Chapter One- Poetry

    I began my senior year in AP Lit with a summer assignment that was required for our class to read called, Catch 22, by Joseph Heller. After getting the ball rolling with all of the work we had to do with that book, next came poetry. Ever since I was a young child, I have enjoyed reading poetry. It was one of my favorite things to do. I liked to create my own poems when I was younger. It made me feel as if I was creative, and allowed me to have my own outlet to let my feelings out.
    When given the assignment of reading our giant textbooks first chapter on poetry, I groaned. I have to be honest, sometimes I don't quite grasp the concept of something right away when reading poems and passages.
    Last night, I opened the text book to begin the chapter. As I was reading our first poem, "Shall I compare thee to a summers day?" the poem was the farthest thing from my thoughts. As I re-read the poem for what felt like the tenth time, it all started to make sense. The words began to take on new meanings.
   Today in class, we were able to have a class discussion and dissection of what this poem really meant. Being able to get to the point faster as a group, was an enjoyable change to be able to actually start to understand what was going on. As our teacher was reading the poem to us, I heard more voice behind the lines of the poem. I was able to grasp the "hidden" meanings behind what was being said. 
    Dissecting this poem in class today, allowed me to hear this poem word for word through new ears. Grasping that Shakespeare's main purpose was not to describe a woman's beauty, but in reality describing the beauty of his poem and how his poems' beauty would live forever instead of the woman's beauty. Reading the poem again, I understand how self centered of a man that Shakespeare really was.
    Its unfortunate that no woman was actually beautiful enough for Shakespeare to write about in his poems.