Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe was born in 1809 in Boston. His parents both died when he was young, so John and Frances Allan raised him in Virginia. He was sent to boarding schools and the University of Virginia, where he did very well, but was soon forced to leave because Allan refused to pay his gambling debts. Then, in 1827, Poe enlisted in the army and wrote some of his poems that year, along with a second collection in 1829. He started going to the United States Military Academy, but was soon forced to leave because he had little financial support. He then moved to Baltimore with his aunt, Maria Clemm, and her daughter Virginia. He sold some of his short stories and eventually moved with his aunt and cousin to Richmond, where he married Virginia in 1836. After this, over the years, he published some of his most well-known work such as "The Tell Tale Heart" and "The Raven." When Virginia died of tuberculosis in 1847, he became depressed and his alcoholism worsened. He died in 1849. 

El Dorado by E.A. Poe

Gaily bedight,
   A gallant knight,
In sunshine and in shadow,
   Had journeyed long,
   Singing a song,
In search of Eldorado.

   But he grew old,
   This knight so bold,
And o'er his heart a shadow
   Fell as he found
   No spot of ground
That looked like Eldorado.

   And, as his strength
   Failed him at length,
He met a pilgrim shadow;
   "Shadow," said he,
   "Where can it be,
This land of Eldorado?"

   "Over the mountains
   Of the moon,
Down the valley of the shadow,
   Ride, boldly ride,"
   The shade replied,--
"If you seek for Eldorado!"

My first reaction to this poem was how it got progressively sadder as it went on and the symbolism used. I also noticed the rhyme and how at first I didn't really notice that the poem rhymed because the words just worked together in such a way that I knew subconsciously that the words rhymed, but not in a Dr. Seuss type way. My interpretation of the meaning of this poem is that El Dorado is just life itself, and how we are all just searching for our own city of gold. The speaker is telling a story of a man that, when he was young, had his heart set on finding El Dorado. He was happy and was singing because he knew he had much time to find it. But, as he got older, he grew more tired and desperate to find his city of gold. When the Shadow told him El Dorado was "over the mountains of the moon" I think he meant that the only true happiness, the only "city of gold" we will ever find is in heaven. There was rhyme in this poem, and repetition of words like "shadow" and "Eldorado." There is also a kind of meter to the poem that makes it sound almost musical as well. 

How to Listen

How to Listen

Major Jackson

I am going to cock my head tonight like a dog
in front of McGlinchy's Tavern on Locust;
I am going to stand beside the man who works all day combing
his thatch of gray hair corkscrewed in every direction.
I am going to pay attention to our lives
unraveling between the forks of his fine-tooth comb.
For once, we won't talk about the end of the world
or Vietnam or his exquisite paper shoes.
For once, I am going to ignore the profanity and
the dancing and the jukebox so I can hear his head crackle
beneath the sky's stretch of faint stars.

Reaction:

I really did like this poem. I thought it had a lot of meaning. I also liked that fact that some parts of it were a little obscure or don't make sense, but the whole thing just flows.

Meaning:

I think the poet is talking about how people normally don't notice the small details in life, all they see is the big picture, which doesn't always give an accurate depiction of what's really going on.

Technique: 

The poem is only one stanza, so all the lines have an important meaning and go together. There was a simile, personification and imagery to make the reader get a more vivid picture in their head. There is no rhyme, and this makes the poem more informal in a way that makes people relate to it.