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In the desert
I saw a creature, naked, bestial,
Who squatting upon the ground,
Held his heart in his hands,
And ate of it.
I said: "is it good, friend?"
"It is bitter-bitter," he answered;
"But I like it
Because it is bitter,
And because it is my heart."
The author Stephen Crane uses a lot of descriptive words to start the poem that helps create the scene of his poem. I noticed he used a comma after good, before he says friend, almost as if he is hesitating to say it. He uses friend perhaps because he is frightened of the creature and wants to approach the being in a way that is non-threatening. The last few lines, where the creature responds to the man is talking about how the evil inside him or the bitterness, he enjoys. He likes the bad parts of himself because they are what makes him, him.

P.S. I commented on Shelby's blog :)

Cottonmouth Country

"Fish bones walked the waves off Hatteras. And there were other signs That Death wooed us, by water, wooed us By land: among the pines An uncurled cottonmouth that rolled on moss Reared in the polluted air." I found that Hatteras is an island off of the coast of North Carolina and as a part of nature dead fish will sometimes wash up on beaches which would explain the first line about fish bones. I did research on the author Louise Gluck and found that she often has poems about dark subjects such as death. The line about death wooing "us" is perhaps referring to that the ocean's tide can be dangerous and the uncurled cottonmouth is also a sign of death because a cottonmouth is a venomous snake often found in the southeastern swamps of the United States. They are also called water moccasins. I thought the line in which it mentions polluted air could be another sign of Death.
The next part though, "Birth, not death, is the hard loss. I know. I also left a skin there." Might refer to losing something dear to you, that you once had as a child, like innocence or ignorance. I thought it could also refer to losing a child or when a child grows up and starts there own life. I'm not really sure what that line means. The part about leaving a skin there I believe is referring to the snake again since snake's will shed away a layer of skin periodically so she is saying she left a skin of her own there but not literally.

Personal Helicon

After some research, I found that Helicon is a mountain situated in Boetotia, Greece, celebrated in Greek mythology because of the two springs that were located there. The springs were said to be the source of poetic inspiration so this lead me to believe that Heaney's poem was about finding inspiration within himself. The well symbolized his sould and looking into was like looking deep within himself.
Mount Helicon was also savored by Apollo and the muses, some of the things I read mentioned Narcissus, the Greek figure obsessed with his reflection which could parallel Heaney's reccuring theme of a coming of age which is supposedly something found in many of Heaney's poem.
The change near the end of the poem, represents the coming of age from childhood to adulthood, the well is like a memory of his childhood.

Praise In Summer

This poem reminded me of a sonnet, especially with the ABAB rhyme scheme. In a few things I read about the author, Richard Wilbur, it said his work was characterized as a formal and refined beauty which I agree with since this poem Praise In Summer is beautiful and flows well.
"Obscurely yet most surely called to praise, As sometimes summer calls us all, I said The hills are heavens full of branching ways". I found this poem to be very difficult to determine the meaning. I thought perhaps these first few lines is talking about that feeling you get when it's just a beautiful day and you want to go outside and enjoy it, it's like your called to go outside. The hills could be the different paths you can take on your journey outdoors.
"Where star-nosed moles fly overhead the dead; I said the trees are mines in air. I said See how the sparrow burrows in the sky!" I figured the mole part was literal, since they are burrowing animals they can literally move over the dead if they are burried in the ground. I did some research on star-nosed moles though and found they lived in marshes and wetlands, so the part that they fly overhead the dead was confusing because usually corpses are not burriend in wet ground. Such as in New Orleans, all graves are above ground because they don't want the graves to get swamped. The tree part could mean that the trees hold a lot of value such as a literal mine with precious stones inside does. The tree is of value to the sparrow so that is may rest in the tree, which is like burrowing in the sky.
"And then I wondered why this mad instead Perverts our praise to uncreations, why Such savor's in this wrenching things Awry. Does sense so stale that it must needs derange The world to know it? To a praiseful eyes Should it not be enough of fresh and strange That trees grow green, and moles can course in clay, And sparrows sweep the ceiling of our day?" I am really unsure as to what he means by this and why he italicized instead.