The poems in this unit share a theme of love—love of self, love of family, love of country, and love of a significant other. Aft
er deciding what kind of love is being addressed in each poem, compare and contrast how two of the poems treat the subject of love. Provide sensory details that the poets use to support your examples.
Explanation: In the poem, "Love after Love," the love of self is being addressed. The poet uses the sensory details of sight in this poem. The poet describes greeting yourself when you come in the front door and looking at yourself in the mirror and smiling at yourself. The poet also describes looking at the photographs and desperate notes and looking back at your life. In the poem, "In Trying Times," the love of country. The poet uses the sensory details of sight to show how a man has sacrificed his body for his country. In each line it talks about how a man has lost a piece of his body to serve his country. In the poem, "Tonight I Can Write," it shares a theme of love of a significant other. The poet uses the sensory details of touch to talk about the loss of a love. The poet talks about holding her in my arms and kissing her again and again under the endless sky. In the poem, "Serenity," the theme of love of family is being used. The poet uses sight and sound sensory details in the poem. The poem almost is written like a lullaby. It talks about singing to you and how their eyelids are closing. They also talk about a smooth forehead which represents a calm face. The poem that affects me the most is, "In Trying Times." I think this is because of how many people you see that have sacrificed their lives or their quality of life to serve the country.
