Poetry Analysis

Poetry Analysis
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Task 1
I chose the poem “Barter” by Sara Teasdale because of its view towards life. I find the poem really consumed by figurative language. Thus the message of the poem is vividly and clearly illustrated. This allows for the relationship between abstract concepts and people to be fostered.
The simile used is “Music like a curve of gold” (Teasdale, 1917, Stanza 2, Line 8). Simile boosts understanding, since it creates an analogy with the unknown, thus simplifying an abstract concept.
The simile is used to compare music with gold, based on the beauty of gold and its monetary. The high value portrays the level of importance attached to music, which this case describes the value and beauty of life.
The poem uses the figurative language purposefully to bring out the intended tone, which is happy. For instance, in the line, “Soaring fire that sways and sings” (Teasdale, 1917, Stanza 1, Line 4). The tone shows how the persona is vibrant towards life by using rather an informal context of swaying when referring to the fire.
Task 2
The poet describes how marvelous life is, and attempts to sway the feelings of the reader through the use of colorful language into falling in phase with them. The poet defines life in the poem as a loveliness that all should embrace.
The poem is organized into lines which form stanzas. The lines are designed with rhyme, which adds to the flavor of the poem. For instance, delight and night. The poet does not manipulate time, instead, describes the time in terms of quantity, that is hours and years.

She also incorporates a factor of time in the line, “count many a year of strife well lost” (Teasdale, 1917, Stanza 3, Line 16). Through this, the author pushes the reader to look back and always spend all the moments to the fullest to avoid regret.
Task 3
In Emily Dickinson’s piece “We grow accustomed to the darkness,” the poet uses heavy imagery and figurative language. The poet also extensively uses dashes in the poem, which are a show of the tough times she is undergoing, the dashes stand for pauses. For instance, the line “The˗˗fit our vision to the dark˗˗” (Dickinson, 2002, Stanza 2, Line 7) emphasizes the pauses by the narrator. The poem is composed of four lines in each stanza, which together form five verses. The poem has no special feature in term of arrangement and organization, which can be interpreted as the normalcy of the rough times people do face. In contrast to the happy mood oozed by Teasdale poem.
When the two poems are juxtaposed, the Barter poem is better structured to convey its message. The elements of figures of speech are in more application than in the other poem. An example is the last line, which summarizes the message of the poet, “Give all you have been or could be|” (Teasdale, 1917, Stanza 3, Line 18).
References
Dickinson, E. (2002). We grow accustomed to the Dark. Good Poems. New York: Penguin.
Teasdale, S. (1917). Barter. Poetry, 10(3), 124-124.