Task 1

"Since there's no help" by Michael Drayton

When initially reading this poem, I found that the speaker's tone is romantic and intimate. What interested me most about the poem was that the speaker is addressing an inanimate object, love, as if it's a breathing and moving thing. I wasn't exactly sure, right off the bat, what the meaning should be gained out of reading this poem. When reading this poem the second time around, I read the poem much slower and paid attention to each detail so I could fully analyze it.

Some of the questions that were difficult for me to answer are questions involving "shift in the poem," relationships of that multiple lines could share, and actual literary poetry terms like couplet. Although, I didn't have a problem with answering questions dealing with rhythm and vocabulary.

"Mirror" by Sylvia Plath

Immediately, I noticed Plath's use of periods at the end of her sentences because this is uncommon within the poems I have read before. I also took notice to the general attitude of the poem, which seemed to be confident, sure but also free flowing. Plath uses many metaphors. I didn't know who "she" was first. When I read "Mirror" the second time around, I paid closer attention to the words and syntax Plath used, and I felt a lot more admiration for the poem and saw it as pure art. The language she uses to compare herself to unlike things is beautiful. 

I didn't have trouble answering questions related to this poem dealing with perspective, the words as a whole, and what specific lines may suggest. I had trouble understanding poetry terms, for instance I don't know what an antecedent is and what the speaker may be implying throughout the poem. 

Othello by Shakespeare

Usually, I don't enjoy reading plays simply because I am unfamiliar with them and I don't know how about it, especially if the play is revolved around something that doesn't interest me. Considering the fact that this play was written an extremely long time ago, it was hard for me to understand the language Shakespeare used. Once again, I don't know who the speaker is addressing when he says "she." Overall, I couldn't really conceptualize what was going on in the poem due to the fact that I was unfamiliar with the vocab.