The Black Walnut Tree

    Upon analysing "the black walnut tree" written by Mary Oliver, I found it to be about a struggle between financial burden verses family heritage. It is a well written poem, and when you read between the lines you find a mother and a daughter trying to come to a decision about this tree, whether to keep it, and honor the father, or to rid the tree and their financial troubles.
     In lines one through five of the poem, the author illustrates the beginning of the debate. The mortgage would be paid off if they had a lumberjack bring down the tree. The tone is serious, you can tell by the way the author begins the first line so directly and matter of fact, "my mother and I debated"
     Lines six through twelve the author uses imagery to give the reader a clear picture of the tree, and more reasons to rid of the tree. Such as, it's roots growing into the cellar and it's heavy leaves. I feel she painted a dark picture of the tree.
     The following line is the turning point in the poem, also where we find the conflict. "something brighter that money" (line 13-line14) In my mind, when i read this line someone turned on the sun. The author goes on to talk about the father and blue fields and starts to incorporate color into the poem, lightening the mood. This is where their family heritage means more to them than money.
     For these reasons, the family is struggling in their decision to keep the tree. The tree must have meant something more to the father, and in turn means more to them, than ridding their financial burden. 

"we real cool" Gwendolyn Brooks

    "We Real Cool" is a poem given a bold tone by its author, Gwendolyn Brooks. The line by line cadence gives the reader the impression each should be read with integrity. Also, each like ending with "We" emphasizes this point, as well.
     I believe the author is referring to school drop outs, that are involved in gang activities. I came to this conclusion using the lines from the poem, "we left school" and "we sing sins" I feel the author was trying to get the point across gangs are a way to die young.
      In conclusion, I feel the tone used, the rhythm of the poem, and the directness the author used, made for a strongly written poem, with a straight forward message. If this was her intention, the author was successful, in my opinion.

Musee des Beaux arts

    W.H Auden wrote the poem "Musee des Beaux arts" in an abstract manner. I found it rather hard to follow. To be honest I read through it several times and
I am still not sure I have come to a conclusion about it's meaning. What I have come up with from some context clues is, it may be about points of view of suffering, and what it means to different age groups.

Women's work

    "Women's work" a poem by Julia Alvarez, is written from the point of view of a growing girl. In the beginning the author shows us a child stuck inside, helping her mother with chores while other children play. As the poem progresses, and the child matures, she finds she is just like her mother. You know this because at the end of the poem she states she became her mothers child.

On the Amtrack from Boston to New York City

     In the poem "On the Amtrack from Boston to New York City" the author, Shermen Alexie paints a visual picture for his audience of a women on an amtrack, speaking to an Indian. As the poem develops the author gives insight into the thoughts of the Indians mind, showing that he is irritated with the ignorance of the women. The women does not take into consideration that the land has history far beyond her people's history.
    

Introduce yourself

   My name is Brittany. I am from a small town a little north of Pittsburgh. I am an LPN, working on my RN. I currently work on a cardiac med-surg floor. I am also a mother of one.
    Things I may find challenging in this class include, I can be wordy at times, my spelling is not always the greatest, and collecting all my thoughts into organized writing in a timely manner. This class will help me achieve my goal of completing my RN, as it is my second to last prerequisite.

activities one and two

   I was recently listening to "fix you" by Coldplay. I really enjoy the tone of his voice in this song. The lyrics are heartfelt and feel like that have a lot of passion behind them. It makes one wonder who the song was written for.
   Upon researching the song, I found it was one of the lowest-charting singles for this album. However still the most popular song for the album. I also found the song was written for Gwyneth Palthrow. Chris Martin wrote it for her when her father passed away.