Poem #5: "May"

THE POEM: May

The wind is tossing the lilacs,

The new leaves laugh in the sun,

And the petals fall on the orchard wall,

But for me the spring is done.

Beneath the apple blossoms,

I go a wintry way,

For love that smiled in April

Is false to me in May.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sara Teasdale was a lyrical poet who was born on August 8, 1884. Although she had very poor health conditions, she survived through it and wrote numbers of beautiful poems. She was married to a man named Ernst Filsinger, but she decided to get a divorce with him because he often made her feel lonely. After her divorce, she spent a lot of time with her friend and former lover, Vachel Lindsay, and continued her love towards poetry. She committed suicide by overdosing on sleeping pills in 1993. Even though she died, her legacy still remains as one of the most beautiful poems.

PERSONAL RESPONSE

     The poem "May" starts with the description about how the spring is coming as we enter the month May, but at the end of the first stanza, it talks about how the spring is over for the speaker, even though the season had just started. At the second paragraph, the poem talks about how the speaker is sad about May. It says that he is sad about it because his love was still smiling until April, but in May, it is gone.

     My text to self connection would be the fact that May is one of my favorite months. I love May because it brings the soft warmth after the bitter winter. Although I do not like hot weather, I like the weather in May because it is like directly the middle of cold and hot. My text to text connection would be the fact that there are other poems that are named after months that are written by many different authors. My text to world connection would be the fact that May is a universal month. All months are universal. There is not a place where there is eleven months.

     I personally love this poem. I love how the author described the beginning of May where the soft breeze is blowing. Also, I love how she described the nature progressing by talking about how petals from flowers fall. In the second stanza, I think the speaker is trying to say that his or her love died between April and May. It says that the love that smiled in April is not real in May.

TPCASTT

TITLE

The title makes me think that the poem is going to be a very beautiful poem. I think it will have a lot of descriptions. I think that the poem will be very sensitive and full of butterflies.

PARAPHRASE

The wind is blowing on the flowers,

There are new sprouts coming out,

The flowers are flying everywhere,

But the spring is over for me.

Under the tree,

I walk around feeling cold,

Because the love that smiled in April

Is now gone in May.

CONNOTATION

1. Speaker: the person who is feeling sad about lost of love.

2. Imagery: Sight(apple blossoms), Touch(none), Smell(none), Hear(none), Taste(none).

3. Repetition: none

4. Rhyme Scheme: ABCB ABCB

5. Figurative speech: none

ATTITUDE

The speaker seems to be mourning someone that he or she lost between April and May. The speaker seems to be too depressed to be enjoying the month of May and the coming of spring. The speaker at least notices the season, so in the first stanza, he or she talks about description. However, in the second stanza, the speaker only talks about how the speaker is depressed because of the lost.

SHIFT

First quatrain (lines 1-4) : the speaker describes about the season and the surrounding

Second quatrain (lines 5-8) : the speaker talks about how all of it does not mean anything to the speaker because of the lost.

TITLE

Now that I look at the title again, I feel more sorrow in the word. Although it is a beautiful month that brings beautiful season, I feel like it is the mourning month for the speaker.

THEME

*Loss of someone or something can be make some people not able to continue on with their lives.

*Losing someone or something can blind someone to not see the truth.

*Death can come anytime.

*Loss is painful.

*Many needs to learn how to cope with  the loss of their loved ones.

APA-6 REFERENCE

Teasdale, S. (1933). May. Website. Retrieved from http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/may-3/