Poetry and Songs

It was interesting reading song lyrics as poetry, something I had never thought to do. Personally, I find it easier to understand ingest them by listening to them as lyrics to as song rather than as words in a poem, and that the words flow better with music attached to them. The music gives the words help elevate the meaning and tone of the lyrics that can't be found in just reading off the lyrics.The songs contain a lot of imagery in their lyrics, and are arranged in such a way that they almost tell a story. In that regard they are very similar to traditional poetry.

Song: "Roundabout" by Yes

"Roundabout"

I'll be the roundabout
The words will make you out 'n' out
I spend the day your way
Call it morning driving thru the sound and in and out the valley

The music dance and sing
They make the children really ring
I spend the day your way
Call it morning driving thru the sound and in and out the valley

In and around the lake
Mountains come out of the sky and they stand there
One mile over we'll be there and we'll see you
Ten true summers we'll be there and laughing too
Twenty four before my love you'll see I'll be there with you

I will remember you
Your silhouette will charge the view
Of distance atmosphere
Call it morning driving thru the sound and even in the valley

In and around the lake
Mountains come out of the sky and they stand there
One mile over we'll be there and we'll see you
Ten true summers we'll be there and laughing too
Twenty four before my love you'll see I'll be there with you

Along the drifting cloud the eagle searching down on the land
Catching the swirling wind the sailor sees the rim of the land
The eagle's dancing wings create as weather spins out of hand

Go closer hold the land feel partly no more than grains of sand
We stand to lose all time a thousand answers by in our hand
Next to your deeper fears we stand surrounded by a million years

I'll be the roundabout
The words will make you out 'n' out
I'll be the roundabout
The words will make you out 'n' out

In and around the lake
Mountains come out of the sky and they stand there
Twenty four before my love and I'll be there

I'll be the roundabout
The words will make you out 'n' out
You spend the day your way
Call it morning driving thru the sound and in and out the valley

In and around the lake
Mountains come out of the sky and they stand there
One mile over we'll be there and we'll see you
Ten true summers we'll be there and laughing too
Twenty four before my love you'll see I'll be there with you

Life

The sphere shall tremble at tis weight,

failing to ascertain a golden fleece

and its beautiful nature shall turn to rot.

Life will halt its course and fall like a stone,

its everyday becoming prisons,

and the sea will fade and vanish from us,

as we drop everything and face the end.

The world shan't continue forever,

but as human hearts remain close,

There shall always be reason to hope.

Love After Love

This poem speaks to how we must come to love ourselves and who we once were as people to truly enjoy life. To embrace that side of us that we threw away, but that has always been with us as we grew and matured. I find the poem to be very meaningful, especially in this age of people changing and conforming at mere whims. We are only truly living as ourselves when we love who we are as a person and what we really stand for.

Mariannne Williamson

This poem read by Nelson Mandela speaks towards how humans all have the potential to be great, but our fear of our own greatness prevents us from truly utilizing it. It's bright diction speaks to towards the positive and good nature of humanity, and creates an overall optimistic tone in the poem as it advertises how great we are as a race. The poem makes me feel very uplifted, as with all the chaos and destruction  by human hands in today's world often makes me forget about our good qualities and our overwhelming potential. If we embrace it and do not abstain from it, we can change this world into one befitting this beautiful poem.

Famous

This poem uses the word famous to describe a bond that two things have with each other, and is related to the role these things play in their respective natural order. Ultimately the speaker surmises how they do not want to be famous in the traditional meaning of the word, to be popular, but to be useful and carry out the purpose of life they were meant for. The poem has a distinct flow that moves from one idea or subject to another, and keeps the readers attention towards the final point. I also believe it makes use of about five beats per line over the course of the poem.

I'm Nobody! Who are you?

In this poem, I believe the message conveyed is that those who are beneath society's notice are truly lucky in life. They do not have to deal with the crowds of people who admire and swarm them. The poem is somewhat unconventional, with its numerous breaks that are signified by the dashes and how it flows. One moment its moving fast, then it breaks with a dash. Some of the word choices, such as the use of "the livelong june" and "admiring bog" speak towards its age and the period it was crafted. It is arranged as if it were a conversation between a person, with the speaker speaking to a fellow nobody.