Sam+Polk

=Poems About Sadness= =Ode on Solitude= How happy he, who free from care, The rage of courts, and noise of towns Contented breathes his native air, In his own grounds.
 * by Alexander Pope**

Whose herds with milk, whose fields with bread, Whose flocks supply him with attire, Whose trees in summer yield him shade, In winter fire.

Blest! who can unconcern'dly find Hours, days, and years slide swift away, In health of body, peace of mind, Quiet by day,

Sound sleep by night; study and ease Together mix'd; sweet recreation, And innocence, which most does please, With meditation.

Thus let me live, unheard, unknown; Thus unlamented let me die ; Steal from the world, and not a stone Tell where I lie.

Death Sweet Death
**by Saint Cynosure** Death sweet death , the visitor, dark color at my door. I'm hesitant to answer, for what I fears in store. With you I shall play hide and seek , so knock forever more. There are worse for you to take, please leave me, I implore. I know what life has got to give, I know of pain and sorrow. I do not know what you shall bring, to payments for my borrow. You seem so dark to dark to read, a shadow for the grave. Death sweet death, leave me to live, whats lost for if I stay?
 * This Poem is about how mysterious death is and he is scared and does not want to die but knows that death is near.**

I'm Nobody! Who Are You?
I'm nobody ! Who are you? Are you nobody, too? Then there's a pair of us - don't tell! They'd banish us, you know!
 * by Emily Dickinson

How dreary to be somebody! How public like a frog To tell one's name the livelong day To an admiring bog! **
 * This Poem is about how nobody cares about these people and that they like to hide away. To add some irony, even though they are Nobodies, they are happy about it.**

These Poems are similar because they all relate to sadness. __I'm Nobody! Who Are You?__ has a bit of happiness in it when it talks about how they wouldn't like to be nobodies. __Ode To Solitude__ is a bit sad because each one of the stanzas is talking about a happy man's life except for the last one; It talks about how he will die in solitude and alone. __Death Sweet Death__ is about how mysterious death is and how he wants to live and is scared about what is on the other side. He also knows that death is near and doesn't want it to come. Each one of these poems is sad because each of them is about something that relates to sadness. __I'm Nobody! Who Are You?__ is about how the author is nobody and nobody cares about what she thinks. __Ode To Solitude__ is about how he is jealous of someone and wants to have the life of someone who is happy. __Death Sweet Death__ relates to sadness because the author knows that death is at the door and he is scared. The poem that effected me the most was probably __Ode To Solitude__. It just really got to me. He talked about how this man had a perfect life, and although he never really said anything to say that he is jealous, you could sense it from the way he wrote it.

Sam, thanks for your thoughts here. I'm wondering about the authors' messages, too, and from reading the poems several times, it seems that the first and third celebrate solitude more than they examine sadness, and that's the irony that Pope and Dickinson address. Most people think being alone must be miserable, but both poets want us to see the beauty and comfort in solitude.