Great Regulars: But somewhere in the reader's memory

is the same sight, having observed a bird’s rapid eye movement, but here the poet’s dramatic portrayal gives the reader back that memory.

It is absolutely correct, a perfectly accurate observation, that those little black eyes "looked like frightened Beads." And then the bird’s head began to move: "He stirred his Velvet Head."

from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: 'A Bird came down the Walk'

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"Beware the Jabberwock , my son!" From that command alone, the reader understands that the Jabberwock is a dangerous thing, but the next line underscores that understanding quite in sensible English, "The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!" And then "He took his vorpal sword in hand" shows that the lack of an adjective does no damage to understanding the importance of the action.

from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Lewis Carroll’s 'Jabberwocky'

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Finally, the speaker tells the visitor to do as he pleases, and if his pleasure results in fatality, "And your grave will be this glass of wine, / Your epitaph--a tear;/Go, take your seat in Charon’s boat;/We ’ll tell the hive, you died afloat."

Such fun poems reveal that [Philip Freneau,] the "Father of American Poetry," who was also the "Poet of the Revolution," enjoyed his musing more than fussing over politics.

from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Philip Freneau

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About "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," Garrison Keillor, who habitually bemoans the fact that poetry is not always a barrel of laughs, has asserted, "a small, dark mopefest of a poem in which old Pru worries about whether to eat a peach or roll up his trousers? This poem pretty much killed off the pleasure of poetry for millions of people who got dragged through it in high school."

Keillor and his ilk, for whom old Pru killed off poetry, need simply to reread the poem with the attitude that the poem is not serious; it is making fun of certain modernist angst-ridden stances that were making poetry and the arts unintelligible and worthless.

from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Prufrock’s Love Song

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Much of McKuen's "poetry" is seriously flawed, but some of his poetry is actually better than some well-respected "poetasters" such as Robert Bly and Jorie Graham. Still, McKuen brought undo criticism on himself by calling himself a poet.

from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Rod McKuen

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If one is not a pleasing individual with worthwhile qualities, then it is fitting that such a one should not marry and father children, but he asks the young man to realize that the young man is exceptional, he is gifted by nature bounteously, and he should "cherish" that bounty, not let it slip away without passing on those pleasing qualities.

from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Shakespeare Sonnet 11

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Those revolutionary heroes struggled to reach their worthy goals and did not try to shirk their duty. They could not be "bribed" to settle for less than victory; they did not sell out but struggled on valiantly for a peace with honor. Unlike his contemporaries, who seek the easy way out, who do not struggle against such evils as the war with Mexico and slavery.

from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: The Vain Peaceful Noise

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