Roethke, Bishop, Lowell, & Berryman

Roethke: "My Papa's Waltz"...so heartbreaking: a father beating his child.  I liked this poem a lot but not because of the situation.  The situation is horrible, and I wish this kind of topic would not be put in a poem.  However, Roethke's imagery and word choice makes the poem beautiful and clear.  He only had to pick specific parts of the body, for example, such as an ear or head and the picture was vivid in my mind.  If only Roethke could right about something more positive, who knows how beautiful the picture he presents will be.
"The Waking" was also a very good poem in that the phrases were deep.  My favorites: "I learn by going where I have to go," "We think by feeling," and "Great Nature has another thing to do to you and me" (1090-1091).  Although his style differs, the theme of nature reminds me of the British poet William Wordsworth.

Bishop: Out of Bishop's poems, "One Art" was probably the one I liked the most.  Honestly, the idea of losing things would not a topic I would write in a poem, but Bishop made it work.  In some ways, I could see this as a theory of the way the mind works, but according to Bishop, it's a skill.  We are capable of losing things, but in time, we lose more than objects.  We forget, such as forgetting names and places.  Unfortunately, she lost me when she mentions losing cities, rivers, etc.  I couldn't quite understand what she meant by that.  But like Bishop says, "It's evident the art of losing's not too hard to master though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster" (1113).

Lowell: I found it interesting that Bishop's "The Armadillo"  was for Lowell, and Lowell's "Skunk Hour" was for Bishop.  Through "Skunk Hour" I could see a lot of modern terms and names that would not dare be mentioned in past poetry.  For example, skunk and sour cream.  I also see a lot of random stanzas.  I'm sure they connect on some ways, but I find them all...splattered?  I don't know how to put it, but basically, I see them as random.  In addition, his choice of words were entertaining to read.  For example, summer millionaire, L. L. Bean, orange cork, and many more random ones.

Berryman: Just reading Berryman's short bio in the anthology made me feel sad reading his poems.  From "The Dream Song" they were quite dark.  "29" had a murder scene, "hacks her body up and hide the pieces" (1208).  "384" mentioned digging up a grave "I got right down away down under the grass and ax the casket open ha to see just how he's taking it" (1209).  Ha?  Is Berryman trying to be funny?  I didn't quite understand the whole theme of the poem, however, I could see his dark side.  His life was sad; he watched his father commit suicide.  How ever the effect was, it was evident in his poems.