I find the song "Ride" by Lana Del Rey and the music video she created for it to be extremely poetic. The music video, which is actually a short film, depicts Del Rey's character as a prostitute who finds comfort and safety in the men she sells herself to. The video is beautifully done, in my opinion, and is one of Del Rey's greatest works as a music artist. The language, rhythm, and images used makes the video incredibly cinematic. The media gave Del Rey a lot of flack for the video, claiming that it makes the act of prostitution to be beautiful and mesmerizing. Others said that the video really had no meaning and was just like every other one of Del Rey's works. However, no matter what the critics said, Lana Del Rey stood by her work with pride and was very pleased with it, as was I.
 
"Ride"
[Music video spoken introduction:]
I was in the winter of my life, and the men I met along the road were my only summer.
At night I fell asleep with visions of myself, dancing and laughing and crying with them.
Three years down the line of being on an endless world tour, and my memories of them were the only things that sustained me, and my only real happy times.
I was a singer - not a very popular one,
I once had dreams of becoming a beautiful poet, but upon an unfortunate series of events saw those dreams dashed and divided like a million stars in the night sky that I wished on over and over again, sparkling and broken.
But I didn't really mind because I knew that it takes getting everything you ever wanted, and then losing it to know what true freedom is.
When the people I used to know found out what I had been doing, how I'd been living, they asked me why - but there's no use in talking to people who have home.
They have no idea what it's like to seek safety in other people - for home to be wherever you lay your head.
I was always an unusual girl.
My mother told me I had a chameleon soul, no moral compass pointing due north, no fixed personality; just an inner indecisiveness that was as wide and as wavering as the ocean...
And if I said I didn't plan for it to turn out this way I'd be lying...
Because I was born to be the other woman.
Who belonged to no one, who belonged to everyone.
Who had nothing, who wanted everything, with a fire for every experience and an obsession for freedom that terrified me to the point that I couldn't even talk about it, and pushed me to a nomadic point of madness that both dazzled and dizzied me.

I've been out on that open road
You can be my full time daddy,
White and gold
Singing blues has been getting old
You can be my full time baby,
Hot or cold

Don't break me down
I've been travelin' too long
I've been trying too hard
With one pretty song

I hear the birds on the summer breeze,
I drive fast, I am alone in the night
Been tryin' hard not to get into trouble,
but I, I've got a war in my mind
So, I just ride, just ride,
I just ride, just ride

Dying young and I'm playing hard
That's the way my father made his life an art
Drink all day and we talk 'til dark
That's the way the road dogs do it – ride 'til dark.

Don't leave me now
Don't say good bye
Don't turn around
Leave me high and dry

I hear the birds on the summer breeze,
I drive fast, I am alone in the night
Been tryin' hard not to get into trouble,
but I, I've got a war in my mind
I just ride, just ride,
I just ride, just ride

I'm tired of feeling like I'm f***ing crazy
I'm tired of driving 'til I see stars in my eyes
It's all I've got to keep myself sane, baby
So I just ride, I just ride

I hear the birds on the summer breeze,
I drive fast, I am alone in the night
Been tryin' hard not to get into trouble,
but I, I've got a war in my mind
I just ride, just ride,
I just ride, I just ride

[Music video spoken ending:]
Every night I used to pray that I’d find my people, and finally I did on the open road.
We had nothing to lose, nothing to gain, nothing we desired anymore, except to make our lives into a work of art.
Live fast. Die young. Be wild. And have fun.
I believe in the country America used to be.
I believe in the person I want to become.
I believe in the freedom of the open road.
And my motto is the same as ever:
"I believe in the kindness of strangers. And when I’m at war with myself I ride, I just ride."
Who are you?
Are you in touch with all of your darkest fantasies?
Have you created a life for yourself where you can experience them?
I have. I am f***ing crazy.
But I am free.

William Henry Davies is a Welsh poet and author who lived from 1871 to 1940. Nature is the subject of much of his poetry, often describing its beauty. While I would not label my poet as an "eco-poet", due to the fact that he lived before concern about the earth's natural habitats made its way into poetry, I would describe his style of writing as earthy and beautiful. His poems are, for the most part, easy to understand. I enjoy his vivid imagery and connection to the seasons and natural beauty of the world. and My partner, Mindy Hartings, chose an eco-poet by the name of Robert Hass. Both Mindy and I enjoy the outdoors and the beauty of nature, and I definitely believe that shows through our selection of poets.

Davies, born in Monmouthshire, Wales, traveled to America looking for work after holding several labor-intensive jobs. After returning to England after loosing his foot in a harsh accident, Davies married and began publishing poetry by the age of 34. Before his death in 1940, Davies had written several poems, two novels,  and some autobiographical works. More detailed information and several poems, such as April's Charms, Laughing Rose, and All in June, can be found on http://www.poemhunter.com/william-henry-davies/biography/. Unfortunately, I could not find any of Davies' published works at the Dunbar Library. However, more biographical information can be found in the biography and reference banks of Wright State Libraries (http://ehis.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.libraries.wright.edu:2048/eds/results?sid=61fc7632-ea0d-47fd-9f43fbdcfc9c2df4%40sessionmgr10&vid=3&hid=3&bquery=William+AND+Henry+AND+Davies&bdata=JnR5cGU9MCZzaXRlPWVkcy1saXZl).

The Sharks by Denise Levertov
Well then, the last day the sharks appeared.
Dark fins appear, innocent
as if in fair warning. The sea becomes sinister, are they everywhere?
I tell you, they break six feet of water.
Isn't it the same sea, and won't we
play in it anymore?
I liked it clear and not 
too calm, enough waves
to fly in on. For the first time
I dared to swim out of my depth.
It was sundown when they came, the time
when a sheen of copper stills the sea,
not dark enough for moonlight, clear enough
to see them easily. Dark
the sharp lift of the fins.

The poetry of Denise Levertov is captivating and fascinating. I have recently done a midterm project on the works of Wanda Coleman. Levertov's poetry is similar to Coleman's in the aspect of using very descriptive imagery. Both use great language in conveying the scene being written about and the emotions such a situation could elicit from someone. However, Levertov is more straightforward, which I enjoy. Coleman's poetry is filled with African-American culture allusions while Levertov's poems make it easy to understand the meaning behind the poem. I would have to say that reading Levertov's poetry is easier than that of Wanda Coleman's because of the straightforwardness and lacking of allusions to specific historical times, cultures, or mythologies.

The first poem I chose was “Yet Do I Marvel” by Countee Cullens and was read by a young man named Todd Hellems. I found Todd to be an exceptional reader of this poem. He had comfortable, steady eye contact, and his posture and body language showed that he was a respectful, well-educated man, so overall he had a good physical presence. This surprised me since he was just a 19 year old student. He made excellent use of his voice and articulation, having clearly, and eloquently reading the poem and following the rhythm set by the grammar marks. I found his dramatic appropriateness to be quite good as while he used no hand gestures, his facial expressions, especially with his eyes, delivered the poem very well and showed his understanding of it. While the poem itself was not terribly lengthy, it did possess a good amount of challenging language, especially when making allusions rooted in ancient mythologies. The reader does a fantastic job of sharing why the poem has such significance to him, but unfortunately he did not delve very deeply into the actual meaning of the poem, so his evidence of understanding would have to be average. Overall I loved his performance. I prefer the second time he reads the poem at the end of the clip rather than his first attempt, but the reader did a rather excellent job.

            The second poem I chose from the list was “To His Coy Mistress” by Andrew Marvell read by Kathleen Rogers. Kathleen was phenomenal in her clip and her reading was my favorite by far. She was so comfortable with looking at the camera and she had this body language about her that was so easy-going yet demanded attention at the same time, giving her an excellent rating in my book. Her voice and articulation were both outstanding. She spoke clearly and held showed such a skillful control of rhythm and volume. While she was sitting down to read the poem, she delivered the poem in such a way that its voice came across clearly. Though no hand gestures and few facial expressions were used, Kathleen moved her head slightly from side to side in a way that went great with the rhythm and allowed the poems voice to show through. The level of complexity was excellent as the poem contained challenging language while having a length that matched its complexity very well. Kathleen did an outstanding job with her evidence of understanding. The meaning of the poem and how she interprets the poem was very well delivered. Kathleen gave a captivating performance. The insight to her personal life and how it related her to the poem and the reading of the poem itself makes me give this performance an outstanding rating. 

Shakespeare's Sonnet 18

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? 
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date: 
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd; 
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest: 
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this and this gives life to thee.

Response by: Peyton Jones

I chose William Shakespeare's "Sonnet 18" because it is a classic example of lyric poetry. The language, the feelings it provokes, and the rhyme scheme all show this poem to be a lyric poem.

The language is beautiful in this poem. He is comparing his friend to summer in the opening lines by saying they are both more lovely and temperate than a summer's day. He then says some comments that show the negative side of summer, like the idea that it is too short or that it can be too hot at times as seen in lines 4-5. But as the poem goes on and ends, Shakespeare turns the beauty of his loved one into this very poem so that it is immortalized as long as it can still be read, and thereby saying that even though summer ends, his the beauty of his loved one will last forever.

This poem is seen as lyrical because it provokes some strong emotions and thoughts from the reader, such as love and the idea of immortality. The reader's interest is captured by the way Shakespeare compliments his love by comparing them to summer, and then he makes negative comments towards summer. The interest is still captured then by Shakespeare saying, and I'm paraphrasing, "Well since summer has is downfalls and you are so beautiful and perfect, I'm going to make your beauty last forever by making it into this poem." The idea of being able to make someone or even someone's attributes last for eternity by simply putting them into words on paper is capable of provoking very strong emotions in readers, and this poem has done just that over decades.

In the article under Lyric Poems, it is stated that lyrical poetry is lyrical because it uses "memorable language-made memorable by its rhythmical shaping and phonological patterning." Sonnet 18 does just that. It would be easy to put this poem to music and turn it into lyrics because it has beautiful language, for one, but it also follows a simple, easy-to-follow rhyming pattern that rhymes every other line in an A-B-A-B pattern.