Lena & The Swan

I thought that the poem was very sad. I also thought that it was difficult to read, because the attacker was likened to a swan, which is an injustice. Swans are beautiful creatures, and the perpetrator was nothing that could be considered beautiful. The helpless Leda was a true victim.

William Butler Yeats may have used this portrayal of a rape from mythology because it may have sounded less brutal. Using a swan as the rapist may make it more difficult for the reader to realize that a rape had occurred. If one read the poem and could actually understand that a rape had in fact happened, Yates may have wanted to soften the attack by using the swan as an example. Rape is a very difficult subject to talk about, no matter when it occurs, past or present. There are words that are used in this poem from the early twentieth-century that are still used today when discussing rape. "Sudden blow," "staggering girl," "terrified," "shudder" and "broken wall" are just some of these words. Violence is another theme hidden in this poem, and rape was and always will be violent.

A Dream Deferred

I think Langston Hughes' poem "Dream Deferred," was a very good poem. It was easy to read because it was short and to the point. The poem was thought-provoking as well because of the questions that it posed about a dream that is pushed aside. I really liked the poem a lot.

The last line of "Dream Deferred" is ambiguous because of the word 'explode.' It could mean that the deferred dream explodes and is completely destroyed, but it also could mean that the dream explodes out into the open and is finally fulfilled. If the first meaning is true, then the consequences of a dream deferred are grave. The last line would then correlate with the rest of the poem. Hughes sees the dream either wither away, remains up in the air, or finally disappear into oblivion. If the second meaning of the last line is true, then it would offer a sharp contrast to the rest of the poem. It would show that, no matter mow people try to hinder your dream, if you persist and work hard enough, your dreams will finally become reality.