Week 5

The Dark Day

We're all dressed in black

And its pouring down rain.

My mom is sobbing in the back

We're all going insane.

How could this happen?

Nobody knows what to do

Yesterday he was talking 

But today he just didn't come to.

We all knew there wasn't much time

Though we wished the doctors lied

But we didn't expect it to be this soon

Today my Grandfather died.

The poem "The Dark Day" is 12 lines, 3 stanzas with the rhyme scheme abcb. The speaker uses the form and rhyme scheme of this poem to contribute to the tone of the poem which is sad and serious. The speaker wrote this poem from her memories of the day her grandfather died, while she was on the way to the hospital. The content of the "The Dark Day" such as "We're all dressed in black and it's pouring down rain" contributes to the very serious and sad tone of this poem.

Week 4

In the poem "My Papa's Waltz" by Theodore Roethke the speaker is that of a grown man who speaks about his childhood with his drunken father. The attitude of the grown man seems to be ironic therefore giving this poem an ironic tone. The poem's tone is ironic because the title portrays that the poem will be upbeat while the poem is about a grown man remembering bad memories of his drunken father.

Throughout "My Papa's Waltz" there are many different lines showing the audience that the speakers father was harmful which contributes to the ironic tone of the poem. For example when the speaker says "The hand that held my wrist was battered on one knuckle;" which shows the readers that his father was abusive and his memories were not pleasant. This contributes to the ironic tone because at the same time the father and son are "waltzing" which is supposed to be a dance of love.