroes breathe.” (lines 25-28) Lowell is bothered by the destruction of a once significant historical landmark. He shows his disgust of the modernization in Boston through this poem. Lowell supported the war effort and all those once involved. To see a landmark destroyed only to be replaced by cement proves a blatant disregard for history and the fallen. This poem could also be looked at from a political sense as well. It could be viewed as the greed of the growing city and its lack of respect for how it even came into existence.   

Elizabeth Bishop’s poetry takes a more personal route of writing. She exposes herself in many of her poems and all the different emotions that are occurring throughout her life. In Bishop’s poem “One Art,” she writes of losing. Bishop says, “The art of losing isn’t hard to master; /so many things seem filled with the intent/to be lost that their loss is no disaster.” (lines 1-3) in these first few lines Bishop does not seem to be distraught over losing things, in fact she almost seems to find humor in loss. Then the poem takes a turn from humor to fear. Bishop writes of loss in a different sense in the next stanza, “Then practice losing farther, losing faster;/ places, and names, and where it was you meant/ to travel. None of these will bring disaster.” (lines 7-9). Bishop increases the intensity of loss and the impact it can make upon a person, she then states “none of these will bring disaster.” (line 9) The last line of stanza two seems to be the calming factor of loss. She realizes that one’s memory will go, but it will not be the undoing of them just yet, it will not be a disaster unless you let it become one.  

In Shel Silverstein’s “The Perfect High,” we are taken on a journey through the life of Gimme-Some-Roy, a greedy and unsatisfied boy. In this story Silverstein describes this boy’s journey down the path of drugs trying to find that perfect high, but just can’t. This poem takes a turn and reveals an ending of irony for the young boy and his journey to achieve the perfect high. Silverstein’s story leads this boy to Baba Fats, who has the knowledge of the perfect high, “Another burned out soul, Who’s lookin’ for an alchemist to turn his trip to gold. It isn’t in a dealer’s stash, or on a druggist’s shelf…Son, if you would find the perfect high, find it in yourself.” In this stanza Silverstein takes the reader from a drug induced journey to a religious high (spiritual awakening). The boy does not like this answer and ridicules Baba Fats for his response, so in the end Baba Fats creates an impossible journey for the boy to make to obtain an imaginary flower. Silverstein’s character Baba Fats creates this unobtainable flower because he realizes that everyone is the same and will only accept God if they truly choose to believe.

Dylan Thomas’s poems stay true to his Christian roots. In the poem “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night,” Thomas speaks of aging men and the road into darkness that follows age. Thomas writes, “Though wise men at their end know dark is right,/Because their words had forked no lightning they/Do not go gentle into that good night” (lines 4-6), in this stanza Thomas introduces going old and passing away. He states that the aging men know their time has come and gone and that they must leave the light of life and enter into the dark of night. This poem makes use of symbolism when referring to night/day and dark/light. This words play off of one another forming the idea of life as the light that burns on during the day forming one’s life, and death as the night leading the men away from the light into dark. It suggests that this transition from light to dark is the ending of life from old age.

Allen Ginsberg’s poem Howl is a different form of poetry. He pursues new ideas and forms in his poetry. Ginsberg’s poem Howl comes across as if it were written from his direct thoughts at each given moment. He searched throughout his entire career to find ways to tap into the direct stream of consciousness of the mind, one’s direct thoughts. He would follow the motion of his thoughts and channel them into poetic creations. When reading Howl I felt as if I was reading his direct thoughts, what he had been thinking at that very moment. Ginsberg’s poetry is a different approach than what many prior poets had produced before him. Ginsberg writes “who ate fire in paint hotels or drank turpentine in Paradise Alley, death, or purgatoried their torsos night after night/with dreams, with drugs, with walking nightmares, alcohol and cock and endless balls,” (lines 10-11). In these two lines Ginsberg invites the reader into a hellish and sexual setting. In these two lines Ginsberg address what many people might consider sinful acts and uses key words that paint a disturbing picture of slum life living.

In Ginsberg’s “Last Night in Calcutta,” the poem takes a turn from tranquil to dark and slightly morbid. Ginsberg starts off with the setting of being in Calcutta “A few mosquitoes waken the itch, the fan turn slowly—“ (lines 5-6). The night seems to be still with nothing going on, except distant noises in the background and the stirring of insects in the night. The night is desolate and dark, “—perfect night for sleepers to dissolve in tranquil blackness, and rest there eight hours” (lines 16-18) these lines speak of an almost restful and peaceful sleep, a full night’s sleep which most do not get. Ginsberg then turns from tranquil to dark. He writes about “—Leave immortality for another to suffer like a fool, not get stuck in the corner of the universe sticking morphine in the arm and eating meat.” (lines 38-40). Ginsberg takes a tranquil night and reveals that truth’s that are occurring in Calcutta, the side of drugs and death that over power man.

The poem “Changing Diapers,” by Gary Snyder says to me, “stay at home dad.” In today’s society dad’s who stay at home are more prominent than they use to be. Dads have taken on the mother role recently and it has become very common. In this poem Snyder addresses changing his son’s diaper. He seems to make it sound like more of a manly task, and not the simple task of a diaper change. Snyder writes, “How intelligent he looks!/ on his back/both feet caught in my one hand/ his glance set sideways,/ on a giant poster of Geronimo” (lines 1-5) in these lines, if you had not read the title, you may not realize what Snyder is talking about. The poem then comes round and described the baby. To me this is a stay at home dad who does not look at diaper changing as a females job, but a manly job that he and his son make masculine and routine.