Journal Four

In chapter eight Hugo speaks about reputation and how it is hard to understand how anyone nice could get into a war. I like the quote " I didn't know how good the poem would be but it would be honest and I would like it  because it wouldn't be any  tougher than the human heart needs to be." I feel like he is telling us to soften our hearts towards others. Just because a place has any sort of a reputation, doesn't mean we need to toughen our hearts or hide our hearts from them. We need to be equally loving to everyone, not just the ones who are hospitable towards us.

Chapter 9 states "But no job accounts for the impulse to find  and order those bits and pieces of yourself that can come out only in the most unguarded moments, in the wildest, most primitive phrases we shout alone at the mirror. and no job modifies the that impulse or destroys it." I love this quote especially because he is referring to a job for a person not just a poet. He is correct though, no other job would let you show every aspect of you. yes. you'll be judges, but those people leave and the others will understand and accept you.

 What I have learned about my poems, comparing them to our books, is that I can write different styles with the help from our books. Similarly I could use metaphors and free verse. Differently I never thought about how important enjambment can be and how it can change a poem drastically.  Another difference was the use of stanza's to help my poem form. Similarly, I understood the basics of poetry but the book helped me learn how to make the basics better, overall better poems.

My process from writing a poem is to find a topic, style, and method of writing. Once I begin writing my first "mood" will most likely change. I write in free verse to help get all my ideas and words on the paper. When I need to rhyme, this is where I begin to struggle. When using symbols, octaves, or sonnets, I focus so hard on rhyme that I feel like it comes doesn't come out well. I  am not satisfied with the poem because I don't feel like I have said everything I wanted to say thus the poem feels fake and cookie cuter to me.