Michael

2 Original Poems by me} Identify 2 master techniques from both 1 Poem by another author A Recitation of 1 or more of these three poems

Recitation of "The Fight Against Time"

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**The Fight Against Time** By Michael Fried

Layers will be peeled, another gone every day, Working its way to the core. Time’s ticking clock will not be held at bay.

You try in vain to slay The beast behind the closet door. Layers will be peeled, another gone every day.

There will be no reprieve, you are its prey, Hunted down like a wild boar; Time’s ticking clock will not be held at bay.

As you age, to your dismay, The creature attacks you with galore; Layers will be peeled, another gone every day.

Do not push it away Or it will knock you to the floor. Time’s ticking clock will not be held at bay.

You fight the beast, now old and gray; You never learned to love that which you abhor. Layers will be peeled, another gone every day, Time’s ticking clock will not be held at bay.

"Hunted down like a wild boar"

This is an example of a simile, or a comparison between two different things using like or as. This simile was made not only to fit in nicely with the rhyme scheme and context, but also to portray how the person is being hunted. Not like a cat waiting to strike, not like a spider setting a trap, but like a boar being chased by hunters and bloodhounds. The antagonist is relentlessly hunting the person, never giving up, and that is what the reader needs to know to fully understand the poem.

There is not one line that this technique affects. The whole poem is an extended metaphor, which is a poem that means something completely different than it first reads as. If a reader reads this without understanding the metaphor, they will completely miss the point of this poem. It is not that time is hunting him down to kill him, it is that throughout time he is being pressured by his consciousness and responsibilities. He did not want to face these things, so he ran and tried to ignore them. But, they followed him and persisted, and even as an old man he was troubled by them. To read this poem without the metaphor, the reader would miss the overall meaning of the poem.

By Michael Fried
 * California**

Cool wind buffets my face As I walk along the yellow painted Line in the middle of the road. When I look up, I see other people walking along, Frying slowly in the harsh sunlight. Over the high city skyline in the distance a Rainbow has developed, New and beautiful, by the edge of the ocean. I wonder why I deserve this place As I continue down the sloping road.

"New and beautiful"

This is an example of poetic imagery. Poetic imagery is the use of words to describe a idea or a sense. The use of imagery in this poem helps the reader understand the poem more deeply, and can also establish whether or not the description is positive or negative. If the reader thought before reading this line that I thought California was a bad place, then the imagery I used helped to let them understand what I was thinking.

"road"

By repeating the word "road" twice, I used repetition to give a deeper meaning to the poem. By emphasizing the word "road" with repetition, I was able to end the poem where it began: on a road in California. This symbolizes that it all happened in a moment, and that I was walking on the same road the whole time. This wraps the poem up nicely and leaves the reader wondering about what the poem’s body means rather than what the end means.

By Garret Hongo
 * The Legend **

In Chicago, it is snowing softly and a man has just done his wash for the week. He steps into the twilight of early evening, carrying a wrinkled shopping bag full of neatly folded clothes, and, for a moment, enjoys the feel of warm laundry and crinkled paper, flannellike against his gloveless hands. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">There’s a Rembrandt glow on his face, <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">a triangle of orange in the hollow of his cheek <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">as a last flash of sunset <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">blazes the storefronts and lit windows of the street. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">He is Asian, Thai or Vietnamese, <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">and very skinny, dressed as one of the poor <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">in rumpled suit pants and a plaid mackinaw, <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">dingy and too large. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">He negotiates the slick of ice <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">on the sidewalk by his car, <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">opens the Fairlane’s back door, <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">leans to place the laundry in, <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">and turns, for an instant, <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">toward the flurry of footsteps <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">and cries of pedestrians <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">as a boy—that’s all he was— <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">backs from the corner package store <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">shooting a pistol, firing it, <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">once, at the dumbfounded man <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">who falls forward, <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">grabbing at his chest. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A few sounds escape from his mouth, <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">a babbling no one understands <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">as people surround him <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">bewildered at his speech. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The noises he makes are nothing to them. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The boy has gone, lost <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">in the light array of foot traffic <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">dappling the snow with fresh prints. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Tonight, I read about Descartes’ <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">grand courage to doubt everything <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">except his own miraculous existence <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">and I feel so distinct <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">from the wounded man lying on the concrete <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I am ashamed. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Let the night sky cover him as he dies. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Let the weaver girl cross the bridge of heaven <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">and take up his cold hands.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"I am ashamed" and "people surround him"

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">These are two examples of the speaker or point of view of the poem. This point of view is of a man that saw what happened. This gives the reader that perspective as well, making the poem more connected to the reader. This lets the reader understand the poem better, and to really see what the poet is trying to get across.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">"He steps into the twilight of early evening, <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">carrying a wrinkled shopping bag <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">full of neatly folded clothes, <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">and, for a moment, enjoys <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">the feel of warm laundry and crinkled paper, <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">flannellike against his gloveless hands."

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This is an example of the situation of the poem. The situation of a poem is similar to the exposition of a story. It lets the reader know what is going on before the main section of the poem reached. Not all poems have a situation in the beginning, but in this case it was more beneficial to the author to place it there. This tool also lets the reader know about the character and lets the reader have a viewpoint of the poem. This tool tells the reader more about the life of the character and lets them make a decision about whether he deserved what came to him later. It gives the poem different themes, just like a story would have, due to the personality the poem took on.