Poems #5

Perfection Wasted by John Updike
From the title I thought the poem was going to be about how unappreciative or true beauty and worth most humans are. Through the poem, Updike says that when someone dies we lose their "own brand of magic" and that no one will ever be able to produce it the same again. The majority of the poem is a description of this "magic." Indirectly the poem compares those who know a person through their life with an audience watching a magic show. I gathered this from "those loved ones nearest the lip of the stage, their soft faces blanched in the footlight glow" and "their response and your performance twinned." He speaks of developing and marketing one's magic near the beginning of the poem. Memories are also referred to as something that can be stored in a "rapid-access file." He refers to everything about a person as "The whole act." Updike wants his readers to feel sorrow that in one death all those things are gone. He himself feels amazed at everything that one life holds. The title speaks of what a shame it is that so much is lost when one dies and what a shame it is that we may not have even realized what all that person possessed until they passed. The theme of the poem is that everyone is unique in their own way and that makes everyone of us perfect in some way.
This seemed like the easiest poem I have, as of yet, analyzed. I really like the metaphor between the life and the magic show. The opening line, "And another regrettable thing about death," shows that Updike feels sorrow for many reasons at someone's death. It's cool how the line gives the feel that he is starting the poem in mid-conversation. I also really enjoy the last line as well. "Imitators and descendants aren't the same." It says that no one, not even your own seed will ever be you. You are the only you.

I Hear America Singing by Walt Whitman
Just reading the title, I believed the poem to be about the different voices America has. Through the poem Whitman lists different professions and says how that as the workers go about their job they each sing "what belongs to him." America is personified throughout the poem as it "sings." It represents its hardworking citizens that labor day after day. As Whitman goes through the different professions he states how they are singing what belongs with them and fits their job. This represents how each of us have a work to do and a lot to bear. It shows how all Americans are unique individuals that have unique joys and sorrows. The reader feels respect for the men and women the poet writes about. Whitman feels pride in what America is. The shift comes in line ten where it stops speaking of how each is singing their own song and says that at night there is "strong melodious songs." The title is saying how Whitman and others see each playing their role in America. The theme of the play is that if we all do our part and "sing our song" America's song won't falter.
I found this poem easier to write about than several of the previous ones. It seemed very encouraging and inspirational to me. The professions he used as examples represented everyday people well. I can tell it was written in the nineteenth century because masons, shoemakers, and wood cutter's are very rare now, at least by those names. I had a strong sense of patriotism after reading it. It aroused that within me without mentioning soldiers or flags, showing that everyone has an important role to play in this great country. Singing is usually associated with happiness and liveliness so one can infer that the Americans are happy with their lives and jobs.