This document contains several poems written by different authors along with short analyses and explanations of how the poems relate to the creator's life experiences. The creator dedicates their project to their mother who raised them as a single parent and says they created the project to reflect on life lessons learned. The poems discuss themes of faith, nature, philosophy and family relationships.

1. By Jason Martin

2. I am dedicating this project to my
Mother who has worked hard as a
single parent to raise me. I created this
project as a way of looking back on my
life and seeing the lessons I’ve learned.

3. by Emily Brontë
Tell me, tell me, smiling child,
What the past is like to thee ?
'An Autumn evening soft and mild
With a wind that sighs mournfully.’
Tell me, what is the present hour ?
'A green and flowery spray
Where a young bird sits gathering its power
To mount and fly away.’
And what is the future, happy one ?
'A sea beneath a cloudless sun ;
A mighty, glorious, dazzling sea
Stretching into infinity.’

4. Past, present, future is a classic poem written by Emily Bronte. The poem is a
three stanza poem with an ABAB rhyming scheme. The poem has a
philosophical feel to it by the way it makes one consider the three different
aspects of their life. The poem’s speaker is talking to a small child asking him
about his past, present, and future. In the first line of the poem the speaker
refers to the child as smiling child which sets the image of someone talking to a
happy child. When the speaker asks the child of his past, he first response with
“'An Autumn evening soft and mild” which gives the reader a sense that the
child has had a peaceful life so far, but the child also adds the phrase “With a
wind that sighs mournfully” which also give the reader a sense that within the
child’s peaceful past he has also suffered through hard times. In the second
stanza of this poem the speakers asks the child about his life in the present day,
the child answers by telling of a young bird that is about to fly away. This
answer seems to represent a child who has grown up and is about to leave
home and begin his own life. In the last stanza the speaker asks the child about
his future and the child response with “a sea beneath a cloudless sun, a mighty,
glorious, dazzling sea, stretching into infinity” this answer seems to give the
idea that the child see a bright future ahead of him with many possibilities.

5. I chose this poem because I felt that I could relate to the life described by the
child in this poem. While growing up I went through many hard times with
my family but I had just as many peaceful times in my life as well. As for my
present day life I really do feel like the young bird about to fly away since this
is my graduating year and soon I’ll be going off to college, and even though I
don’t know what the future has in store for me I know that there are many
possibilities waiting for me.

6. by Emily Brontë
No coward soul is mine,
No trembler in the world's storm-troubled sphere:
I see Heaven's glories shine,
And faith shines equal, arming me from fear.
O God within my breast,
Almighty, ever-present Deity!
Life - that in me has rest,
As I - undying Life - have power in thee!
Vain are the thousand creeds
That move men's hearts: unutterably vain;
Worthless as withered weeds,
Or idlest froth amid the boundless main,
To waken doubt in one
Holding so fast by thine infinity;
So surely anchored on
The steadfast rock of immortality.

7. With wide-embracing love
Thy spirit animates eternal years,
Pervades and broods above,
Changes, sustains, dissolves, creates, and rears.
Though earth and man were gone,
And suns and universes ceased to be,
And thou were left alone,
Every existence would exist in thee.
There is not room for Death,
Nor atom that his might could render void:
Thou - thou art Being and Breath,
And what thou art may never be destroyed.

8. Last lines is a poem written by Emily Bronte. The poem is comprised of seven
stanzas with four lines in each of the stanzas. The poem has an ABAB rhyming
scheme. The speaker of this poem talks about their faith in god and the
strength that they receive from him. In the first stanza of the poem the speaker
states that their faith shines equal to that of heaven’s glory, arming them from
fear. This statement gives the reader a sense of great faith, but also great
strength as well. The speaker explains that their strength comes from God who
is the strongest of all by comparing God to strong imagery in the poem such as
a rock. The overall theme of the poem seems to be reflective on how important
faith can be to someone.

9. To Mercy Pity Peace and Love,
All pray in their distress:
And to these virtues of delight
Return their thankfulness.
For Mercy Pity Peace and Love,
Is God our father dear:
And Mercy Pity Peace and Love,
Is Man his child and care.
For Mercy has a human heart
Pity, a human face:
And Love, the human form divine,
And Peace, the human dress.
Then every man of every clime,
That prays in his distress,
Prays to the human form divine
Love Mercy Pity Peace.
And all must love the human form,
In heathen, turk or jew.
Where Mercy, Love & Pity dwell,
There God is dwelling too.

10. The Divine Image was written by William Blake in 1794. The Divine Image is a
five stanza poem with four lines in each stanza. The poem has lines two and
four rhyming in each stanza giving the poem and ABCB rhyme scheme. The
speaker tells that mercy, pity, peace, and love represent “God our father dear”
and that mercy, pity, peace, and love also represents “Man His child and care”.
The speaker uses human features such as the heart, face, human form divine
and human dress to show how mercy, pity, peace, and love can represent
mankind. The speaker of this poem tells that every man prays to the human
form divine no matter who they are, where they are from, or what religion they
believe in, they respect Mercy, pity, peace, and love, which means they respect
God to.

11. By William Blake
Tyger ! Tyger ! Burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry ?
In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes ?
On what wings dare he aspire ?
What the hand dare sieze the fire ?
And what shoulder, & what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart ?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet ?
What the hammer, what the chain ?
In what furnace was thy brain ?
What the anvil, what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp ?

12. When the stars threw down their spears,
And water'd heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see ?
De he who made the Lamb make thee ?
Tyger ! Tyger ! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry ?

13. Tyger was published in 1974 by William Blake. The poem has six, four line
stanzas with rhyming couplets. The overall tone of the poem seems a little dark
since the Speaker uses such harsh metaphors to describe a tiger. The Speaker of
this poem is speaking to a tiger, asking it what Spiritual being created it. The
Speaker uses fearsome imagery when asking his questions that give the reader
an image of a terrifying monster created in a dark scary place, examples of this
imagery would be “Burnt the fire of thine eyes” and “what the anvil, what
dread grasp did its deadly terrors clasp”. The poem seems to emphasize on the
tiger being a powerful and fearsome beast but it also can represent how
powerful God must be in order to create such a mighty animal. This is another
poem with a philosophical feel based on the questions asked about who could
have possibly created the powerful tiger.

14. Little Fly,
Thy summer's play Then am I
My thoughtless hand A happy fly,
Has brush'd away. If I live
Or if I die.
Am not I
A fly like thee?
Or art not thou
A man like me?
For I dance,
And drink, & sing;
Till some blind hand
Shall brush my wing.
If thought is life
And strength & breath,
And the want
Of thought is death;

15. The Fly is a 1794 poem written by William Blake. The poem contains five
stanzas with four lines in each of the stanzas. The poem has line two and four
rhyming giving it an ABCB rhyming scheme. Like many of William Blake’s
poems, The Fly uses a simple every day situation and examines it for a big
meaning which gives it that philosophical theme. The speaker in the poem
starts off by brushing off a fly without giving it much thought at first but then
he start to think of how he can relate to the fly. The speaker tells how we as
humans go about our everyday lives dancing, drinking, and singing until
someone’s hand may brush us away. So in the end are we more important
than a fly? The title of this poem holds a lot of importance, based on the
question the poem asks, are we more important than a fly the most
insignificant insect of them all.

16. Under this blue sky,
A small storm rages,
But only over I,
So I must stay calm for all the ages.
No matter the pain,
No matter the ache,
There’s much to be gained,
From all this heartache.

17. Under this blue sky was written based on a hard work ethic that I
learned from my mother. I included this poem to show that by
watching my mother I have learned to work hard and never give up.
The first part of the poem talks about hard times in someone’s life by
referring to it as a raging storm, but even when things get rough and
no matter how hard the situation may be you have to stay strong and
have faith that everything will work out in the end. This is a work
ethic that I value and will continue to follow for the rest of my life.

18. I am one only,
The only child,
I was the first,
And the last.
I am one only,
But never lonely,
For I know I have a family,
That loves the one and only.

19. I was born and raised an only child, and even though there were
times I though having a sibling would have been nice it never
really bothered me that I was an only child. I included this poem
because I wanted to show that even if you are an only child
having a family that is always there for you and that supports
you, makes being an only child not that bad. Sometime being an
only child was hard growing up because you don’t have that
brother or sister to talk to but I was lucky enough to find a friend
that has become close enough to call family. In the end even
without a brother or sister I know that I will always have family
that I can count on.

20. To think of my life so far,
How far have I come,
I’ve traveled a long road,
In such a short time.
Looking back at my past,
I’ve had good times and bad,
Many were happy and sad,
But all in all it’s been a blast.

21. My life so far was written to represent my past. Just as many people do
I’ve gone through hard times in my life while growing up, and even
though I’ve gone through many hard times I’ve learned a lot from
them, which has made me stronger and helped prepare me for my
future. I would never want to relive any of the hard times I went
through, but I can honestly say that I don’t regret going through any of
it because in the end everything always seemed to work out for the
better.

22. Calm and quite at the present,
Time passing at a crawl,
That's how life feels in this minute,
Getting ready for the future brawl.
I’ll rest in joy for now,
Till tomorrow comes,
I don’t know what will be,
So I’ll take it as it comes.

23. Present Day is a short poem that shows how I view my life right now.
It feels like a large part of my life is over now that I’ll be graduating
soon, while if feels like just yesterday I was starting school. In the past
life has felt a little crazy trying to get ready for the future and looking
forward things can seem a little scary, but in this moment that I’m
living right now it feels like things are calm and that I can handle
whatever might come next.

24. Looking forward to my life ahead,
The road looks long and hard,
But I’ll be ready no matter what,
For my life thus far has made me ready.
So many paths to take,
So many possibilities,
My life thus far has made me ready,
For whatever lays ahead.

25. What Lays Ahead is simply a poem about what my future may hold for
me. I don’t know exactly what might happen in my life next, but I believe
that my past experiences have made me ready to handle anything that
might come next in my life. I know things are not going to be easy, in fact
I know things are going to be very hard, but I believe things will always
work out as long as I have faith and never give up, and most importantly
I know that I have family and friends that will be there to help me and
support me when I need it most.

26. •The Fly:
http://www.poetsgraves.co.uk/Classic%20Poems/Blake/The%20Fly.htm
•The Tyger:
http://www.poetsgraves.co.uk/Classic%20Poems/Blake/The%20Tyger.htm
•Last Lines:
http://www.poetsgraves.co.uk/Classic%20Poems/Bronte/last_lines.htm
•The Divine Image:
http://www.sparknotes.com/poetry/blake/section3.rhtml
•Past, Present, Future:
http://www.poetsgraves.co.uk/Classic%20Poems/Bronte/Past%20Present%2
0Future.htm