Kiana Dehmand

Jamison
9th Honors Lit
9/16/15

Poetry out loud Reflection

From the poetry out loud presentations and analyzing I did, I learned that poems really do
go deeper to mind than just writing on paper. I personally never liked poetry so much but after
this project I realized poems actually do connect with people if the right one is chosen. Each
presentation was really serious meaning that we took actual time processing our poems inside
and out; we took time to understand and memorize each line word for word. I learned that poetry
can connect to people who never even liked poems to begin with.
I annotated and recited The Ocean by Nathaniel Hawthorne. As mentioned in the
reading literary standard, ELAGSE9-10RL4 I used annualized the poem both in a TPFASTT
describing the title, figurative devises, a paraphrase version in my words, etc. and I also included
the annotations I made while reading the poem multiple times. I think that this poem was written
to tell the real story of the ocean, to inform readers that the ocean is not just a huge body of water
made for people to vacation on. The author must have had great connection with the sea when he
wrote But peaceful sleep is ever there beneath the dark blue waves. He was inferring the sea
was his peaceful, quiet place when the stress from the land (reality) brings him down. He also
writes, Though there be fury on the waves, beneath them there is none. I think hes trying to
say that the ocean can at times, be judged a lot when really theres nothing to be judged when no

one really knows whats beneath the surface of the water. Also, the poet may not even be talking
about the ocean in that line, what if hes taking about himself being judged? This poem can also
be referred to as a story of heartbreak because of the lines, The earth has guilt, the earth has
care, unquiet are its graves. Hawthorne couldve named someone or something specific as the
earth and they couldve past away or maybe went out of his life. Either way this poem talks
about the oceans real side with some references to real life situations that the poet might have
had. When I first read this poem, I enjoyed it a lot because of the lines Hawthorne written that
described the ocean but I never even thought of those possible scenarios that this poem really
does go deeper than just a brief description of the ocean. I thought it was very unique and
fascinating to what a simple poem can offer.