Lauren’s Blog

The poem “What I Didn’t Know Before” by Ada Limon is about how beginning in a gestation space, of the absence of “before,” something was unknown. The speaker takes the reader through the creation of knowledge in how “horses simply give birth to other horses,” which shows how the poem is foiling being so simple yet so complicated. This poem is very beautiful about a grown-up love affair, one that was never delicate or dramatic in need of careful thoughts or lots of effort. This poem contains 14 lines with a fairly even rhythm, showing that this poem is considered a sonnet and that every line bursts over ten syllables from across and down the page. In the middle of the poem, the speaker compares the horse’s birth to the speaker’s love: “that’s how I loved you she says, with an end-stopping line by showing the truth that isn’t complicated, creating a pause or caesura before the speaker creates another line of creation. In the second part of the poem, the speaker is describing how a “lover getting off the train and juggling a coffee with their bags”. The two lovers notice each other and laugh, being unafraid, showing that these lovers are “swinging” their possessions in an “unwieldy” way in awe of excitement to see the speaker. Love is a thing of its own, separate from the lovers. It may seem whole as it comes to our palms, and while it may canter off “just like that,” it is still a young creature that requires nurturing. It may seem whole. It may insist on walking alone or on wanting to be on its terms of life, as if it has just appeared “fully formed.” It may surprise us with its strength and power that it perceives to grow as an individual.  We can’t forget, though, that the foal has a mother. It was conceived, held by the mare, and must be fed and looked after for it to continue to grow. The significance of the title of this poem is that it explains more in the context of how the speaker did not know the power of love till they saw it between their eyes.  They noticed that from the soul power of love and beauty, you still need to be cared for like the horses being cared for by their mother, showing how you can grow to see that love in the world. The speaker uses the repetition of the word “horse: a lot”, which shows the symbolism that the animals provide to the poem’s overall meaning. Horses can be symbols of power, strength, and freedom, making their presence in life significant and evocative. When often dreaming or thinking of a horse, it helps to reflect upon the speaker’s inner strength and resilience, showing the capacity to face challenges and walk in life to see those real pathways like the world around finding love and always needing to be cared for. There is a shift in line 7 from the beginning of the poem, which talks about horses and how they are always benignly cared for by their mother, to talking about the love the speaker feels for someone. The speaker changes the subject of horses being born to the subject of love in how you come together to be cared for by someone who coddles you, like the horse’s mother shows. This poem relates to an experience of ideas that I once had by showing the thematic ideas of the role of being coddled by someone you love and showing love for another. I know what it is like to be loved by someone and realize I will always carry their love and affection with me throughout my life.

By: Emily Dickinson

A narrow Fellow in the Grass

Occasionally rides –

You may have met him? Did you not

His notice instant is –

The Grass divides as with a Comb,

A spotted Shaft is seen,

And then it closes at your Feet

And opens further on –

He likes a Boggy Acre –  

A Floor too cool for Corn –

But when a Boy and Barefoot

I more than once at Noon

Have passed I thought a Whip Lash

Unbraiding in the Sun

When stooping to secure it

It wrinkled And was gone –

Several of Nature’s People

I know, and they know me

I feel for them a transport

Of Cordiality

But never met this Fellow

Attended or alone

Without a tighter Breathing

And Zero at the Bone.

The name of this poem is called “A Narrow Fellow in the Grass” by Emily Dickinson. This poem focuses on the speaker, a little boy, recollecting his childhood experience seeing a snake. The poem is used to describe both the danger of nature and a commentary on the idea of fear. The speaker or persona is revealing his fear of the snake throughout the poem “zero at the bone” or to be chilled by the bone from having this fear of nature arising from the snake itself. The speaker is constantly referring back to “narrow fellow” which connects back to the snake as a narrow fellow who has caused him to live with deceit out of nature coming back to hurt him in the eyes of fear. The title of the poem “A Narrow Fellow in the Grass” is an adventure of fear, using the creature of the snake as a catalyst to act in a way of fear. This poem helps to show the complex emotions of the persona that exists in a way of comfort, by the characterization of the fearful snake being considered a “fellow” like a friend rather than hiding from a way of fear. The structure of this poem contains enjambed lines by allowing a thought to overflow across lines creating complexity “The Grass divides as with a comb, a spotted shaft is seen, and then it closes at your feet and opens further on”. The structure of the poem is iambic rhythm and quatrains and the last stanza of the poem shifts from neutrality to fear showing the speaker’s emotional fear of the snake, showing human feelings towards nature. The shift in this poem is in stanza 4 when the speaker is reflecting upon the dangers of nature on their feelings, the shift helps to express a change of thought in the poem. The main topic is about the speaker who is recollecting the experience they had when they saw a snake as a child. This poem describes the danger of nature and is a commentary on fear. This poem wants the reader to explore the nature of fear and anxiety through the fear of deceit of the image of encountering a snake in nature side. It wants the reader to know the narrow fellow is a snake and they are exploring the speaker’s fear when encouraging this hidden creature in the grass showing the unsettling nature of what’s unknown. An allusion used in this poem is referring to the snake as a religious reference to the serpent in the Garden of Eden  “narrow Fellow in the Grass Occasionally rides – You may have met him?” They help to show a poem’s further meaning by connecting it back to something. Alliteration is used in this poem to mimic the movements of the snake by creating a flow throughout the poem showing how the snake looks throughout the grass “A spotted shaft is seen”. A metaphor used in the poem is the motion of a snake to a rider by comparing the quick movement of the snake’s tail to a “whiplash” and the idea that animals are being compared to nature’s people. The poem’s overall structure contains six quatrains with alternating iambic tetrameter and trimeter. Some may argue that the snake or the “narrow fellow” represents a phallic symbol showing how the snake represents symbols of power and strength above the speaker’s feelings of fear above anything else. The tone is developed through the use of benign words with unsettling connotations when describing a narrow fellow creating a sense of unease and hidden danger, even though the creature is never named. Narrow hints at something threatening building a complex tone. 

by Ada Limon

I lied about the whales. Fantastical blue
water-dwellers, big, slow moaners of the
    coastal.
I never saw them. Not once in that whole
    frozen year.
Sure, I saw the raw white gannets hit the
    waves
so hard it could have been a showy blow
    hole.
But I knew it wasn't. Sometimes you just 
    want 
something so hard you have to lie about it,
so you can hold it in your mouth for a 
    minute,
how real hunger has a real taste. Someone
    once
told me gannets, those voracious sea birds
of the North Atlantic chill, go blind from
    the height
and speed of their dives. But that, too, is a
    lie.
Gannets never go blind and they certainly
  never die.

The name of this poem is “Lies about Sea Creatures” written by Ada Limon which you can read above. This poem is not about whales and gannets but it is about something much more deeper beneath these sea creatures from being questioned to its ideas. But something or someone dived into their life, and for a little while, they wanted to lie about it so that it never happened. Better whales live long peaceful lives underwater than a bird destroyed on impact with the waves. This poem is about the lies that some people in their life are told from how sometimes you just want something so hard you have to lie about it so you can make yourself believe that it is true. My thoughts on the speaker are that they have this feeling that some sea creatures are not who they seem to be because most people have not seen them with their true eyes. They will often lie so the truth of their existence is still active in their mind creating new thoughts based on lies perceived from wanting to see something so bad in your life that you are just so hungry to see it. The name of this poem is “Lies about Sea Creatures” and from reading this poem the author is showcasing how the ocean holds creatures that some have never seen hence the lies provoked all around the ocean. Limon is showing that when you don’t see something with your real eyes you think it’s a lie and not truly there but you have to think to yourself that lying about just makes it all the more true to be there. The narrator chose to see whales. They could have acknowledged gannets diving, suffering injury, and dying, but lied and saw whales. They then set us up to understand why a person might lie about something like a hunger for something to be true. Then at the end of the poem, they lie again. They told us they would, and they lied again and introduced the real issue. Death. “I refuse to see something that died. I am lying so I can imagine I saw something beautiful and peaceful, and that nothing died here. “Sometimes… you have to lie about it, so you can hold it in your mouth for a minute, how real hunger has a real taste.” Lying reflects a need to give yourself a moment of belief. Lying sometimes gives us a reprieve from the truth, and lets us taste what we want to be true. I can relate this poem to my own experiences because when I was younger I had a very creative imagination in seeing sea creatures in movies and on the internet thinking they were all real. So I wanted to see them for myself in person, but sometimes would never see them so I would just be creative and lie to myself about how they were real to me because I was just so eager to believe they consisted of the truth and came to life. This poem is laid out very nicely, but it is too confusing. This poem is structured very nicely for the reader to easily interpret the main point of focus the author is conveying. Some words that are constantly used in this poem are “lies” and references to sea creatures by portraying imagery of how the author views these creatures into depicting how they are seen as lies to the world. Lies and secrets are big in this poem as this shows the main theme of something in life is hard to be true but in our minds we imagine them as false from what we are eager to taste them as being.

The name of this poem is “The Problem with Travel” written by Ada Limon which you can read above. This poem talks about the many opportunities that travel brings to a person that anyone can feel is relatable when traveling from going through a whirl of emotions. Limon talks about how she feels in an airport “I think I should drastically change my life” and anyone who reads this poem will know what she is talking about when she says “Kill the kid stuff”. When she talks about her struggles and emotions about traveling we can see that it feels like she can go anywhere and be any person she wants to be when traveling. In this poem, I noticed a poetic device such as a metaphor “Set fire to the clutter and creep below the radar like an escaped canine sneaking along the fence line”. This poetic technique helps to establish imagery by creating a vivid picture of how an object might appear in comparison to another that is not similar in their ways. In this line, the author is comparing how the world of traveling can be scary from going along the radar like hiding away from a dog undergoing a mission along the fence, Limon is referring to hiding like a dog when traveling because you just want to hide away from your fears in the hopes that no one will see you. The overall structure of the poem is laid out as a continuous poem that is a free verse going from line to line, there may be a little bit of rhythm throughout the poem and there is a little bit of the use of caesura throughout this poem. Relating this poem to my own experience in the same context, when I first traveled for the first time on an airplane I was super nervous and scared from a wave of emotions that kept on hitting me from the fear of traveling. I kept thinking about the part in the poem when she mentions “Then, I think of you, home with the dog” Whenever I am traveling I will constantly be thinking about my home and the animals left home with it because I am constantly missing their presence but then I remember that I need to be this person who is going to be destined to go to new places and not look back on the fears that continue to push me further. A line in this poem that I felt was moving and powerful was “But I want to be who I am, going where I’m going, all over again”. I like this line in the poem because I think it reflects the overall meaning the author was trying to show in the problems we face with traveling to new places, meeting new people, and overlooking these new cultures and lifestyles which can be a big change for people who stick to just one place their whole life. I think this line reflects that you can not be scared to go out into the world and try new things all because your fears and hopes for what is next to come are pushing you back, I think you have to be the person who branches out into the world facing the struggles of fear to continue what’s next for your life and its overall meaning. My first thoughts on Ada Limon and reading her poem is I think she is a great poetry writer who connects events in her life to life’s overall meaning to what other people may also face but develops a deeper poetical meaning to showcase the importance of her topic. This makes me much more excited to read the rest of her poems and see what she has to offer in her poetry!

Poet Bio:

In 2022, Ada Limón was appointed the United States poet laureate. Born on March 28, 1976, she is originally from Sonoma, California. As a child, she was greatly influenced by the visual arts and artists, including her mother, Stacia Brady. In 2001, Limón received an MFA from the creative writing program at New York University.

Limón’s first collection of poetry, Lucky Wreck (Autumn House Press, 2006), was the winner of the 2005 Autumn House Poetry Prize. She is also the author of The Hurting Kind (Milkweed Editions, 2022); The Carrying (Milkweed Editions, 2018); Bright Dead Things (Milkweed Editions, 2015), which was a finalist for the National Book Award; Sharks in the Rivers (Milkweed Editions, 2010); and This Big Fake World (Pearl Editions, 2006), winner of the 2005 Pearl Poetry Prize. Of Limón’s work, the poet Richard Blanco writes, “Both soft and tender, enormous and resounding, her poetic gestures entrance and transfix.”

A 2001–2002 fellow at the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center and a Guggenheim Fellow, Limón has also received a grant from the New York Foundation for the Arts and won the Chicago Literary Award for Poetry. In April 2023, Limón served as Guest Editor of the Poem-a-Day series. In the same year, she was the recipient of a MacArthur “Genius” Grant.

Limón splits her time between Lexington, Kentucky, and Sonoma, California.

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