Chaya's AP Lang Blog

Robert Bly’s “Driving to Town Late to Mail a Letter” gives off a content tone with its use of diction and alliteration to associate the poem with the feeling of internal pleasure in spending time alone. The poem contains words that seem to have a negative connotation, like “cold,” “deserted,” and “iron.” Although these words can be associated with loneliness and despair, the speaker appreciates these aspects and shows how a dark, cold night could be quite enjoyable. The alliteration used in the second line, “swirls of snow,” add to this picturesque image of a snowy night by creating a soft, flowing sound to the ear, showing the beauty, calmness and serenity of being alone in nature. In the last line, the speaker says that he “will waste more time” driving around in the snowy night, meaning that he is actually taking some time for himself, to drive around and enjoy his surroundings. Bly’s use of diction and alliteration help aid in the feeling of complete satisfaction in taking in the ...

In “Snow,” David Berman uses a simple tone and a plot based structure with repetition to display the pure innocence and naivety of a child’s mind and imagination. The poem begins with the speaker telling his brother that the imprints in the snow were actually from “troops of angels who had been shot” and dissolved into the ground. The speaker builds up the imaginative story in response to his brother’s questions, as the younger child really believes in the image his brother had created in his mind. This shows the innocence of a child, because when given an answer to their curiosity by a perceived older and wiser person, they automatically accept it as the truth. The younger brother repeatedly questions his brother about the story, asking, “Why did he shoot them?” and “But why were they on his property?” This shows that his innocence leads him to thinking that the story is true, and wanting to know more and more. Throughout the poem as the speaker continues to create his story, he cont...

Kate Knapp Johnson’s “The Meadow” uses a tone of despair and a shift in mood to convey the outcome of getting too lost in thought. The speaker begins with an expression of despair in wasting half of a day just staring out of the window in search of some intangible feeling or thing. By leaving “thinking for thought,” he did not realize that he was so absorbed in his mind that a long time had elapsed. A shift happens beginning with “two inches of snow have fallen,” showing that time has progressed significantly, and the speaker is now not just in their own deep thought, but it caused them to get so carried away that they didn’t notice all of the time they had wasted. The speaker ends the poem with another despairing statement saying, “Where did I go, how long was I out looking for you?,” since they finally realized that they had wasted away so much of their time self absorbing in their sorrows. Many times people get so carried away wallowing in their sorrows or searching for something ...

Dave Etter’s “Marcus Millsap: School Day Afternoon” utilizes a stream of consciousness and imagery to convey a childlike tone, sharing the exciting feeling of freedom that a child has when left home alone. Throughout the poem, the speaker constantly changes subjects and thinks to himself about everything that he plans to do with his freedom after school. Quotes like “What am I going to do when I get home?..” and “This weekend we're going to the farm show. I like roosters and pigs, but farming's no fun” shows how the speaker’s mind is rapidly changing and thinking about all the different things that he could possibly do with his freedom. Etter uses imagery to express a child’s joy of being free of rules and obligations. The child makes a sugar sandwich and goes outside to look at the birds and the giant silo, creating an image of the fun and adventure a child has when they have the freedom to do as they please. The poem culminates with the last line, when the child exclaims wi...