Poetry Analysis

Butterfly Laughter
by Katherine Mansfield
In the middle of our porridge plates
There was a blue butterfly painted
And each morning we tried who should reach the
butterfly first.
Then the Grandmother said: "Do not eat the poor
butterfly."
That made us laugh.
Always she said it and always it started us laughing.
It seemed such a sweet little joke.
I was certain that one fine morning
The butterfly would fly out of our plates,
Laughing the teeniest laugh in the world,
And perch on the Grandmother's lap.

This poem has a playful mood, and a thoughtful one. Very childlike in manner with such words as sweet, butterfly, and teeniest. The purpose of this poem is the limitless childhood imagination and joy. Gentle in nature and meaning alike. 

Imitation
by Edgar Allan Poe
A dark unfathomed tide
Of interminable pride -
A mystery, and a dream,
Should my early life seem;
I say that dream was fraught
With a wild and waking thought
Of beings that have been,
Which my spirit hath not seen,
Had I let them pass me by,
With a dreaming eye!
Let none of earth inherit
That vision of my spirit;
Those thoughts I would control,
As a spell upon his soul:
For that bright hope at last
And that light time have past,
And my worldly rest hath gone
With a sigh as it passed on:
I care not though it perish
With a thought I then did cherish.

A much darker tone than the first. Such words as wild, spirit, spell, soul, means that it's based on humanity and individual tones. It talks about the loss of this childhood hope, of things that the author once that cherished in their life.


A Fish Answers
by Leigh Hunt
Amazing monster! that, for aught I know,
With the first sight of thee didst make our race
For ever stare! O flat and shocking face,
Grimly divided from the breast below!
Thou that on dry land horribly dost go
With a split body and most ridiculous pace,
Prong after prong, disgracer of all grace,
Long-useless-finned, haired, upright, unwet, slow!

O breather of unbreathable, sword-sharp air,
How canst exist? How bear thyself, thou dry
And dreary sloth? WHat particle canst share
Of the only blessed life, the watery?
I sometimes see of ye an actual pair
Go by! linked fin by fin! most odiously.

This poem uses much more emphasis on how the words are put together. The question marks, as well as exclamation points show this. It is almost a hyperbole  as a definition of a fish, in a very outlandish and fantastical way. The poem's purpose deals all around the perspective of everyday life.

Le Reveillon
by Oscar Wilde
THE sky is laced with fitful red,
The circling mists and shadows flee,
The dawn is rising from the sea,
Like a white lady from her bed.

And jagged brazen arrows fall
Athwart the feathers of the night,
And a long wave of yellow light
Breaks silently on tower and hall,

And spreading wide across the wold
Wakes into flight some fluttering bird, 10
And all the chestnut tops are stirred,
And all the branches streaked with gold.

This is a poem written as an extended metaphor. It speaks of the sun and its rays, and the beauty that it emits by such simply being. The poem's purpose is to point out the natural beauty and miracle of life the sun brings to us each day. Written in a very dreamlike tone, very calm and relaxed, as if waking up. 


Infant Joy
by William Blake

"I have no name;
I am but two days old."
What shall I call thee?
"I happy am,
Joy is my name."
Sweet joy befall thee!

Pretty joy!
Sweet joy, but two days old.
Sweet Joy I call thee:
Thou dost smile,
I sing the while;
Sweet joy befall thee!

This is the simplest selection that i have chosen for the assignment. Very short sentences, very innocent word choice. The inversion in the second line tries to connect to the mishaps in grammar we commit as young children. A very warm, and happy tone to exhibit the joys of being a child. 

Source:  http://www.emule.com/poetry/?page=author_list