Poems of Excellence

Title The title of the poem I have selected is The Condition.  Based strictly of off looking at the title I can predict the poem is about limitations or terms set on somebody or something. Usually when someone says there are conditions they mean terms or something that happens or some type of rule you have to follow. The Condition makes me think of the rule or the stipulation of a action. We will understand more in detail as we read.  Paraphrase Line 1: "The darkness within me is growing". This line is saying that something on the inside of the narrator is becoming bigger. It is something bad, as the narrator says "The darkness". This could mean bad emotions or bad thoughts build on the inside of the narrator. Line 2: "I am turned out". The narrator is experiencing out of body experiences. "turned out" meaning not in the right mind or not the same as usual. The darkness on the inside is changing the narrator. Line 3: "Thought feeds

Title Based on the title I believe the poem will be about Marvin's feelings towards his dad after his death. "An Afterword To My Father" makes me believe that he is talking to his dad or telling a story about his dad after he has passed. Maybe even it's what he would want his last words to be to his father; We will see as we read. Paraphrase Line 1: "Still the wood I knocked on". Marvin is saying, after your death I still tried to call out to you. Sounds like he is still longing for something that is not there. Line 2: "is the family tree. I'm not a god,". He is knocking on the family tree but he is not God. He has to be the man of the house without his father there but he has not the powers of God because he is just man. line 3: "I haven't the face for it". He doesn't have the appearance to be God. He says that he can not be what he needs to because he is not ready or he feels he doesn't have the appearance of the

To an Adolescent Weeping Willow Marvin Bell ,  1937 I don’t know what you think you’re doing, sweeping the ground. You do it so easily, backhanded, forehanded. You hardly bend. Really, you sway. What can it mean when a thing is so easy? I threw dirt on my father’s floor. Not dirt, but a chopped green dirt which picked up dirt. I pushed the push broom. I oiled the wooden floor of the store. He bent over and lifted the coal into the coal stove. With the back of the shovel he came down on the rat just topping the bin and into the fire. What do you think?—Did he sway? Did he kiss a rock for luck? Did he soak up water and climb into light and turn and turn? Did he weep and weep in the yard? Yes, I think he did. Yes, now I think he did. So, Willow, you come sweep my floor. I have no store. I have a yard. A big yard. I have a song to weep. I have a cry. You who rose up from the dirt, because I put you there and like to walk my head in under your earliest feathery

To Dorthy Marvin Bell ,  1937 You are not beautiful, exactly. You are beautiful, inexactly. You let a weed grow by the mulberry and a mulberry grow by the house. So close, in the personal quiet of a windy night, it brushes the wall and sweeps away the day till we sleep. A child said it, and it seemed true: “Things that are lost are all equal.” But it isn’t true. If I lost you, the air wouldn’t move, nor the tree grow. Someone would pull the weed, my flower. The quiet wouldn’t be yours. If I lost you, I’d have to ask the grass to let me sleep. Title The title of the poem is To Dorthy. Based on the title I can infer that he, Marvin Bell is writing to a young lady, maybe his lover named Dorthy. From this I can predict that the poem will be about maybe an ex lover or about someone he is currently in love with. Paraphrase Line 1: "You are not beautiful.exactly". I think Marvin is trying to say that 'Dorthy' is different from the normal stereotype of

Welcome Back To The Blog!!!! ☎⌛⌚ Marvin Hartley Bell is an American poet and teacher who was the first Poet Laureate,honored person, of the state of Iowa. Marvin bell was born August 3, 1937 in New York City but was raised in Center Moriches, Long Island. As a young boy Marvin, played soccer,baseball, and basketball. He was also a ham (amateur) radio operator and played in a trumpet in a jazz group. Some of his earliest work started while he was in high school. He wrote about school events for the local weekly newspaper. After high school, Bell attended Alfred University in Upstate New York. There he worked for the yearbook, local newspaper, and became interested in ceramics and photography. After graduation from Alfred, Bell enrolled in the graduate journalism school at Syracuse University, where he met Mary Mammosser, who became his first wife. They would divorce a few years later. He married his second wife, Dorothy Murphy in 1961 and they had two children, Nathan and Jason. He ea

Hello, My name is De'Carlos Smith. I am a student at Martha Ellen Stilwell School of The Arts. The pictures you see above are of the well renowned poet, Marvin Bell. I chose Marvin as my poet because of his diversity of poems and how different he is as a poet. I did not want to go for typical poets with typical poems. My decision was outside the box, like his poems are. I hope you enjoy your time on this blog. Thank you for tuning in and Welcome to the Blog!!!!!