Lobsters

Th poem "Lobsters" by Howard Nemerov is a much deeper poem than than it first appears.  The beginning of the poem starts out with the huge glass tank in a bright supermarket. The lobsters sit in the cold water waiting for someone to take them home and boil them alive. The dark and somber tone make this poem pretty depressing to read. It describes the slow moving lobsters sleepwalking around the tank and the dark hues blended into their shells. The last stanza puzzled me, it said that something under the world was the flame under the lobster pot. What? What could be under the world? It was not until the discussion that I began to understand. One of my classmates brought up the fact that the "flame" under the world is our inevitable fate: death.

This brought a whole new meaning to the poem. I realized that the whole picture of the lobsters was just a symbol of humans. We are the unknowing lobsters that are kept in the tank of the world, waiting for death to pluck us from existence. We pretend to be immortal and float through life avoiding reality at every turn, until we are hit. I now understand that the poet was not talking about lobsters at all, he was talking about humans the entire time. To me, this poem solidified man's greatest fear, death.

So Many Paragraphs, So Many Skills

While listening to the many theme paragraphs in English class, I noticed some reoccurring issues that I, too, struggle with in writing. In order to write a solid paragraph, one must have given the topic much thought. A key element in good writing is patience. Something might not turn out the way you want it the first time through. Being able to try again and rework it can make a huge difference. Another important part is including only quotes and commentary that supports the thesis. Straying from the topic is distracting to the reader and doesn't support the point you are trying to make. Wandering commentary is also an easy mistake to make. You can get so caught up in describing the story that you roam to another element of the book. Strong transitions also attribute to a well written 5 part paragraph. They help the writing flow together and easy for the reader to know when a new point is being introduced. These elements all contribute to a well written 5 part paragraph.
Yes, I also need help with my 5 part paragraphs. My main errors were plot summary and quote embedding. Sometimes I was so focused on explaining the quote that I went overboard and summarized a whole scene from the novel. I also needed to explain the background of my quotes. I needed to say what was happening at that point and who was speaking. This was where I would go off track and explain a little too much. I also needed transitions and my concluding sentence could have been phrased better. These are definitely things I will be sure to catch next time.