Poem Responses

What thoughts and/or feelings did the texts evoke in you? Why?
My thoughts and feeling evoked from the poem I am From soul Food and Harriet Tubmon were most powerful. It made me feel both sorrowful and privileged. The poem displays the life of an African-American female who grew up living in a violent and abusive environment. We can infer this from the line "From BB guns a violent family is where I am from." This makes me feel sad, not only because of the life that this girl has to live, but because this is the only life she knows. She is so used to the unfair life she is living she accepts it. This poem also makes me feel privileged. I am so used to living the life that I live. Sometimes I don't take the time to realize how fortunate I am to come from the caring and loving family I do.


Which of the poems had the most meaning for you personally?
Personally of the 5 poems, the poem Richard Cory by E.A. Robinson had the most meaning to me. For the most part of this poem, it describes what others to see as "the perfect life", in which Richard cory is living. "[the]people of the pavement" (line 2) only dream to have his wealth, good looks and education. Not until the last line of this poem, "Went home and put a bullet through his head" (line 16), do we see that "perfect" is not the life Richard cory lived. The reasoning as to why I think this poem was so meaningful, is because it shows that no one can truly know a person from what they see. Like  the cliche states,"Don't judge a book my its cover." There are challenges that each and everyone of us have to face everyday, some more difficult than others.  This poem further goes to show people that you never really know what someones life is like, until you live a day in their life for yourself.