English 112 Short Paper #1: The Power of Words in Poetry

English 112 Short Paper #1: The Power of Words in Poetry Due Date: Wednesday, April 2nd @ 5:30p “Poetry focuses… on connotative, emotional, or associative meanings and conveys meaning more through suggestion, indirection, and the use of metaphor, symbol, and imagery” (Making Literature Matter 143) “I know nothing in the world that has as much power as a word.

Explore the connotative & denotative meanings of the word. Remember that words contain both connotative and denotative meanings. The denotative definition of the word is the dictionary definition; it gives us a frame for understanding the word, but it does not convey a great deal of emotion behind that definition. Think of the definition for the word “beach”; “a pebbly or sandy shore, esp. by the ocean between high- and low-water marks”; is this what you think of when you hear the word “beach”? Very likely, your answer here is no; when you think of the word “beach”, you likely feel the word more than you hear it: you feel relaxation when you picture the water flowing over the sand, you hear waves crashing and perhaps children laughing, you feel a sense of calm when you imagine why you might be at that beach to begin with: perhaps you are on a vacation of some sort, which leads you to associate the word “beach” with certain circumstances. You might also feel sun baking your skin, sand between your toes, and sunglasses on your face. All of these mental images come together to create the connotative definitions for the word “beach”. Use this sort of emotional tone in your piece. What connotative associations will your reader likely have for the word you select?

In the middle of the night, when we get up
after making love, we look at each other
in total friendship, we know so fully
what the other has been doing. Bound to each other like
soldiers coming out of a battle,
bound with the tie of the birth-room, we
wander down the hall to the bathroom, I can
hardly walk, we weave through the dark
soft air, I know where you are
with my eyes closed, we are bound to each other with the
huge invisible threads of sex, though our
sexes themselves are muted, dark and
exhausted and delicately crushed, the whole
body is a sex—surely this
is the most blessed time of life,
the children deep asleep in their beds like a
vein of coal and a vein of gold
not discovered yet. I sit on the
toilet in the dark, you are somewhere in the room, I
open the window and the snow has fallen in a
deep drift against the pane, I
look up into it, a
world of cold crystals, silent and
glistening so I call out to you and you
come and hold my hand and I say
I cannot see beyond it! I cannot see beyond it!