T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"

I think it is strange the title of the poem is "The Love Song" because to me the poem has nothing to do with love, but is more explaining the life of J. Alfred Prufrock.  So instead of the title being "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" I think the title should be "The Life of J. Alfred Prufrock."  I also noticed he repeats many lines throughout the poem, such as "In the room the women come and go Talking of Michelangelo" and "So how should I presume, And how should I presume, And should I then presume?"  Overall, this poem was pretty good.  I still am not good yet at finding the true meaning within poems.  I need to have work at that. Also, I thought it was odd that he said "Do I dare to eat a peach?"  I do not think peaches are harmful, so I think he should eat a peach.

Sylvia Plath's "Daddy"

I like this poem much more than "Lead and the Swan."  However, this one is a bit confusing as well.  I appear to not be very good at finding the hidden meaning among poems.  After reading this poem, it was made clear that the voice of the poem talking about her Daddy is a girl.  I figured this out after reading the line "With my gypsy ancestress" and "Bit my pretty read heart in two."  I believe if the narrator were male, the word pretty would not have been used to describe his heart.  It confused me at the end how she starts to talk about how her father died with a stake to his "fat black heart", and how she has killed two men and has had her blood drank for 7 years by vampires.  However, I am almost positive she is scared of her father.  She mentions in the poem that "I have always been scared of you."  I REALLY think we should discuss thes poems in class!

William Butler Yeats' "Leda and the Swan"

This poem was extremely confusing to me.  At first, I thought that when the poem started out by saying "A sudden blow:", that the writer was talking about shooting the swan.  This idea was reinforced again in the last stanza when the poem reads "So mastered by the brute blood of the air."  I am not really sure about this poem.  However, after re-reading it a numerous amount of times, I googled the poem and to see if there was any website that could help me understand it more.  A couple websites talked about how the swan is Zeus and he has come down to earth from the above skies and that Leda was raped by Zeus and now is going to lay Zeus' eggs.  There is no way I could have interpreted this from just reading the poem itself.  I do not really know whether I like this poem or not.

William Blake's "London"

First Stanza- Whoever is speaking is talking about how he wanders through the streets and remembers in his mind all of the faces he sees.
Second Stanza- He hears things, such as the cries of various people.
Third Stanza- He is now talking about how peoples' souls are within the palace.
Fourth Stanza- I do not really understand this section of the poem..

William Blake's "The Chimney Sweeper"

First stanza- He is talking about his childhood, about how his mother died and how he was too pre-occupied to cry because he was sweeping.
Second stanza- His friend Tom Dacre cried alot who swept chimneys with him, and he had a shaved head.
Third stanza- Alot of sweepers have died, such as Dick, Joe, Ned and Jack.
Fourth Stanza- An angel from above came and took Dick, Joe, Ned, and Jack's souls up to heaven.
Fifth Stanza- Details are given about their trip up to heaven.
Sixth Stanza- Tom was dreaming about the whole thing.

Kurt Vonnegut's "Harrison Bergeron"

After reading the short story "Harrison Bergeron", I am confused more than anything.  I understand the story, but I don't really understand what happened to Harrison and the ballerina.  I assume they were the emperor and the empress that were shot, but why did George and Hazel become upset about what they viewed on the television and then all the sudden forget it?  To me, it seems like this story is trying to get the point across that in the future, the government will be in pure control of everything and everyone.  This is a scary thought to think about.  It is scary to think that the government will disfigure people and their abilities so that everyone is equal.  This was a strange story, and was too short!  I wanted to keep reading.  I wish there had been more to the story.  It just seemed like the plot was given, Harrison escaped jail and was shot, then the end of the story.

Ursula Le Guin's "The Ones Who Walk Away From The Omelas"

The people of the Omelas are described as happy, and the life they live is anything but simple, although it may appear like that to the reader (I agree that it is simple).  I think it is so strange that the entire Omelas' community is aware of the young, helpless boy that is being deprived and held captive.  To me, doing something like this in a "world of happniess" just doesn't make any sense.  In the story I underlined how Le Guin mentions that for the Omelas, guilt does not exist.  "One thing I know there is none of in the Omelas is guilt."  Obviously, this shows the Omelas are lacking human characteristics, and are clearly not thinking about how they are hurting the helpless boy being held captive.