Poem Essay

Everyone takes pictures these days, whether it's a "selfie", an "artsy" picture, a Polaroid, or a digital camera. People take these pictures a post them on Instagram, Facebook,Twitter, Snapchat. The poem "Photography" by Nikki Giovanni, has a theme which is that photography is a way to show that everything has beauty.

The poet writes "It is easy sitting in the sun to forget the cold exists...It is easy sitting in the sun to forget the ice and ravages of winter yet " The poet is using the cold, ice, and ravages of winter as a symbol for his or her problems. This shows how the speaker has all these problems, he or she needs to forget , and that he or she can find this beauty in sitting in the sun, not having to worry.

Another example is "watching the red sun bleed into the ocean, one thinks of the beauty fire can bring." This shows how the speaker is finding beauty in such a simple thing; a sunset. Earlier in the poem it says, 'The eye we are told is a camera." The speaker is capturing this moment of the sunset. The speaker is also showing how something so deadly as fire, can be beautiful.

The poet also says “If the eye is a camera and the film is the heart, then the photo assistant is god.” When the speaker says this, he or she is saying that although the eye is what captures the moment, and the heart stores it, the photo assistant is the one who develops and prints out the photo. The photo assistant has all the power. The photo assistant has the power to print out the moments, choosing which will be captured forever.

After reading this, I realized that the poet is trying to show how powerful a photograph can be.

Bibliography

Giovanni, Nikki. “Photography.” Poetry Packet.

Writing Off Writing Prompts

Poem based on The Starry Night by Vincent Van Gough


The stars shine brightly in the night sky
like twinkling christmas tree lights.

The never-ending sky stretches on and on.

A black tree looms up on the air
growing taller each second.

The world is waking up.

Poem using/based on Photography by Nikki Giovanni

It is easy sitting in the sun to forget.
To forget all the pain and hurt that was come my way.

To forget the awful things that have sailed right out of their mouths
and crashed into me.

But then the sun is gone.
And it all comes racing back to me
like race cars flying into the finish line.

The eye we are told is a camera,
capturing every second of everyday.

Click.

Everything I see, becoming a part of me.

A part of me that will never leave.

It's up to me to decide whether it will make me,
Or break me.

The Selection By Kiera Cass

The Selection By Kiera Cass is told from the main character, America Singer's point of view.She is currently part of the selection, a competition for Prince Maxon too choose his wife. America is having a hard time because she is falling in love with Maxon but is still in love with her boyfriend(ex-boyfriend) Aspen from back home. America puts Maxon through so much, and as the book goes on we hear all of America's thoughts,struggles, and feelings but we never get to see Maxon's thoughts.
Maxon's perspective is missing from The Selection.

America's emotions are going crazy the whole book. She is in love with Aspen but it starting to fall in love with Maxon. She puts him through so much, and its clear Maxon loves America. In one scene America is telling Maxon how she can't love him, there is someone back at home but she needs to stay in the competition because her family needs the weekly pay. Maxon agrees to keep her there as long as he can.
                               Maxon leaned toward me. 'Is there any possibility of you having any sort of.......of loving feelings toward me?' 'You're very kind your Majesty, and attractive, and thoughtful. I'm...I'm afraid my heart is elsewhere.'.....'The thing is I don't want to go home. My family needs me to be here.' 'For the money?' 'Yes. Even a week here would be wonderful.' 'Don't worry my dear, I will keep you here as long as I can.'(Cass,129)

This shows how if we saw Maxon's perspective, it would be a different feel for the scene all together. From America telling it, it shows that she feels bad about not being able to love Maxon, and how she really is there for the money.  It shows how Maxon has feelings for America and there is a lot on his side of the story we don't know, just from this small scene.

Maxon has lots of scenes where it is unclear what he is thinking. You hear America worrying what he is thinking. Maxon has has lots of layers. There are so many sides to him. He is sweet Maxon who cares so much about America, his country, the other girls in the selection, There is war Maxon when he has to go away and make plans. There is Maxon with his father. He and his father have a strained relationship. We never get to really see Maxon through his own eyes, just Americas.

Kiera Cass developed a great character but you only get to see him from America's point of view, which is always so conflicted. You never really get to know the real Maxon. If Maxons point of view was shown they book would be so much better.