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Poetry Playlist and Analysis

“In Exile” -By Emma Lazarus

“Facing It”- By Yusef Komunyakaa

"Oh antic God"- By Lucille Clifton

“And Thou art Dead, as Young and Fair”- By Lord Byron (George Gordon)

“ICE Agents Storm My Porch”- By Maria Melendez Kelson

“Ode for the American Dead in Asia”- By Thomas Mcgrath

“Wildpeace”- By Yehuda Amichai

“For a Coming Extinction”- By W. S. Merwin

The poem “In Exile” explores the human experience during exile. It is a representative of

exile and hope (Lazarus, np). The major themes expressed by the poem include exile, American

migration, and the Jewish history of migration. I selected this poem due to its expression of

challenges during exile, a tone of sadness that matches other selected poems.

The poem “Facing It” represents an exploration of the author’s feelings and thoughts

about Vietnam while sharing his experience during the war (Komunyakaa, np). Among the

aspects, it covers include the legacy of Vietnam and the role of race in American society. Even

though the poet attempts to retain a single composure, there two are evident splits; wary and

vulnerable.
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The poem "oh antic God" expresses the speaker’s yarning of her dead mother making

him want to return to the past so that he can see her again and be with her. The poem expresses

individual imagery of his late mother and expresses happiness through memory (Clifton, np).

The poem is tragic as the memorization of the mother expressed contrasts with the sense of loss.

The poem is composed of three paragraphs, with which the middle one being a single sentence to

bridge two distinct moods.

The poem “And Thou art Dead, as Young and Fair” was inspired by a loss of a loved one.

The poem expresses the feeling of the poet following his loss (Byron, np). The poet proceeds and

focuses on the struggles and challenges of human nature expressing that the will of humans and

natural occurrences are not always the same.

The poem “ICE Agents Storm My Porch” expresses the concern of immigrants accessing

equal rights and proceeds and shifts to address issues beyond the U.S. and took a broader view

(Kelson, np). The poem uses such as fruit, nature, and earth. I chose this poem because it

expresses a theme that relates to the other chosen poems.

The poem “Ode for the American Dead in Asia” represents a pacifist statement about the

Korean war. His poem is composed of a total of three stanzas, having fourteen, fifteen, and

fourteen lines (Mcgrath, np). I chose this poem due to its reflection on the time of war.

The poem “Wild place” explores peace in an oxymoronic tone by linking it to wild. The

poet is pleading for peace having experienced the two major wars. It is a free-verse denunciation

of war in an elegiac mode. I selected this poem due to its depiction of war and appeal for peace.

The poem “For a Coming Extinction” expresses pessimism over the future of the earth

and the author is regretful of human waste. The poem uses a combination of double beats and

long statements. It expresses the gray hate as an endangered species (Merwin, np). The poem
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lacks punctuation thereby developing uncertainties as with the conclusion of the third stanza. I

selected this poem to die to the sad tone it develops as from the beginning of the poem.

The entire selected playlist of the eight chosen poems works together to express the

theme of sorrow throughout human history in different events. Among the presented forms of

sorrow include the loss of a loved one, discrimination, lack of peace, and having a harsh

experience. These human experiences are a result of various events including, war, exile, and

illnesses. The major form of sorrow and misery expressed in most of the poems is death. It is

shown to have significant effects on the loved ones of those who lose their lives in various

events, consequently, most of the poems appeal to a supernatural being to end death and foster

peace. Therefore, the voice used in the selected poem connects since the speaker expressed his

thoughts through a sad tone to express how various events and experiences affected them. The

voices also use pathos to evoke the emotions of the audience through a deep expression of

sadness associated with a given event.

The selected poems echo each other by the tone of sadness evident in all the poems. The

tone is developed through the theme of misery presented throughout the poems. Due to the sad

tone, the poems appeal to the emotions of the audience. Through the unanimous tone of the

selected poems, the title of the playlist could be expressed as the harsh history of the human

experience. The selected poems do not entirely express a portrait. However, his most eminent

literary style is the use of enjambment as the ideas within the poem is expressed in more than one

line. Therefore, the poems within the playlist are connected through the tone of sadness, the

theme of mystery, the use of pathos, and the appeal to a supernatural being.
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Work Cited

Lazarus, Emma. “In Exile” https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46789/in-exile

Komunyakaa, Yusef. “Facing It” https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47867/facing-it

"Oh antic God" Clifton, Lucille. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46670/oh-antic-god

Byron, Lord and Gordon, George. “And Thou art Dead, as Young and Fair”

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43822/and-thou-art-dead-as-young-and-fair

Melendez, Maria. “ICE Agents Storm My Porch”

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/56837/ice-agents-storm-my-

porch

Mcgrath, Thomas. “Ode for the American Dead in Asia”

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/52795/ode-for-the-american-dead-in-asia

Amichai, Yehuda. “Wildpeace” https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/54294/wildpeace

Merwin. “For a Coming Extinction” https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/57936/for-a-

coming-extinction-56d23be1c33a8