Exercise I in Poems: Fourth Edition

Pleasures of Recognition:

The Double Play by Robert Wallace

The pleasure of recognition is notable here in how the poet takes a simple game of baseball, something we have all seen and compares it to something more elegant and beautiful like a ballet. It in a way makes baseball seem much more wonderful and less boring than the average viewer would think at first glance.

Because River-Fog by Fukayabu Kiyowara

The reader would gain pleasure of recognition in this poem by possibly remembering moments they have had in which they are entrenched in nature. I was immediately reminded of a camping trip in 8th grade in which I climbed up a small mountain and went back down on the river enjoying the view in silence.

A Foreign Ruler by Walter Savage Landor

A different kind of pleasure from recognition is found in this poem. Not pleasure in the sense that you are reminded of something and then feel better for it. Pleasure in the sense that through most political quandaries, feelings have felt the same. The poem was written centuries ago but could easily be applied to several leaders throughout time, all the way up to the leaders of today. There is something strangely comforting in seeing someone who has been dead for hundreds of years share a connection with today.

Not Drunk by Thomas Love Peacock (wow)

It is hard for me to find a connection with the novel, but imagining it from an adult drinker perspective I would probably say that it accurately relates back to often loose definitions of "drunk" that people supply as excuse for whatever they may do next in their stupor of Bud Light.

The Chinese Checker Players by Richard Brautigan

This poem appealed the most to me. I never had any relationship with an old woman and Chinese checkers but it takes me back to childhood games. The innocence of a child who cheats at a game is difficult to look at, they believe they are cunning when their plan is so obvious. I have to wonder if the old woman knows the boy is cheating, and cheats along with him, Chinese checkers is not what matters but more of the loneliness she feels after her husbands death combined with the ever listening ears of the cheating child. A good pair.