This brief prose poem by Robert Hass describes a painful interaction between a young man and an older woman, and the message that she leaves for him the following morning. The narrator is a young composer who is spending the summer at an artists’ colony. He becomes infatuated with an...

On a first reading, the immediate striking quality of William Carlos Williams’ “Red Wheelbarrow” is the poet’s sparse and hyper-minimalistic style. The entire poem consists of four stanzas, each numbering only two lines, and each stanza containing only four words. This minimalism, however, seems appropriate considering the subject matter: Williams...

‘The Road Not Taken’ is a poem by Robert Frost which states that people come to make strategic decisions in life, and that at various points, the individual must be subject to fate. Understanding this poem requires the reader to understand the meaning of life, which the author helps the...

Poetry is a unique form of art that enables readers to feel the most complexed and nuanced emotions. Unlike the language of prose, the poetic language is expressive and relies more on various decorations (ReadWriteThink, 2008). To maximize the emotional impact on readers, poets use a broad set of literary...

Dorothy Parker's poem, "One Perfect Rose," is about being disappointed about the cliches associated with romance. In this particular poem, she receives a perfect rose, which is a symbol of love and desire. Although the rose is a perfect specimen, she is ultimately disappointed by it, wishing she would receive...