Help With a Poem..

popinfresh

Ok, basically I have to do an essay on a poem(see poem below). And I cannot make head nor tails of it. I have to write a 2page essay and I'm struggling to come up with a half a page. This essay is kinda important and I want to do well. Any ideas as in what the hell is the theme???? ps- Should this have been posted in literature? sorry, but there seems to be a lot of poetry reader/critics in this forum.



=--= Good Vs Evil =--=

I can feel it
The forces of evil
Calling, Calling me
The force so numb,
With an eerie grin
And a self-bias.

But these forces so numb,
They lean to Victory,
I argue against my good,
The good, which argued otherwise,
And I wonder,
Which is it?

Am I to be a lamb?
Or a wolf.

I can nor tell either at any time,
And yet I argue against either at any time,
Self biasness,
Which is it?
Am I to be good
Or am I to scour souls,

Maybe there is compromise
Maybe an iron first
With a soft touch
I will not call upon evil
I will only use it,

But my good has to be satisfied
I must not betray
I must not be an extreme
I will turn upon evil with an iron fist

I will be both
A complete compromise
I shall be good when it's logical
And I shall turn fire with fire
When it's not

I will be neither.
A truce
I won't start trouble,
I'll end it

This is true goodness
And yet pure evil
Which is it
What's the difference
How can I tell?

How can anyone tell?
What is there to know,
Is the difference,
Not just a biased opinion,
They hate each other, but
They justify themselves

How can logic be split in two?
Who is right,
What is right?
Define right!!!

MojoMaker

I'd be surprised if that's a published poem - it's crap! No wonder you can't decipher it dude. It's all over the place and horribly, horribly indulgent. If that's the kind of nonsense that gets published these days I'm breaking out the 'ole fountain pen once more.

Who is the poet, have you a link?

Skud

there seems to be an excessive amount of repititon...

also it very philosophical... well use of rhetorical questions

What question is your essay and isn't the theme(main) in the title? --> Good vs evil
Is it for college or lc? because if it's lc you can easily right an essay without understanding it. You just have to comment on "poetic techniques" used. Where in college you do this and alot more...

McGinty

Lol, I have to agree its a crap poem, have you to write about your understanding of the poem, or a critical analysis.

From my understanding of the poem, (which in my opinion the poet doesn't discuss good versus evil) is that the author is torn between doing good and evil, and yet has difficulty in distingushing which is the best. They also state that is there litle difference between good and evil, in my opinion, duhhh, there is a huge difference.

If you have to give a critical analysis of the poem, (and I'll admit I am very weak in this area - I border on the too personal) well you can state that its all over the place, doesn't really tackle the issue of good versus evil and that's about all I can offer, sorry.

popinfresh

Yeah, it's a bit of an odd poem all right, a bit strange really. I have to write about "the elaborating theme" and the "unusual structure". I think I'll just do 2 pages complainging about it

MojoMaker

Who is the poet popinfresh? I'd like to look up other stuff of his/hers.

jerenaugrim

That poem is rubbish.
popinfresh, I think u knew that anyway. So go with your two pages of complaining about it, and don't worry about the mark. Al least you'll know that your critical faculties are intact.:mad:

MojoMaker

I can nor tell either at any time

Hmm, that "nor" doesn't make sense.

Self biasness

No such word in the English language.

This poem has not been published. Ergo how can this poem be up for review on a school or college syllabus?

popinfresh, did you write this poem?

jerenaugrim

If u didn't write the poem, popinfresh, either ur teacher did, or one of your teacher's children...

passive

maybe popinfresh wrote the poem themselves and they felt nervous about posting here so they pretended it was someone elses and asked for a detailed analysis....

and you've all just insulted and degraded popinfresh's hard work. he/she is crying now. i hope you're happy.

insensitive assholes! :mad:

CuLT

Originally posted by passive
maybe popinfresh wrote the poem themselves and they felt nervous about posting here so they pretended it was someone elses and asked for a detailed analysis....

and you've all just insulted and degraded popinfresh's hard work. he/she is crying now. i hope you're happy.

insensitive assholes! :mad:

Honesty is a virtue.

I don't want to be unduly cruel, but I would NEVER pretend I hadn't written something if I did, good or bad. If you're going to allow people to see your work, then you should be prepared to take any criticism you recieve.

passive

i was joking... i don't really think they're lying...

CuLT

Originally posted by passive
i was joking... i don't really think they're lying...

You might be surprised at how difficult it is to convey sarcasm/light hearted-ness via the medium of posts.


Unless of course you started posting narratively.

"maybe popinfresh wrote the poem themselves, they felt nervous about posting here so they pretended it was someone elses and asked for a detailed analysis...." I said, feigning solemnity.
Then I raised the tone, my voice effuse with mock-anger, "and you've all just insulted and degraded popinfresh's hard work. he/she is crying now."
I paused a moment to allow the thought to sink in.
"i hope you're happy. insensitive assholes!" I said hotly, and stormed off, laughing quietly to myself.

Or something.

passive

excellent narration!
(reminds me of the time i spent an entire day narrating my life: *que family guy quotes*):)

jerenaugrim

IF popinfresh wrote the poem
AND said so at the start
MAYBE people wd have been more tactful.
Or maybe NOT.

That's nearly more poetic than the poem. What shd I call that 'poest'?

popinfresh

Lol, no I didn't write it. It was a trick question. IE give us a **** poem and see how we deal with it. Strange teacher really. To practise our critisism.. I just saw it and thought .

passive

strange but interesting idea....
how did you do?

popinfresh

I'll get it back next week. I think I did all right.

jerenaugrim

Originally posted by popinfresh
I'll get it back next week. I think I did all right.

Hope you slagged it to the max. It was rubbish.

kfmk

He wrote it.

MojoMaker

I'm sorry, I have to agree. It's not the first time he has used a made-up word like 'biasness' on these boards. :dunno:

Anyway, if it was your first attempt at poetry poppie, take heart from the fact that most people's first one (10..20...?) is pretty ****.

Make your next one less self-indulgent and it will read better.

luckat

If the writer of the poem happens to be reading this, a couple of suggestions.

It's a first draft, and there are some interesting ideas there. Put it away for a few weeks, work on other poems and come back to it.

When you come back, try to work out exactly what your theme is: Good and evil? The mirroring of good and evil? The idea that a choice between good and evil may not exist?

Then, when you've found that theme, look for the language and rhythm that will serve it best. Do you want a sharp, choppy rhythm? A smooth, waltz-like rhythm?

I think it needs to be quite disciplined if it's to work well - disciplined in its ideas, how they are laid out; in its language, and in its form - what verse form you choose, how many words in a line, how the lines scan.

You also might consider the question of subtext. What I mean by subtext is this: when you say something simple like "night is dark", the context in which you say it changes the meaning of what you say. For instance, if you say: "Death is cold. Night is dark", the idea that night is dark is underlaid with the subtext of decay and fear. If you say: "Secrets are many. Night is dark", the subtext is quite different. Fun, isn't it?

Finally, there's absolutely no point in approaching any piece of writing and trying to find out what's bad about it. Any fool can do that. A *real* writer only looks to what's good in a piece - that's the star that will lead you, if you want to write well.

MojoMaker

Sound advice luckat.

popinfresh

Jesus Christ lads, if I wrote the f**king poem, I'd have said I wrote the poem. It was a past pupil of my teacher if you must really really know. Oh and i got B-

jerenaugrim

Originally posted by popinfresh
Jesus Christ lads, if I wrote the f**king poem, I'd have said I wrote the poem. It was a past pupil of my teacher if you must really really know. Oh and i got B-

Print off this thread and give it to your teacher. You deserve an A+ for researching here!