Love Poem John Frederick Nims and "Love Poem" John Frederick Nims was a poet who was both prolific (he published eight books of poetry (Famous Poets)) and well-regarded (earned such awards as the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature (Famous Poets)). The amount of poetry and the awards one receives are not marks of greatness alone, but the quality of the poetry is. Of course, one might assume that

Knew a Woman by Theodore Roethke: Theodore Roethke was, above all, a great American poet -- planted solidly in the tradition of Emerson, Thoreau, and Whitman. Indeed, much like Thoreau, Roethke seemed to have an ability, perhaps gleaned from his intense love of nature, that allowed his poetry to communicate in a way that few poets ever imagine. Born in Saginaw, Michigan, in 1908, as a child, Roethke was prone to

The child is born, grows up, and breaks off from the mother and eventually the mother ages: "I wither and you break from me," says Wright. Unlike the metaphor of John, where the branch dies and becomes kindling, Wright's independent child continues to "dance in living light," and the child becomes a fertile "fruit" itself, rather than something dead like kindling. The child's autonomy is presented as something positive,

Persimmons," a Light in the Darkness "Persimmons" is a free verse poem written by Li-Young Lee that explores how persimmons as a symbol, both figurative and as a word, have impacted an unnamed narrator in the poem. The poem is told from a first person perspective and relies heavily on the memories invoked by the fruit. The poem does not follow a linear storyline, but rather jumps around as the

Despite the narrator's desperate pleas, the raven says nothing else than "nevermore." Moreover, the narrator now finds himself unable to get rid of the bird and states, "And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting/on the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;/and his eyes have all the seeming of a demons' that is dreaming,/and the lamp-light o'er him streaming throws his shadow on

For the narrator, this disappointment is even worse than bad grades, because there is no hope of ever changing her status. While she can't see the light at the end of the academic tunnel, we as the readers know that this situation could change. No, things do not come easy for the author, but it's probably doubtful that she has sought real help for her academic woes. Her parents