The Dark Night

Acquainted with the Night
Robert Frost

The speaker, at first glance, is strolling through the night with no purpose. He seems lost, looking for something to guide him or give him a purpose in his dreary life. but the poem isn't so simple. Rather, the night is a metaphor for sadness or confusion. The speaker has "looked down the saddest city lane....and dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain" (Frost 976). The speaker experienced great turmoil, and doesn't know what his next steps should be in order to escape his current life. Darkness surrounds him, which makes it difficult to find a clear path to take. As long as the darkness persists, nothing can show him the way to happiness. His only source for answers are himself and vague symbols in the night, like the moon. With such little help, the speaker is bound to be trapped in this depression, waiting for the day to come. The light may never shine on him, if someone doesn't come to his aid.

Just because she's a woman and doing laundry doesn't mean anything...

Sorting Laundry

Elisavietta Ritchie

Laundry is a routine task, and frankly mundane at that. However, the speaker takes joy in doing the laundry because she gets to spend time with her husband's clothes (just bear with me). Folding his clothes she gets to soak in all the memories she has seeing him in those clothes. It's as if their clothes are them, living their lives together. It's a surprisingly sweet thought, but such a sweet thought eventually causes the speaker to wonder what would happen if her joy ever ended. When the speaker says "If you were to leave me, if I were to fold only my own clothes" (Ritchie 842), it shows a moment of terror within her. She's so scared because, as things are now, their love could never be broken, but she's sane enough to know that sometimes things don't work out. Society's thinking that people make the wrong decision 50% of the time when dealing with marriage has gotten into her head, and frightened. The fright somewhat displays how strong their love truly is. Such fright would only come from a separation after so many years of such true love.

These kids doing the strangest things to catch a buzz

I taste a liquor never brewed
Emily Dickinson

The speaker sure does love nature, and cleverly uses the metaphor of alcohol to associate her desire with. The speaker takes in all she sees in nature much like she would taste a fine wine. Some parts she relishes and savors, enjoying the moment and her surroundings. But some parts of nature are so miraculous to her that she over-indulges, much like one may consume a tad too much alcohol. When the speaker makes the allusion that "Butterflies-renounce their 'drams'" (Dickinson 797), it means that some parts of nature, particularly the autumn aspect, are coming to an end. Normally that would cause sadness in those who fear winter, but she is excited for all of nature and keeps taking it all in. But why is the speaker so enthralled by nature? She seems to be a very sheltered person, perhaps secluded away from the bulk of society. this would explain a distaste for traditional liquor and preference towards the hidden pleasures of life. An obsession with nature could make sense if someone was out in the country for the majority of their life.

The Titantic was overrated anyway

The Convergence of the Twain
Thomas Hardy

The structure of the poem creates an air of irony around the Titanic. Though it was created with beauty, extravagance, and invincibility in mind, every stanza ends with the imagery of the current resting place of the ship. The ship sailed as a fantastic vessel, but couldn't avoid a doomed fate and now resides at the bottom of the sea. Not only did the ship meet a grim fate, but now it is no longer idolized, for it is inhabited by sea creatures and decay that show no appreciation for what the Titanic once was. A glimpse of symbolism comes from the terms twin and two. "On being anon twin halves of one august event" and "jars two hemispheres" (Hardy 779) allude to the rise and fall of the Titanic, as well as the connection between the two sides of the world. The ship was meant to be a link between lavish Europe and unexplored America, but its wreckage became a model of arrogance. It showed the two hemispheres that problems can occur, and it is important to slow themselves down as to not cause another disaster. The twin halves of the ship would forever serve as an example  to the world of what can come from those who become over confident with their work.