On monday’s seminar class, we started the recitations of the poems given to us by professor Kahan. I was excited to hear everyone’s poems and their interpretations of the poems. Knowing that professor Kahan chose the poems for my classmates and I personally, I knew that this was going to be an interesting experience.

Austin,very bravely, volunteered to go first. He read a poem called To Brooklyn Bridge by Hart Crane. I was very interested to hear his poem because I too have a poem written by Hart Crane and wanted to compare the two poems to better understand Hart Crane’s writing style. To me, Hart Crane’s poems are very difficult to interpret and understand. However, I think that Austin did a great job!

My favorite poem of the day was Ariana’s poem Love and Marilyn Monroe (after Spillane) by Delmore Schwartz. This poem discussed Marilyn Monroe and how she is more than a just a beautiful and desirable woman. Even though Marilyn Monroe was known as a promiscuous woman during her time, she wanted the public to take her and her acting profession seriously. She basically wanted to be treated the proper way a woman should be treated. She did not want the attention just because she was a desirable and beautiful woman. I especially loved this poem because I believe that it is easily relatable for all women. All women want to be treated respectfully and properly for who they truly are and not because of what they look like.

I enjoyed all the poems on monday’s class. I know how difficult it is to present something to others, especially your friends and classmates, and I believe that all my classmates did an amazing job presenting their poems.