Great Regulars: [Vince Gotera]: Tough question.

So many great poets! Even within only the last 100 years, my favorite poet changes from day to day. Today, it's Yusef Komunyakaa, my poetry teacher. He changed my life with one sentence: "Why don't you write about being Filipino?" Then there's Molly Peacock, a consummate artist in rime, meter, and "inherited" forms like the sonnet. Also Elizabeth Bishop, Sylvia Plath, Wilfred Owen, Carlos Bulosan, Lucille Clifton, Garrett Hongo, Denise Duhamel, Marilyn Hacker. All these poets work hard to say something crucial--something important for everyone--in the best possible way. I hope I do that as well.

from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Interview with Vince Gotera

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Emily Dickinson's speaker remains somewhat hazy about what that special light looks like, but she has made it abundantly clear how it makes her feel, and that aspect of the poem endears it to children. The experience of this light affects her so deeply that she cannot describe its physical appearance but only the strange influence it exerts upon her mind and heart.

from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Poems for Children

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He queries, isn't it enough that you torment me? must you also cause my Muse, who is "my sweet'st friend" to suffer?

The speaker is probably finding his musings invaded with thoughts of the mistress, and because of his intense infatuation with her, he feels his creations are suffering. The complaint resembles the one wherein he would chide his Muse for abandoning him, implying that he could not write without her, yet he continued to make poems about that very topic.

from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Shakespeare Sonnet 133

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In sonnet 134, the speaker again is addressing the dark lady, while lamenting her control over his other self. This time the "other self" is not the spiritual persona, not the Muse, but quite specifically he refers to his male member as "he." It is quite a common vulgar traditional part of coarse conversation, and both male and females engage it, often even giving names to their private parts.

from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Shakespeare Sonnet 134

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