On Shakespear

What needs my Shakespear for his honour'd Bones,
The labour of an age in piled Stones,
Or that his hallow'd reliques should be hid
Under a Star-ypointing Pyramid?
Dear son of memory, great heir of Fame,
What need'st thou such weak witnes of thy name?
Thou in our wonder and astonishment
Hast built thy self a live-long Monument.
For whilst toth' shame of slow-endeavouring art,
Thy easie numbers flow, and that each heart
Hath from the leaves of thy unvalu'd Book,
Those Delphick lines with deep impression took
Then thou our fancy of it self bereaving,
Dost make us Marble with too much conceaving;
And so Sepulcher'd in such pomp dost lie,
That Kings for such a Tomb would wish to die. 

John Milton

A further significant theme emerges from Milton’s characterization of Shakespeare’s creative imagination. Though his references to Shakespeare are limited, Milton became an early proponent of the view that Shakespeare was a naturally gifted genius, more a product of nature than of art. At its extreme, it depicted the bard as a pure and unlearned genius surpassing all the dicta of art. As applied to Shakespeare, the point of view can be traced to the writings of Shakespeare’s contemporary Ben Jonson, though Jonson, the consummate artist, suggests in Timber: Or Discoveries Made upon Men and Matter 1641 that Shakespeare’s ignorance of the classics and canons of art is a flaw. With Milton, however, there is no hint of disapproval. Milton celebrates Shakespeare’s “easy numbers” and, in “L’Allegro,” refers to Shakespeare as “Fancy’s child” who warbles “his native woodnotes wild.” In the epitaph, Milton draws a sharp contrast between art and nature: “For whilst to th’ shame of slow-endeavoring art/ Thy easy numbers flow” (lines 9-10). Shakespeare thus achieves the effects of ease while ignoring the canons of art.

On the Late Massacre in Piedmont

Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughtered Saints, whose bones

Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold;

Even them who kept thy truth so pure of old,

When all our fathers worshiped stocks and stones,

Forget not: in thy book record their groans

Who were thy sheep, and in their ancient fold

Slain by the bloody Piemontese, that rolled

Mother with infant down the rocks. Their moans

The vales redoubled to the hills, and they

To heaven. Their martyred blood and ashes sow

O'er all the Italian fields, where still doth sway

The tripple tyrant; that from these may grow

A hundredfold, who, having learnt thy way,

Early may fly the Babylonian woe.

Milton makes indirect allusions to Rome in his sonnet "On the Late Massacre in Piedmont," but does not make his opinion hidden, or so subtle as to be missed. It is readily apparent exactly how shocked and saddened he is by the bloody slaughter of the Waldensian sect in April 1655 at Pra del Torno, and equally transparent what he thinks of the religious establishment that allowed or commanded it to happen. To him, the victims were faithful dissenters who were the first to correctly interpret God's will, while the marauders were representative of a greedy, tyrannical Church who had lost its way - if it had ever followed it - and whose leadership was all too subject to human frailties.

How Soon Hath Time

How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth,
Stoln on his wing my three and twentieth year!
My hasting days fly on wtih full career,
But my late spring no bud or blossom shew'th.
Perhaps my semblance might deceive the truth,
That I to manhood am arrived so near,
And inward ripeness doth much less appear,
That some more timely-happy spirits endu'th.
Yet be it less or more, or soon or slow,
It shall be still in strictest measure even
To that same lot, however mean or high,
Toward which Time leads me, and the will of Heaven;
All is, if I have grace to use it so,
As ever in my great Taskmaster's eye. 

John Milton

He makes his argument that Time, personified with a capital T, is a thief that steals youth away before greatness can be achieved. His potential, which he can feel within him, is not yet reached. He can't see outward signs of this greatness yet, but expresses faith that his future will unfold as God wills it In the last line, John Milton makes reference to a parable from the Bible (Matthew 20:1-16 KJV) where laborers come to labor in the field. Some come early, and some come late, but both are paid the same wages. When the earlier laborers complain, the taskmaster over the field explains that "the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen." he structure of the poem is interesting, when we consider that each stanza of four lines makes up an entire sentence that perfectly fits the iambic pentameter of the poem, yet still produces a cohesive thought. The second stanza of four lines is the same. The strength of the biblical imagery at the end puts a base of strength underneath the lighter, more airy symbolism of spring in the beginning.

From 'Samson Agonistes' i

OH how comely it is and how reviving
To the Spirits of just men long opprest!
When God into the hands of thir deliverer
Puts invincible might
To quell the mighty of the Earth, th' oppressour,
The brute and boist'rous force of violent men
Hardy and industrious to support
Tyrannic power, but raging to pursue
The righteous and all such as honour Truth;
He all thir Ammunition
And feats of War defeats
With plain Heroic magnitude of mind
And celestial vigour arm'd,
Thir Armories and Magazins contemns,
Renders them useless, while
With winged expedition
Swift as the lightning glance he executes
His errand on the wicked, who surpris'd
Lose thir defence distracted and amaz'd.

ALL is best, though we oft doubt,
What th' unsearchable dispose
Of highest wisdom brings about,
And ever best found in the close.
Oft he seems to hide his face,
But unexpectedly returns
And to his faithful Champion hath in place
Bore witness gloriously; whence Gaza mourns
And all that band them to resist
His uncontroulable intent.
His servants he with new acquist
Of true experience from this great event
With peace and consolation hath dismist,
And calm of mind all passion spent.

O FOR some honest lover's ghost,
   Some kind unbodied post
   Sent from the shades below!
   I strangely long to know
Whether the noble chaplets wear
Those that their mistress' scorn did bear
   Or those that were used kindly.

For whatsoe'er they tell us here
   To make those sufferings dear,
   'Twill there, I fear, be found
   That to the being crown'd
T' have loved alone will not suffice,
Unless we also have been wise
   And have our loves enjoy'd.

What posture can we think him in
   That, here unloved, again
   Departs, and 's thither gone
   Where each sits by his own?
Or how can that Elysium be
Where I my mistress still must see
   Circled in other's arms?

For there the judges all are just,
   And Sophonisba must
   Be his whom she held dear,
   Not his who loved her here.
The sweet Philoclea, since she died,
Lies by her Pirocles his side,
   Not by Amphialus.

Some bays, perchance, or myrtle bough
   For difference crowns the brow
   Of those kind souls that were
   The noble martyrs here:
And if that be the only odds
(As who can tell?), ye kinder gods,
   Give me the woman here! 

John Milton

Samson hopes God will forgive him, but he has no desire for a long life. He thinks his great exploits swelled him with pride, which was why he succumbed to Dalila's charms, allowing her to shear him like a sheep as he slept, taking his strength. The Chorus notes that Samson never drank wine, and he acknowledges that he only drank from brooks, but such temperance was of no use to him, now that he has become good for nothing. Manoa argues that Samson should not wish to stay in prison, where he will be made to work for the enemy, especially because God might bring his sight back. He asks why God has let Samson's strength return, if not for him to do something significant with it. 

Million Man March Poem

The night has been long,
The wound has been deep,
The pit has been dark,
And the walls have been steep.

Under a dead blue sky on a distant beach,
I was dragged by my braids just beyond your reach.
Your hands were tied, your mouth was bound,
You couldn't even call out my name.
You were helpless and so was I,
But unfortunately throughout history
You've worn a badge of shame.

I say, the night has been long,
The wound has been deep,
The pit has been dark
And the walls have been steep.

But today, voices of old spirit sound
Speak to us in words profound,
Across the years, across the centuries,
Across the oceans, and across the seas.
They say, draw near to one another,
Save your race.
You have been paid for in a distant place,
The old ones remind us that slavery's chains
Have paid for our freedom again and again.

The night has been long,
The pit has been deep,
The night has been dark,
And the walls have been steep.

The hells we have lived through and live through still,
Have sharpened our senses and toughened our will.
The night has been long.
This morning I look through your anguish
Right down to your soul.
I know that with each other we can make ourselves whole.
I look through the posture and past your disguise,
And see your love for family in your big brown eyes.

I say, clap hands and let's come together in this meeting ground,
I say, clap hands and let's deal with each other with love,
I say, clap hands and let us get from the low road of indifference,
Clap hands, let us come together and reveal our hearts,
Let us come together and revise our spirits,
Let us come together and cleanse our souls,
Clap hands, let's leave the preening
And stop impostering our own history.
Clap hands, call the spirits back from the ledge,
Clap hands, let us invite joy into our conversation,
Courtesy into our bedrooms,
Gentleness into our kitchen,
Care into our nursery.

The ancestors remind us, despite the history of pain
We are a going-on people who will rise again.

And still we rise. 

Maya Angelou  

 It uses repeated words of past tense to show that the horrific events were in the past and they are now moving forward and putting their struggles behind them (stanza 5)The use of repetition creates a chanting effect through diction by repeating “i say clap hands.” this shows union amongst people and that they are in it together. (stanza 7)●The connotations in the words sharpened toughened shows strength, the deliberate use3 of these words how us that they are gaining from their past experiences of oppression and they are thinking positively and optimistically about the future. (stanza 6)●The choice of words effects the mood and tone of the poem for example in stanza 8 the word “impostering” is used in the sentence “stop impostering our own history” this is saying that the black people need to stop dwelling and morning about the past and instead focus on the present. They need to do this in order to move forward.●The way the poem is structured at the end of the poem creates an uplifting effect. By having the words “clap hands” at the beginning  of every other line, allows the reader to join in  and be part of the movement. Having the phrase “and still we rise” in a separate line, adds emphasis to the fact that they are rising up together. (stanza 8)●Throughout the poem personal pronouns are used to connect with the reader on a personal level. It has the effect of making them feel like they are being spoken to directly. This draws the reader in and allows them to feel empathetic towards the people who were part of the Million Man March. ●The use of diction has been used throughout the poem in arrangement, connotations, pronouns, repetition and mood/tone. The combined use of these all contribute to making the theme and ideas visible in the poem. This is the idea of the black people rising up together for equality and overcoming (the theme) oppression.

The Lesson

I keep dying again.
Veins collapse, opening like the
Small fists of sleeping
Children.
Memory of old tombs,
Rotting flesh and worms do
Not convince me against
The challenge. The years
And cold defeat live deep in
Lines along my face.
They dull my eyes, yet
I keep on dying,
Because I love to live.
- Maya Angelou

  My reaction to this poem was it was a bit hard to understand at first, but as I read it over and over again, I began to get the general idea of the poem. The poem is teaching a lesson that even when obstacles come in your way in life, you should still live your life. I do like this poem because it is teaching you to live life even
when things try to get in your way. The poetic device used here is symbolism because the veins collapsing and the memories of the old tombs, etc, are symbolizing the obstacles that one may have to overcome in their life so they can keep on living their life. Since this peom is a free verse poem, it doesn't have a rhyme scheme.The theme of this poem is to just keep living your life even when life throws obstacles in the way of you living your life

Recovery

A last love,
proper in conclusion,
should snip the wings
forbidding further flight.
But I, now,
reft of that confusion,
am lifted up
and speeding toward the light.
- Maya Angelou

My reaction to this poem was I felt that this poem is impowering because it is talking about someone who has just gotten out of a relationship and at first it was hard to move on but then they start to recover slowly until they had become completely over that person. It is impowering because it gives people, who have just gotten over a relationship, hope to know that one day they will get over that person and recover completely.The poetic device used here is symbolism. Symbolism was in this poem because the snipped wings were symbolizing the depression you have when you first get out of the relationship with your love and the light is symbolizing
the sign of getting over that relationship. The Rhyme scheme is: A B C D E A F D The theme of this poem is that things will get better when given the time to have a chance to heal.

Refusal

In what other lives or lands
Have I know your lips
Your hands.
Your laughter brave
Irreverent.
Those sweet excesses that
I do adore.
What surety is there
That we will meet again,
On other worlds some
Future time undated.
I defy my body's haste.
Without the promise
Of one more sweet encounter
I will not deign to die.
- Maya Angelou
   My reaction to this poem was I thought it was kind of sad because it is about someone who has lost lover and this person is saying how she loved these features about her lover. She also was how she refuses to believe
that she won't see her lover again and she doesn't mind dying because she knows she will be reunited withhim.The poetic device used here is imagery because she does describe the things that she loved about her lover and she talks about some of the traits that she loved about him This poem is also a free verse poem which means that there is no rhyme scheme. The theme of this is to hold on to your loved ones who have passed on and hold on to your memories of them because you will be reunited with them again.

Woman Work

I've got the children to tend
The clothes to mend
The floor to mop
The food to shop
Then the chicken to fry
The baby to dry
I got company to feed
The garden to weed
I've got shirts to press
The tots to dress
The can to be cut
I gotta clean up this hut
Then see about the sick
And the cotton to pick.

Shine on me, sunshine
Rain on me, rain
Fall softly, dewdrops
And cool my brow again.

Storm, blow me from here
With your fiercest wind
Let me float across the sky
'Til I can rest again.

Fall gently, snowflakes
Cover me with white
Cold icy kisses and
Let me rest tonight.

Sun, rain, curving sky
Mountain, oceans, leaf and stone
Star shine, moon glow
You're all that I can call my own. 

Maya Angelou

Woman Work” is a very domestic poem depicting the typical routine life of a woman who performs her daily chores effectively and then yearns for a fantastic break a midst the elements of nature to give her strength and comfort.

As a housewife, she has to perform many chores. She has to tend her children, mend their clothes, mop the floor and do some shopping for their meals. Then she has to fry chicken, dry the baby, feed her animals, weed off her garden, press the shirts, dress her tots, cut the canes and clean up her whole house to make it beautiful and appealing.

This is the drudgery of her routine, which makes her life so monotonous and prosaic; but the woman in the poem is an idealist and wants to go in the lap of nature to give her relief and comfort. She calls forth the sun, the moon, the mountains, cold ice, and the curving sky to take her away into the space so that she can fly there, forget her neck-breaking routine, and feel the freshness of natural elements to stimulate her body and soul to once again perform the next day’s chores.

Touched by an Angel

We, unaccustomed to courage
exiles from delight
live coiled in shells of loneliness
until love leaves its high holy temple
and comes into our sight
to liberate us into life.

Love arrives
and in its train come ecstasies
old memories of pleasure
ancient histories of pain.
Yet if we are bold,
love strikes away the chains of fear
from our souls.

We are weaned from our timidity
In the flush of love's light
we dare be brave
And suddenly we see
that love costs all we are
and will ever be.
Yet it is only love
which sets us free.

Maya Angelou 

Touched by an Angel is about love. Although the overall theme of the poem is about love, each stanza has its own meaning. The first stanza is about how people are before love comes into their life. Maya Angelou characterizes people as being alone, and scared until love comes and liberates us from these traits. The second stanza describes what all comes with love when it comes into our lives. There are ups and downs with love, through all these things we have a choice to be bold and make our fears to love go away. In the last stanza the author explains what love does to us, how love changes us, and what love does for us. Love in this stanza is depicted as something that replenishes us. In general, in the poem, we are not fully happy in our lives until we've found love.
In the poem Touched by an Angel, there are not a lot of poetic devices used. There is some alliteration in the poem. The alliteration appears in the first and second stanza (“love leaves“, “high holy“, “love’s light”). There’s no specific rhyme scheme but there is some rhyming in the poem.

A Conceit

Give me your hand

Make room for me
to lead and follow
you
beyond this rage of poetry.

Let others have
the privacy of
touching words
and love of loss
of love.

For me
Give me your hand. 

Maya Angelou 

The poem a conceit by Maya Angelou It seems to me that the poem is a plea for real love rather than words or even poems about it - for instance, "touching words" is contrasted with "give me your hand" - real physical contact. You probably know, but a conceit in this sense is a witty or fanciful idea. That could apply to the idea of writing a poem that asks to get away from poetry into reality. I think the central idea is that real, physical human contact is more important, more precious than words and ideas. There is a kind of joke or paradox here one meaning of the word "conceit" is a kind of quirky or fanciful idea because of course this celebration of "real" life and love is expressed through the distant form of a poem! So the idea is both very simple and complicated.

Fly, envious Time, till thou run out thy race,
Call on the lazy leaden-stepping hours,
Whose speed is but the heavy plummet's pace;
And glut thyself with what thy womb devours,
Which is no more than what is false and vain,
And merely mortal dross;
So little is our loss,
So little is thy gain.
For when as each thing bad thou hast intombed,
And last of all thy greedy self consumed,
Then long Eternity shall greet our bliss
With an individual kiss,
And Joy shall overtake us as a flood;
When every thing that is sincerely good
And perfectly divine,
With truth, and peace, and love, shall ever shine
About the supreme throne
Of Him, t' whose happy-making sight alone
When once our heav'nly-guided soul shall climb,
Then, all this earthly grossness quit,
Attired with stars, we shall for ever sit,
Triumphing over Death, and Chance, and thee, O Time. 

John Milton

        On Time,” by the English poet John Milton 1608-1674, deals with one of the most common themes in all of medieval or Renaissance literature: the theme of mutability, or the idea that life on earth is full of constant and mainly negative change. The inevitable passage of time was a particularly painful example of such change, especially since it ultimately involved physical deterioration and then, eventually, physical death. Milton’s poem is a response to such gradual but certain decay. Like many other writers of his era an era dominated by Christian thinking, Milton emphasized that humans can escape the ravages of time by attaining an eternal life in heaven that is full of joy.Line 1 begins with the vigorous verb “Fly” that is, “flee”, which immediately asserts the speaker’s vigor and self-confidence. Rather than being intimidated by time, he attacks and mocks it. Time is “envious,” a word which in Milton’s era mainly meant being hateful, malignant, and/or spiteful. But perhaps it also here suggests that Time, which is limited and bound to end, envies human beings, who are capable of existing eternally. In any case, by personifying time as “Time,” Milton makes it almost seem a living thing an assertion which already implies a bit of irony since he soon suggests that Time will die. Time, in this poem, seems not merely an abstract philosophical concept; it is a malevolent, active being whom one must resist and defeat. The speaker, however, immediately implies that he feels no fear of Time; from the very first line, he suggests that Time is fated to suffer death.Line 2 shows Milton’s talent for using sound effects. In this case, the effects involve not only  alliteration (repetition of similar consonant sounds) but also assonance (repetition of similar vowel sounds), as in the repetition here of “l’s” and short “e’s”: “Call on the lazy leaden-stepping hours.” Having already mentioned the word “race” in line 1 (a word implying speed), the speaker now implies (through the use of the particular adjectives here) that Time moves very slowly. It is as if the speaker feels contempt for the “lazy leaden-stepping hours,” as if he is almost eager for Time to run its race as quickly as possible.

commentary of "still i rise" by maya angelou

in this poem there are so many literay devices used by maya. Just like moons and like suns – simile Comparing how she continuously raises herself up emotionally to stay strong just, like how the moon and sun raises everyday no matter what happens.  I’ll rise; I rise – repetition By repeating these words it makes the words that much more powerful and makes it stand out and also emphasizes Angelou’s message, which is to stay strong and to never allow anything or anyone stop you from fighting and living strong. Does my sassiness upset you? ; Do you want to see me broken? ; Does my haughtiness offend you? ; Does my sexiness offend you? By questioning the readers (“you”), it catches the reader’s attention and is affective because it makes readers realize how many people have made the person (“I”) feel and how many people may be feeling, it makes readers read the poem and take it to a more personal level. oil wells; gold mines; diamonds – metaphor These are often known to be expensive and valuable, and Angelou is relating these to the value of herself. She is worth just as much as everyone else and therefore she should receive just as much respect and love like others. Shoulders falling down like teardrops – simile Comparing how a person’s shoulders drop as they lose confidence in them self and when feeling down, similar to how tears drop done one’s face when upset or hurt. At the meeting of my thighs expressing her sexuality of being a woman I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide the color black is usually used to create a sense of fear and evil. A “black ocean” seems to describe an ocean that is full of cruelty and how things occur unexpectedly. This may be referring to how her own life is, full of horrific and unexpected events. The “black ocean” may also be describing her own race which allows readers to understand that the poem is about racism. Still I Rise has a positive and strong tone throughout the entire poem. The words Angelou used also make it seem as though the character in the poem is talking to the readers. By doing so Angelou got the readers to get more personally involved in the poem emotionally which helps to make readers realize how humans are all guilty of discriminating others in some form. The poem should be read with confidence, especially in the parts “I’ll rise and “I rise” to show the strong attitude the person (“I”) has about them self. In some lines for example “’Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines” the tone changes almost to a point where the reader is chuckling like how it says in the poem. The main theme in the poem Still I Rise is discrimination. This poem portrays a strong person living with a positive attitude. I chose to do this poem because although it was written in 1978, the message portrayed in the poem is very powerful and can be related by anyone even in this time period. This poem is very straightforward which makes the message that much more meaningful and affective. At some point in life everybody experiences discrimination, although it may be in different ways and extents it is a struggle that all people go through within their lifetime. This poem teaches readers that all humans have strength that lays within us that can help to overcome any obstacles. This poem also makes readers realize the importance of having pride and hope in ourselves. The line “Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave” shows the importance of having appreciation in those in previous generations for what they have done for us and what they have left. Also, the line “I am the dream and the hope of the slave” shows how Angelou believes that one person stepping up to make a difference or to have their voices heard will not only help themselves, but it also has a potential of helping those who are also suffering from the same or similar discrimination.        

Still I Rise

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may tread me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise. 

Maya Angelou

commentary of at a solemn music by john milton

In “At a Solemn Music,” Milton invokes music and poetry to describe their power to remind and imbue us with divine images and experience. Lines 1-16 of the poem describe the power and splendor of heavenly singing, accumulating energy as they engage with the image of God and with the themes of time and song. In these lines Milton connects present and eternity, earth and heaven, art and divine encounter. In the first few lines, Milton combines metrical devices to set the poem off to a slow, stumbling start. Though the poem is written, for the most part, in iambic pentameter, all of the first four lines break rhythm by starting with a stressed syllable (“Blest,” “Sphere,” “Wed,” “Dead”), and the first 3 lines break meter by containing eleven syllables instead of ten. The rhythm within the lines is irregular and erratic, frequently encumbered by laborious syntax like “inbreathed sense” (line 4). While the rest of the poem maintains mostly a couplet rhyme scheme, the rhymes of the first four lines are alternating. All this changes at line 5, when each line consistently starts with an unstressed syllable and becomes a perfect iambic pentameter byline 7. Particularly because of the slowness of the preceding lines, the brisk pyrrhic “And to” at the beginning of line 5 is doubly effective in accelerating the poem into a regular rhythm that builds up to the first climactic moment in line 8. With reverence and awe, line 8 introduces God for the first time. Its meter converges from the poem’s basic pentameter to a mere trimester, making the line the culmination of the lyrical energy that led up to it. However, though the lines surrounding line 8 are loaded with resplendent description, line 8 obliquely refers to God, “To him that sits thereon,” and then refrains from giving any further detail of him. In addition, the line breaks off. Not only does it lack two metrical feet, but it also does not adequately consummate the couplet rhyme with the previous line. The anticipated depiction of God has been truncated. This failure to represent God, paradoxically, is a tacit proclamation that such a supreme being is inexpressible with words and cannot be contained in poetry. Apart from his inability to articulate a description of God, the poet also aims to shield the reader from God’s glory. When Moses first encountered the burning bush, the prophet hid his face in fear- God’s image is so overwhelming that no one can experience it without perishing. Because the poet cannot represent God and the reader cannot encounter God, line 8 only leaves us with a white space in which we contemplate the unspeakable sublime.

At a Solemn Music

Blest pair of Sirens, pledges of Heav'n's joy,
Sphere-born harmonious Sisters, Voice and Verse,
Wed your divine sounds, and mixt power employ
Dead things with inbreath'd sense able to pierce,
And to our high-rais'd fantasy present
That undisturbed Song of pure concent,
Ay sung before that saphire-colour'd throne
To Him that sits thereon
With Saintly shout and solemn Jubilee,
Where the bright Seraphim in burning row
Their loud up-lifted Angel trumpets blow,
And the Cherubic host in thousand choirs
Touch their immortal Harps of golden wires,
With those just Spirits that wear victorious Palms,
Hymns devout and holy Psalms
Singing everlastingly;
That we on Earth with undiscording voice
May rightly answer that melodious noise;
As once we did, till disproportion'd sin
Jarr'd against Nature's chime, and with harsh din
Broke the fair music that all creatures made
To their great Lord, whose love their motion sway'd
In first obedience, and their state of good.
And keep in tune with Heav'n, till God ere long
To His celestial consort us unite,
To live with Him, and sing in endless morn of light. 

John Milton

commentary of "Alone" by maya angelou

Maya Angelou used most of the figurative language I know of to write this poem. She used rhymes of a simple AB, AB pattern like when she said in the 3rd stanza with one of her end rimes was: "With money they can't use" (and continued with) "Their children sing the blues" She also used personification when she said in the first stanza: "Where water is not thirsty" She wrote repetition too when she kept saying "alone" and "nobody" in her poem. Finally it also had similes when she said "There are some millionaires" (next line) "With money they can't use" (next line) "Their wives run round like banshees" because here she was comparing wives of millionaires to banshees. And finally Maya used alliteration when she said "alone all alone." There is also some Biblical allusion in her statement where the water is not thirsty and the bread is not stone. Jesus to the women at the well says that he can give her water such that she will never thirst again, and in another section of the gospels, Jesus says that we should pray to receive the Holy Spirit, that God being our father gives good gifts. He goes on to say that what father when asked for bread gives his children a stone instead. I think there is more meaning than just saying that a person can't live alone, I think she means that we as a people can't live without the other people of this world...I think she means that even if you have a great life with a great wife and a great family you still need to exists in the company of humanity. That is why I think she mentions that the human race is suffering and she hears it moaning from the pain of racism and separation due to other prejudice. No race or culture or religious organization can live in isolation from the rest of humanity. The theme is that no one in the world can make it alone. Everybody needs a friend. 

Alone

Lying, thinking
Last night
How to find my soul a home
Where water is not thirsty
And bread loaf is not stone
I came up with one thing
And I don't believe I'm wrong
That nobody,
But nobody
Can make it out here alone.

Alone, all alone
Nobody, but nobody
Can make it out here alone.

There are some millionaires
With money they can't use
Their wives run round like banshees
Their children sing the blues
They've got expensive doctors
To cure their hearts of stone.
But nobody
No, nobody
Can make it out here alone.

Alone, all alone
Nobody, but nobody
Can make it out here alone.

Now if you listen closely
I'll tell you what I know
Storm clouds are gathering
The wind is gonna blow
The race of man is suffering
And I can hear the moan,
'Cause nobody,
But nobody
Can make it out here alone.

Alone, all alone
Nobody, but nobody
Can make it out here alone. 

Maya Angelou

commentary of "light" by john milton

These passages from Book III make up part of Milton’s second and longest invocation, which is also his most autobiographical and symbolic. Milton refers to light simultaneously as divine wisdom and literal light. When he speaks about his blindness he refers to both his inward blindness, or lack of divine wisdom, and his literal blindness, or loss of eyesight. He begins by praising holy light as the essence of God. The idea that God is light was common before and during Milton’s time, and is a popular interpretation of certain biblical passages in Genesis. He then invokes his heavenly muse, the Holy Spirit, by reusing similar images and ideas from his first invocation; remember that Milton has asked for this heaven muse to illuminate “what in me is dark” (I.22). Symbolically, Milton asks for his muse to enter his body and fill him with divine knowledge. Milton discusses his physical, outward blindness when he compares himself to other famous blind “Prophets old” (III.36), such as Homer (Maimonides) and Tiresias, and asks that he be filled with even more wisdom than them. He does not seek pity for his blindness, explaining that he is still active and undeterred from his poetic purpose. He believes that his outward blindness is insignificant, and that he hopes he is not inwardly blind. He hopes to sing beautifully like the darkling bird, which sings at night, unable to see who or what she is singing to. He ends his invocation by asking for his inward blindness to be corrected so that he can properly tell the story of Adam and Eve.

Light

HAIL holy light, ofspring of Heav'n first-born,
Or of th' Eternal Coeternal beam
May I express thee unblam'd? since God is light,
And never but in unapproached light
Dwelt from Eternitie, dwelt then in thee,
Bright effluence of bright essence increate.
Or hear'st thou rather pure Ethereal stream,
Whose Fountain who shall tell? before the Sun,
Before the Heavens thou wert, and at the voice
Of God, as with a Mantle didst invest
The rising world of waters dark and deep,
Won from the void and formless infinite.
Thee I re-visit now with bolder wing,
Escap't the Stygian Pool, though long detain'd
In that obscure sojourn, while in my flight
Through utter and through middle darkness borne
With other notes then to th' Orphean Lyre
I sung of Chaos and Eternal Night,
Taught by the heav'nly Muse to venture down
The dark descent, and up to reascend,
Though hard and rare: thee I revisit safe,
And feel thy sovran vital Lamp; but thou
Revisit'st not these eyes, that rowle in vain
To find thy piercing ray, and find no dawn;
So thick a drop serene hath quencht thir Orbs,
Or dim suffusion veild. Yet not the more
Cease I to wander where the Muses haunt
Cleer Spring, or shadie Grove, or Sunnie Hill,
Smit with the love of sacred song; but chief
Thee Sion and the flowrie Brooks beneath
That wash thy hallowd feet, and warbling flow,
Nightly I visit: nor somtimes forget
Those other two equal'd with me in Fate,
So were I equal'd with them in renown.
Blind Thamyris and blind Maeonides,
And Tiresias and Phineus Prophets old.
Then feed on thoughts, that voluntarie move
Harmonious numbers; as the wakeful Bird
Sings darkling, and in shadiest Covert hid
Tunes her nocturnal Note. Thus with the Year
Seasons return, but not to me returns
Day, or the sweet approach of Ev'n or Morn,
Or sight of vernal bloom, or Summers Rose,
Or flocks, or herds, or human face divine;
But cloud in stead, and ever-during dark
Surrounds me, from the chearful waies of men
Cut off, and for the Book of knowledg fair
Presented with a Universal blanc
Of Natures works to mee expung'd and ras'd,
And wisdome at one entrance quite shut out.
So much the rather thou Celestial light
Shine inward, and the mind through all her powers
Irradiate, there plant eyes, all mist from thence
Purge and disperse, that I may see and tell
Of things invisible to mortal sight. 

John Milton

commentary on Men by maya angelou

Men by Maya Angelou is a poem about a young girl coming of age and her first sexual experience. it is a poem that is divided in to three stanzas. It is also run to just49 lines. We are about to break the poem down stanzas by stanzas.  In the first stanza the female speaker took us back to her youth years or childhood. She recalls looking out her window at men that always pass by on the road outside her house. She was amazed at first, the different way these men appear. Older men, young men, wino men. Then she realizes that men are always going somewhere. At this point the point took a shift, where everything change  and we are informed that now the men have realize that they are being watched, and her look is surprisingly lustful, and she is now fifteen years old and she want them. We get to know that sex is something she has never had before.  Now at this point everything get real as she compare the men’s shoulders high and they look upon her to the breasts of a young girl, implying some mutual arousal between the girl watching and the men’s being watched. This is where the speaker get real with us the audience, by taking us through her sexual experience, which is very difficult to do, only few fifteen year old girls will do that. This poem unlike any other poem of this nature there is nothing sentimental, beautiful, or magical about this experience. Started by treating her gently as if she was was “the last raw egg in the world.” But as the sexual act progresses the fantasy disappear. As the male triggers in the speaker a moment of realization, followed by anger, then sadness. She had invested so much hope in men only to find out their need were so far removed from her own. The cravings of the “starving” fifteen year old will never be met, nor even understood, by anyone with such a basic, uncomplicated sexual compass. This realization deadens the woman inside, her libido not gone (for that in itself would now be a welcome release) but permanently, maddeningly locked away, the fifteen year old taunting and teasing the woman with the memories of the idolized desires of her youth. But “No keys exist.” While this would seem to indicate the end of the story (and indeed, many poems in a similar vein do conclude on this melancholy note) Angelou surprises us with an epilogue that turns the “innocence shattered” motif just a little bit askew.

on his blindness commentary

the poem "on his blindness by John Milton" is a short poem of only 14 lines. this poem is based on a religious believe that God knowledge to man kind is being use for other reason, and not to please him.due to the research i did i found out that the poem is an Italian sonnet. this poem can be divided into two part. the first part being an octave, and the second part being sestet. the poem is believe to have been written as early as 1652, most scholars believe is was compose sometime between June and October 1655,when Milton"s blindness was essentially complete. the poem rhyming scheme is abba, abba, cde, cde. this poem do not tell a story, instead it expresses the author feelings directly to the reader. this poem have some literary devices like rhetorical question, when it said "doth god exact day labor light denies? personification when it said "But patience to prevent that murmur soon replies." world and wide is alliteration. i decided to paraphrase the first part of the poem.when i think about how long i have no light left before my life is half over, and that this gift death can take away, it is useless to me  although it makes me better fit to serve God, and be truthful for the fear i have for him. do he expect a work day from me, while denying me light, i stupidly ask myself.But patience, uncomplaining, soon replies-"God doesn't need the work or talent of man. those who humbly submit to him are his best servants. he is the king.thousands serve him by tirelessly crossing land and sea.milton begins by questioning his blindness- how does God expect me to serve him when he has blinded me? but he corrects himself as the sonnet turn-we serve God best by accepting the burnden he give us, acting acording to our god-given strength and limitation.

• the sonnet turns - we serve God best by accepting the burdens he gives us,

• the sonnet turns - we serve God best by accepting the burdens he gives us,

•  patience, uncomplaining, soon replies - "God doesn't need the work or talents of
• patience, uncomplaining, soon replies - "God doesn't need the work or talents of

• patience, uncomplaining, soon replies - "God doesn't need the work or talents of