When you're tired and you're hungry and you want something cool, Got something better than a swimmin' pool, 'Cause I'm the Ice Cream Man.

The two poems I chose to compare are "The Emperor of Ice-Cream" by Stevens and "Nevertheless" by Moore. These two poems had some similarities such as they both use alliteration (Line 3 in "Emperor" and lines 15 and 24 in "Nevertheless") which is a common device for most poets. They also share the use of end rhyme. The way they use it however is different. In "Emperor", each stanza ends with a rhymed couplet: "Let be be finale of seem./ The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream."(7-8) and "Let the lamp affix its beam./ The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream."(15-16). The rhyme is more straight forward and this straightforwardness exemplifies the intensity and important of the message the speaker is trying to convey. In "Nevertheless", the rhyme is more abstract. Its rhyme is focused on the actual sound of words rather in "Emperor", the rhyme is made through the written language and spelling. A few examples of this are: "fish for the multitude/ of seeds. what better food" (5-6) and "the bound twig that's under-/gone, and over-gone, can't stir." (26-27). The poems each have their own distinct voice. The tone of the speaker in each poem is different. In "Emperor", the tone is a more arrogant, serious tone. I think of mobsters telling you the business or Mohammad Ali saying he is the greatest. There can only be one Highlander! The poem is about a ruling body it would onl make sense to have a pompous voice telling the story of this man. The voice comes out clear in the first stanza in lines one through six: " Call the roller of big cigars/ The muscular one, and bid him whip/ In kitchen cups concupiscent curds./ Let the wenches dawdle in such dress/ As they are used to wear, and let the boys/ Bring flowers in last month's newspapers." The emperor is showing how he has people working for him and serving him. It establishes his superiority to others. In "Nevertheless", has a serious tone but there seems to be sadness to it as well. It is about nature and the struggles it had to go through. We usually read about the struggles humans have to go to. This shows modernists traits, it's talking about a traditional idea in a not a traditional way. The sadness can be seen in the first stanza of the poem: "you've seen a strawberry/that's had a struggle; yet/ was, where the fragments met," (1-3). To me, it also seems to be in a more gentle voice than that of "Emperor". A small voice rising up over hardship: "The weak overcomes its/ menace, the strong over-/ comes itself." (28-30). Each has their own distinct flow of words, the way the sounds flow when read.Structurally, they are different which is why they each have their own sound patterns within them. "The Emporer of Ice-Cream" is two stanzas each made of 8 lines, while "Nevertheless" has 11 stanzas made of only three lines each. The sctructure of "Emperor" goes along with the tone of the poem. Bigger and longer stanzas show power and the size of the message. Bigger things are usually more intimidating as well. "Emperor" isn't suggesting that there is only one emperor, it's telling you. "Nevertheless" has short stanzas because it is a meak-ish poem. The voice is starting off small and growing into something bigger. As we progress through the poem as well, the lines get longer and longer. I mean, they aren't stretching across the page, but lyrically, the way one speaks it, they are longer. Out of the two of these, and most of the other poems as well, "The Emperor of Ice-Cream" has the more rhythmic sound to it and the easiest one to find the "melody" of the song.

It's Only Teenage Wasteland.. They're All Wasted!

T.S. Eliot's' "The Wasteland" lives true to its reputation for being difficult. The ideas and topics he talks about seem scatter and hard to grasp onto. Which they are. A lot of that has to do with the integration of many different cultural references and languages, many of which are uncommon or considered to be dead such as Sanskrit and Latin. Even though it has some similar details to other modernists we've read such as Frost, specifically "Home Burial" in relation to section II "A Game of Chess" with the common talk of a fighting couple over a child and the societal roles of men and women. I'm actually starting this same poem in a different class and doing a presentation about it. My group and I talked to the teacher about the cultural contexts that lead up to the poem and she mentioned about World War I was heavily involved in this the topics and contexts within this poem. That is, I think, the biggest difference between Eliot and all the other modernists we've read; Eliot draws on the world around him, good and bad aspects, and specifically politics. We talked about the reasons behind the integration of so many different cultural references such as places and the different languages as a way of preserving these cultures around the world that are being destroyed by war and the diminishing of our culture. I'd have to say, it may be one of the more difficult readings we've had to pick apart, but I find it to be one of the more interesting