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 * PEACE **[[image:peace_sign.gif width="104" height="132"]]

//I chose peace as my theme because I was interested in exploring how poets fit themes like peace into a poem without necessarily making their writing ABOUT peace. I chose some poems that were about peace and some poems that had a peaceful feeling to it.//

__** " **__ Peace__**"**__ //By George Herbert //

Sweet Peace, where dost thou dwell? I humbly crave, Let me once know. I sought thee in a secret cave, And ask'd, if Peace were there, A hollow wind did seem to answer, No: Go seek elsewhere. I did; and going did a rainbow note: Surely, thought I, This is the lace of Peace's coat: I will search out the matter. But while I looked the clouds immediately Did break and scatter. Then went I to a garden and did spy A gallant flower, The crown-imperial: Sure, said I, Peace at the root must dwell. But when I digged, I saw a worm devour What showed so well. At length I met a rev'rend good old man; Whom when for Peace I did demand, he thus began: There was a Prince of old At Salem dwelt, who lived with good increase Of flock and fold. He sweetly lived; yet sweetness did not save His life from foes. But after death out of his grave There sprang twelve stalks of wheat; Which many wond'ring at, got some of those To plant and set. It prospered strangely, and did soon disperse Through all the earth: For they that taste it do rehearse That virtue lies therein; A secret virtue, bringing peace and mirth By flight of sin. Take of this grain, which in my garden grows, And grows for you; Make bread of it: and that repose And peace, which ev'ry where With so much earnestness you do pursue, Is only there.

//By Ralph Waldo Emerson//
 * __"The Rhodora":__**
 * //On Bei//ng Asked, Whence Is the Flower?**

In May, when sea-winds pierced our solitudes, I found the fresh Rhodora in the woods, Spreading its leafless blooms in a damp nook, To please the desert and the sluggish brook. The purple petals, fallen in the pool, Made the black water with their beauty gay; Here might the red-bird come his plumes to cool, And court the flower that cheapens his array. Rhodora! if the sages ask thee why This charm is wasted on the earth and sky, Tell them, dear, that if eyes were made for seeing, Then Beauty is its own excuse for being: Why thou wert there, O rival of the rose! I never thought to ask, I never knew: But, in my simple ignorance, suppose The self-same Power that brought me there brought you.

"Dover Beach__"__ //By Matthew Arnold//

The sea is calm tonight. The tide is full, the moon lies fair Upon the straits; on the French coast the light Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand; Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay. Come to the window, sweet is the night-air! Only, from the long line of spray Where the sea meets the moon-blanched land, Listen! you hear the grating roar Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling, At their return, up the high strand, Begin, and cease, and then again begin, With tremulous cadence slow, and bring The eternal note of sadness in. Sophocles long ago Heard it on the A gaean, and it brought Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow Of human misery; we Find also in the sound a thought, Hearing it by this distant northern sea. The Sea of Faith Was once, too, at the full, and round earth's shore Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled. But now I only hear Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar, Retreating, to the breath Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear And naked shingles of the world.

Ah, love, let us be true To one another! for the world, which seems To lie before us like a land of dreams, So various, so beautiful, so new, Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light, Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain; And we are here as on a darkling plain Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight, Where ignorant armies clash by night**__.__**

"Africa "​ __** //By Maya Angelou//
 * __

Thus she had lain sugercane sweet deserts her hair golden her feet mountains her breasts two Niles her tears. Thus she has lain Black through the years. Over the white seas rime white and cold brigands ungentle dicicle bold took her young daughters sold her strong sons churched her with Jesus bled her with guns. Thus she has lain. Now she is rising remember her pain remember the losses her screams loud and vain remember her riches her history slain now she is striding although she has lain.

**__"The Big Wrap-Up":__** All of these poems are connected in a way that has a peaceful meaning or tone, or is actually about peace. The first poem mentions peace many of times. Its main purpose is to show and tell that peace isn't easy to find because it can be found in multiple places or ways. The second poem is a peaceful poem that was written about a certain part of nature. In my opinion this poem relates very much so to peace, because peace is also in nature and beauty. In the first stanza of the third poem seems to be where Matthew Arnold was trying to tell the readers that "Dover Beach" is a peaceful and calm place. The first couple of verses of “Dover Beach” lulled the reader into a peaceful composure, imagining the perfect scene of a moonlit pebble beach of the Dover area of Southeastern England. This poem is also a romantic poem, and who doesn't find peace in romance? The final poem by Maya Angelou doesn't at first talk about having peace. In the first couple of stanzas in "Africa" Maya Angelou talks about pain and suffering, but not once mentions peace. In the last 8 verses peace begins to show. Maya Angelou writes about how Africa is now rising and how Africa is striding even through all her pains. The reason Africa began to rise is because it found peace.

The most affective poem on me was "Africa" by Maya Angelou. This poem was most effective because it talks about women's suffrage. I am a female and women's rights are very important to me. I think that once women have ALL of the same rights as men do, then women will finally find peace in the world, in themselves and in others. This poem also touched me more because of the way it was written and Maya Angelou's careful word choice. The words that she used seemed to symbolize things other than their literal meanings. This poem had a nice flow to it and it made me feel nice inside because of the poem's final message. The final message was that peace was found.