"The Victims" by Sharon Olds

Sharon Olds was born on November 19, 1942 in San Francisco. She has won many prizes, including the Pulitzer Prize in 2013.

When Mother divorced you, we were glad. She took it and
took it in silence, all those years and then
kicked you out, suddenly, and her
kids loved it. Then you were fired, and we
grinned inside, the way people grinned when
Nixon's helicopter lifted off the South
Lawn for the last time. We were tickled
to think of your office taken away,
your secretaries taken away,
your lunches with three double bourbons,
your pencils, your reams of paper. Would they take your
suits back, too, those dark
carcasses hung in your closet, and the black
noses of your shoes with their large pores?
She had taught us to take it, to hate you and take it
until we pricked with her for your
annihilation, Father. Now I
pass the bums in doorways, the white
slugs of their bodies gleaming through slits in their
suits of compressed silt, the stained
flippers of their hands, the underwater
fire of their eyes, ships gone down with the
lanterns lit, and I wonder who took it and
took it from them in silence until they had
given it all away and had nothing
left but this.

"The Victims" by Sharon Olds is talking about a bad divorce (where the dad was a bad person) from the child's point of view a few years later. While looking back, the speaker reflects on the moment the mother kicked out her father and how all the kids were happy about it. They found happiness in the father's misery, which makes the audience believe that he was not a good person. She gets a little carried away with listing all the things the father lost, but she is finally coming to the conclusion that he got what he deserved. More than half way down, the speaker refers to her dad by calling him "Father" instead of "you". She starts thinking of all the "bums" she sees and how they were probably in the same situation as her dad. She can relate to how they got to where they are now, unlike most of us who just look at the people on the street and judge them. The audience and speaker's thoughts change from thinking the mother and children were the victims to maybe the father being the victim. This is especially relevant when the speaker reveals that her mother had "taught" her children to hate him and resent him.

There is alliteration, sibilance, and enjambment in "The Victims". All these tools add to the reader's understanding of the poem. It puts emphasis on certain parts of the poem, and it adds more rhythm to the poem as a whole. Especially in the part where she starts talking about the bums, all the "s's" catch our attention. We are able to realize her change of opinion.

"Morning" by Billy Collins

Billy Collins was born in New York in 1941. He is said to be "the most popular poet in America".

Why do we bother with the rest of the day,
the swale of the afternoon,
the sudden dip into evening,

then night with his notorious perfumes,
his many-pointed stars?

This is the best—
throwing off the light covers,
feet on the cold floor,
and buzzing around the house on espresso—

maybe a splash of water on the face,
a palmful of vitamins—
but mostly buzzing around the house on espresso,

dictionary and atlas open on the rug,
the typewriter waiting for the key of the head,
a cello on the radio,

and, if necessary, the windows—
trees fifty, a hundred years old
out there,
heavy clouds on the way
and the lawn steaming like a horse
in the early morning.

"Morning" by Billy Collins is about the speaker's morning routine, and how "[it] is the best" (6). He starts out the poem by putting down all the other parts of the day. All the little aspects of the morning are so refreshing. Collins mentions things that we all do everyday without giving it a second thought, like "throwing off the light covers" and putting our "feet on the cold floor" (7-8). The poem as a whole clearly shows that Collins enjoys a peaceful morning to start out the rest of the day. It is the one part of the day that he can take his time. Everything is not going by so quickly, and he can actually take the time to have a cup of coffee and look outside the window to take in all the beauty. 

The setting is clearly stated, even before you read the actual poem. It is the speaker's house during the morning. There is not a strict structure to the poem. It is free verse, and it does not rhyme. It reads almost like a story. 

Personally, I am not a morning person. I have mutiple alarms set in the morning to get me up and I press the snooze button every time. I hate taking off the warm covers to enter the cold, and I do not drink coffee to make waking up easier. The only thing I have in common with this poem is that I splash water on my face to wake me up. However, I still enjoyed reading this poem along with the content it holds. It gives me a new outlook on the morning I never look forward too. Billy Collins makes it seem so simple and calming.

"She Dwelt among the Untrodden Ways" by William Wordsworth

William  Wordsworth was born on April 7, 1770 in Cumberland. In 1843 Wordsworth was named poet laureate of England.

She dwelt among the untrodden ways

         Beside the springs of Dove,

A Maid whom there were none to praise

         And very few to love:

A violet by a mossy stone

         Half hidden from the eye!

—Fair as a star, when only one

         Is shining in the sky.

She lived unknown, and few could know

         When Lucy ceased to be;

But she is in her grave, and, oh,

         The difference to me!

In this poem, William Wordsworth is talking about a young woman named Lucy. In the first stanza he is talking about the place Lucy used to live. It was not very crowded and you get the idea that Lucy was lonely. In the second stanza he tells us that she was very beautiful. She was as "fair as a star, when only one is shining in the sky" (7-8). Finally, in the third stanza, it is made clear that Lucy is not popular and very few people know who she is. 

There is a regular rhyme scheme in "She Dwelt among the Untrodden Ways". It is ABAB. The audience is able to realize that the speaker cares for the girl throughout the poem. In the way he states her beauty, but more clearly in the last couple lines. When it is obviously stated that Lucy is dead the speaker says that it made a "difference" to him (12). We are now able to see that he cared for her, even though she was cared for by no one else. 

People say that this poem describes the "growth, perfection, and death" of Lucy. The tone is sad and grieving. From the very beginning you can tell he is missing the girl because it is all in past tense. Also, the fact that he did not tell us her name in the beginning added strength to her not being known by others. Then, when he reveals her name we are able to see that she meaned something to him because he actually knew who she was.