"We Are" by Facing New York

We are the young men, we are the desperation.
We are a nervous wreck, we are the anxiety.
We are the broken coin, the begging boys at your door.

Call me the wasted time, the aging adolescence.
Call me a bad sign of everything that's to come.
Call me the crooked line, the field of ice.

And I know I must move on.

We are the broken hearts that got lost or set astray.
We are the unemployed, still tangled up in our dreams
This is a new sign, the last chaging of the day.
It's time to grow up, and move away...

The words here invoke a sense of hesitation, nostalgia, and regret.

Each line here begins with a two word, two syllable phrase: we are, call me, etc. None of the lines rhyme, except for the last two.  There are a couple instances of alliteration, but they seem almost like coincidence rather than planned. Almost no structure exists in these words, when read without hearing the music.

Hearing the actual song will give the words more rhythmic cohesiveness, but the music backing the words is odd itself. The song plays in a moderate 4/4, but the harmonic rhythm moves in odd locations, with the chords changing on "and" and "a" of 2 and 3 in each measure. Various reverb and delay effects on the track give the song an ethereal quality, adding to the words nostalgic implications. It's as if the sound is a memory or somebody looking back their past.

"Metaphors" by Sylvia Plath

Most of the lines in this poem have denotative meanings of being fat, full, or large, in someway or another. After obtaining some internet advice, I found that the poem is about pregnancy, which makes a lot of sense. The first line of the poem is "I'm a riddle in nine syllables." The poem is made up of nine lines with each line containing only nine syllables. This repeated use of the number is representative of the nine months of pregnancy. Every line is a metaphor for being bigger while pregnant, for example: "A melon strolling on two tendrils," and "This loaf's big with it's yeasty rising." The speaker in this poem is, as stated, a pregnant woman, if not a pregnant Plath herself. Judging by the words she has chosen, it seems that the speaker is not happy with her pregnancy, or, at least, not happy with her psychical appearance and feeling, comparing herself to a melon and a elephant. Yet, out of all the negatively charged metaphors, there is one line of positivity. The line "O red fruit, ivory, fine timbers!" suggests that perhaps, even though she is not happy with herself, there is a child inside her waiting to be free and that brings her a certain level of joy. Plath ends with the line "Boarded the train there's no getting off." This line relays a message of acceptance. Maybe not enthusiasm, but she knows the responsibility she has taken on.

Sonnet #7

And all of a sudden they felt like selfish intellectuals

No longer will they concern themselves with that aging stew

They only sit, watching and waiting, for the rest of their spectacles

Sections of that tenement are rotting, the earth will not chew.

But She drags herself up those stairs everyday

And He refuses to ever leave the room

She asks him, "Are we going to stay?"

He tells her, "The gates open at half past noon."

So it goes, they finally walked out

On the roof, the rest of the tenement was staring at the gun

On the outside, they are thankful for doubt

Not long after, that tenement melted in the heat of the sun

In our minds, We are fighting a war

Who are you fighting for?