3 POEMS

Prayer for a Snowy Day
By Bruce Synder

Prayer for a Snowy Day written by Bruce Synder portrays snow as a man. He writes that snow can be ordinary and hard/stone like men but sometimes warm and welcoming. This poem is more like telling the audience of how praying for a snow is like praying for a man.  He wrote 12 stanzas and in each stanza contains three lines. The poem is not organized and is aligned crookedly which catches the reader's attention and makes the reading more enjoyable. The punctuations do not properly end at the last line of each stanza. The punctuation ends at the beginning of some of the stanzas. There is no rhyme in the poem. He uses a lot of similes "like" within the poem. He also uses a metaphor within the poem. For example, he says the heart a charcoal...a heart is not a charcoal. He uses this to show that the heart is black and hard...no feeling like a charcoal.

Aunt Jennifer's Tiger
By Adrienne Rich

Aunt Jennifer's Tigers is a poem of women not being afraid of men. "Tiger" represents strong, fierce, and aggressive. The poem even talks about her grabbing onto her husband's ring which shows that she is the leader of the family and has grasp of her husband. The poem has three stanzas and four lines. There is a rhyme within the poem (aabb...). She also uses symbol within the poem. The "ring" symbolizes more than just a ring but has a deeper meaning. She also uses a lot of adjectives when describing a certain object making the reader imagine the feeling.

Burlap Sack
By Jane Hirshfield

Burlap Sack is a poem that portrays the burlap sack as human life and the sorrows in life. A burlap sack is heavy with sand and/or stones. It is heavier when it is in the rain. Life is also like this. She represents stones/sands as the self (people). "Self carries grief..." Jane says that people carry grief with them in life. Like people handing burlap sacks to others. She says in her poem that we are not workers, builders, or anything other. She also uses "mule" and portrays this as ropes, nails, and axes. This means that in life there is no easy way out work yourself, no one will help you. The poem has a deep meaning. The poem has only one stanza and twelve lines. She uses metaphor in the first and second line. She does not use any "like" or "as". She portrays a person as a burlap sack. There is also a quote within the poem. The poem is written in more like a story and ends with a question for readers to think. There is no rhyme within the poem. The poem really gives the reader the time to think about their life.