Comments on the "Lighthouse" poem

Author’s Comments

“Lighthouse” is indeed an inspirational poem written in the form of an Acrostic with iambic pentameter verses. The speaker exhibits a tone of serious contentment well wrapped in an air of exuberance. This tone is reinforced by the speaker’s use of the lighthouse a universal image, as a metaphor to share insight into the audacity of hope. This is done through a careful balance of negative and positive symbols mixed with buoyancy seeping from the imagery.

Poetic wisdom dictates that tone is the attitudes of the speaker toward the subject and toward the audience, and as such, is manifested through inferences from the poem’s structure and in all the other elements of poetry such as: meter, diction, images, imagery, cadence, rhythm, rhyme, figurative language, literal meaning and symbolism. These elements are carefully extrapolated and the effects of these parts must be considered in relation to each other; bearing in mind that each verse line may set up a strong vibratory tone. However, in order to judge fairly the tone the speaker exhibits, the wisest thing to do is to consider the poem as a whole.

The "Olives" Poem

Read what the author has to say about this poem

The “Olives” poem is written in the form of an Acrostic with a Sexain stanza. The verses in the stanza measure five iambic feet respectively or what is normally called iambic pentameter verses. A notable feature of this poem is that out of the six verses the first four verses and the last verse have punctuations marks. The fifth verse has no punctuation mark; this absence has created an enjambment. In poetic craft, punctuation marks at the end of verses are called end-stops.

Punctuation marks work differently in poetry than in other forms of writing. In poetry, punctuation marks are used not so much for grammatical correctness but rather for effect. The poet selects the type of end-spot that corresponds to the length of pause desired. When a long pause is desired the full-stop is used. When a short pause is desired the comma is used and the semicolon is used for a pause that is longer than comma but not as long as a full-stop. In poetic craft, the full-stop, question mark, and the exclamation mark are placed under the category long pauses, whereas, the comma, semicolon, the ellipsis and the dash are placed under the category of short pauses. The poet is mindful that a punctuation mark, or the lack thereof, can change meaning and add depth to the poem; so that is why the choice of ending is considered with the uttermost care.

The most common forms of end-stops in poetry are the comma, semicolon, question mark, exclamation mark, the dash and the ellipsis. These end-stops are clear pointers of the poet’s involvement in the “stage management” of the poem as it were. The poet tells readers of the poem where to pause and when not to pause. End-stops in a poem slow down the pace in the reading of the poem, whereas the enjambment accelerates the pace.

The Love Poem

Author’s Comments:

The striking feature of this poem “Love” is that, it is written in the form of an Acrostic. At first glance, it looks like metered poetry but it is not. It is written in Open Form. Open Form allows the poet to stray away from the formal rules associated with metered poetry. In other words, the poet is free to juggle with the rules of metered poetry in whatever shape or fashion that pleases. From share necessity, poets experiment with many variants and irregularities whether in stanza allocation, verse length, punctuation, placement on the page or rhyme scheme. Open Form poets do this very well because they have a firm understanding of the rules that govern traditional forms of poetry. Open Form poetry came on the scene in America during the 19th century. To hear or read the poem click on the link