Poetry Project

Original Poem: Three Roads

Three roads

A hard decision to make

To take a risk

Or be safe

To walk down a road with green

Or brown with just a hint

To take a risk

Or be safe

A road that’s brown with just a hint

You never know

That might just be

The safest road to go

Reflection: Before writing this, I was looking at the painting Wheatfield with Crows by Vincent Van Gogh and was having trouble with how to write my first stanza. Then I took a second look and noticed the third road was mostly brown and barren but there was just a hint of green that was barely noticeable and that second look helped me figure out how I wanted to write this poem. The literary devices I used were allusion and enjambment line break.

Original Poem: No Regard

A creative heart

Obsessed with satisfying

A society that shows

No regard as a person

As a painter

The Starry Night and a Wheatfield with Crows

Now recognized

But while alive

Disregarded as

Trash.

Reflection: I used the first two lines and the same main idea as Starry Night by Tupac Shakur. Using the first two lines and knowing what I wanted my story to be about helped me write the poem because I had a beginning, which I find the hardest part of a poem to write, and an idea of what I wanted my poem to be about. The literary devices I used include enjambment line break and allusion.

Sonnet: Death of My Friend

I screamed so much my voice just disappeared

The loss of my friend made me want to scream

Happiness left me all alone in fear

I wished and wished it was just a bad dream

My best friend just left me all by myself

No one understands my feeling called pain

All the death was more than I could have dealt

All by myself, I have nothing to gain

The burial was sad enough to cry

The wake was just as bad and made me sad

With all of my tears, crying left me dry

So many emotions that are just bad

My feelings were just those of my sorrow

Happiness I wish I could just borrow

Reflection: While writing this, I found it easier to write every other line and then fill in what I hadn’t. The literary devices I included were internal and end rhyme, end-stopped, and repetition.

Reading Response on Heart Poem

            Vincent Van Gogh is a favorite painter of many. But while alive, Van Gogh and his paintings were regarded as trash. I was introduced to the poem Starry Night by Tupac Shakur in my eighth grade English class during our poetry unit. This poem was my favorite out of the packet my classmates and I were given. The Starry Night by Tupac Shakur portrays the truth that Van Gogh was never accepted by society and was considered worthless during his lifetime.

            The Starry Night by Tupac Shakur has the theme that Van Gogh was underappreciated during his lifetime. In lines 7-10, Shakur says “and though u pour yourself into that fame and present it so proudly this world could not accept your masterpieces from the heart.” Shakur is saying that although Van Gogh poured his heart into his paintings and was so proud of them, society wouldn’t accept them or him. Shakur also says in lines 3-6, “you have given them the stars at night and u have given them Bountiful Bouquets of Sunflowers but 4 u there is only contempt.” Shakur is saying that Van Gogh painted The Starry Night and Sunflowers but instead of thanks and praise, the only thing Van Gogh received was scorn and the belief that he was worthless. This shows how Van Gogh was unaccepted by society and was considered worthless.

            The message of Starry Night by Tupac Shakur reminds me of my favorite episode, Vincent and the Doctor, from my favorite show, Doctor Who. An important part of the episode is to show how Van Gogh would be appreciated and get the praise he deserved after hearing Van Gogh call his paintings rubbish. It was to show Van Gogh that there was hope in staying alive and to keep painting despite what anyone said. Perhaps if Van Gogh was accepted by society, he wouldn’t have committed suicide.