part of speech: noun
Definition:Â A boy who leads the animal or animals drawing a plough, a boy who drives a plough; (hence more generally) a boy from a rural labouring class, a country boy.
source: Oxford dictionaries
Found in âI hear America Singingâ by Walt Whitman, line 11
This definition gives context to what Whitman considers âAmerica singingâ.
Blithe
Part of Speech: adjective
Definition:
1.Showing a casual and cheerful indifference considered to be callous or improper.
2. Happy or carefree.
Source: Oxford Dictionaries
Found in the line 2 of â I Hear America Singingâ by Walt Whitman
The word “blithe” have two meanings as an adjective based on Oxford Dictionaries. I believe it means “happy or carefree” on the poem, because when mechanics sing , they sing in a happy or carefree way. I do not see any improper or callous from the context.
Carol
Part of Speech: Noun
Definition: A religious folk song or popular hymn, particularly one associated with Christmas.
Source: Oxford Dictionaries
Found in the line 1 of â I Hear America Singingâ by Walt Whitman
This word “Carols” specifies the type of song that the speaker hear. They are not pop music, not country music. They are religious songs.
part of speech: noun
Definition: A powerful synthetic oestrogen used in hormone therapy, as a post-coital contraceptive, and as a growth-promoting agent for livestock.
source: Oxford dictionaries
Found in âThe Child Bearersâ by Anne Sexton, line 6
âmine pushed into gnawing a stilbestrol cancerâ
I first thought Stilbestrol was some sort of cancer as it was used as a descriptive in the line, but knowing it was a type of contraceptive gives this line a new albeit equally as grim context.
Anne Sexton is an American poet and playwright well known for her confessional poetries that deals with dark and personal themes. Erica Jong states âShe is an important poet not only because of her courage in dealing with previously forbidden subjects, but because she can make the language sing…”. Sexton began her writing career in 1955 with encouragement from her long-time therapist, Dr. Martin T. Orne, as her depression was worsening and Sexton had multiple suicide attempts. Sexton’s work would gain noteriety as she won multiple awards, most notably The Pulitzer Prize for her book “Live or Die” and an off-broadway production of her only play, Mercy Street. In 1975 Sexton committed suicide by Asphyxiation from carbon monoxide in her garage. Her daughter and literary executor, Linda Gray Sexton, will release her last works posthumous before working with Diane Middlebrook to write her biography, Searching for Mercy Street: My Journey Back to My Mother, Anne Sexton. The biography spurred controversy as it was revealed that Sexton had frequently abused her daughters as well as sexually assaulted Linda. It was also brought light that Dr.Orne has tapes of his sessions with Sexton and released them for the biography. Though an admittedly dark turn of event, Sexton’s work are still widely renown and her works have inspired countless confessional poets to explore their inner demons.
Citations:
Gill
Part of Speech: Noun
Definition: an organ ( as of a fish ) for obtaining oxygen from water
Source: Merriam Webster
Found in the 3rd line of â You’re ” by Sylvia Plath
I looked up this word because I wanted to know it’s context within the poem. I was swamped so I had to post it now.
Sylvia Plath was an American Poet and was seen as “one of the most dynamic and admired poets of the 20th century” (Poetry Foundation). She was a novelist and a poet who wrote confessional poetry. Her novel was called The Bell Jar. Shortly after her novel released she killed herself in 1963. Previously, around the 1950’s Plath did attempt suicide for the first time and failed at it. She was sent to a mental health facility in which she received treatment. Sylvia Plath was married to Ted Hughes and had two kids (Freida Hughes and Nicholas Hughes). Her husband ended up having an affair with another woman. According to Poetry Foundation, Plath had written a journal entry that was written on June 20th, 1958 that said: “It is as if my life were magically run by two electric current: joyous positive and despairing negative – whichever is running at the moment dominates my life, floods it.” You could assume that from this journal entry she suffered from depression or some mental disorder. I believe that her depression drove her to kill herself. I think that maybe it was over the affair or maybe she dealt with so much problems within her life that she didn’t know how to cope with it. I believe that writing made it easier for her too write how she truly felt until she no longer knew how to deal with it. Writing was her career but it was her way of living as well.
Citations:
Verb
Definition:To search for or try to acquire something
Source: The free dictionary
Found in ” You’re ” by Sylvia Plath’s “trawling your dark as owls do ” (Line 6)
Knowing the definition helped me understand the simile and how the unborn child is being compared to an owl. Owls are nocturnal animals they’re active in the dark and the a growing fetus is in the dark during pregnancy and is feeding from a tube. The owl and the unborn child has a lot in common.
Part of Speech: Noun
Definition: A slender threadlike appendage of a climbing plant, often growing in a spiral form, that stretches out and twines round any suitable support.
Source: Oxford Dictionary
Found in the 3rd line of â Metaphors â by Sylvia Plath
This word was useful to look up because i really didn’t know what the exact meaning was but the line in the poem was, ” A melon strolling on two tendrils.” (line 3). Sounds like a thread or piece of strand that could be attached to the melon.
Part of Speech: Adjective
Definition: slow and clumsy because of dead weight or dull, laborious or excessively solemn.
Source: Oxford Dictionary
Found in the 2nd line of â Metaphorsâ by Sylvia Plath
This word was good to look up because the poem “Metaphors” is already an intense reading but the placement of the word “Ponderous” is used to describe a house.
The OpenLab is an open-source, digital platform designed to support teaching and learning at City Tech (New York City College of Technology), and to promote student and faculty engagement in the intellectual and social life of the college community.
