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Isaac Valley
October 19, 2014
ENC 1101
Poetry Assignement
Poem #1-sonnet

Much More Than A Sport

To me basketball is morethen a hoop and a ball.

It is a gentlemans brawl,
an urban warof four on four.
A game that will enthralleven the least of us all,
with the joy of a score.

But we play for the competition,

that this sport provides.
We play because we practicedto excel at this tradition
of good friends and vibes.
To be the best and the fastest.

Poem #2-item poem

Sleep is Nirvana
My bedthe place I rest my head,
when the day is done and my eyes close.
There is no place Id rather be insteadexcept my old room I suppose.

As a single-sized mattress pad

it isntt the bed I am used to.
Some days I long for the bed I had,
but out with the old and in with the new

While my bed may be skinny

my pillows pick up the slack.
My thread is many,
so Im alright with that.

For to a college student

sleep is nirvana.
I long to sleep, but know I shouldnt.
This poem is due maana

As I lie comatose betwixt covers

my worries begin to pass.
I slowly start to recover
Im in paradise at last.

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Poem #3-Move in day memory

Dont Judge A Book by Its Cover

The hallway was long,
pipes hung from the ceiling.
The smell of asbestos was strong
But regret was not my feeling.

The daythe 20th of August.

The placeSmith Hall Dormitory.
Not the best dorm, but it is progress
another stepping stone in my lifes story.

College is where ones life truly begins

with the memories you MAKE and the friends you MEET.
The motivation to succeed that comes from within,
the risks you TAKE and the challenges you BEAT.

Move in day was hectic,

I was tired and bruised.
My dorm at first had me skeptic
but with furniture the room improved.

Of the two, I choose the lower bed.

Covered the pipes with a flag overhead,
moved the desks because I thought ahead.
I knew that I would want more room instead

My roommate arrived three days later.

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Boundaries were set without being a dictator.
Move-in day transformed the room into something greater.
It is now my home and I cant express that on paper.

Poem #4painting reflection

The Day After Tomorrow

When this world ends
where will I stand?
I hope amongst friends
In the Promised Land.
How will God judge,
in his infinite wisdom?
Will God damn me swiftly
Like the Last Judgement.
This painting raises questions
About my lifes decisions.
Though I have good intentions,
I have fallen out of religion.
But perhaps this is the purpose
of this heavenly depiction.
To soften the heart of a person
and stimulate spiritual conviction.

Isaac Valley
October 19, 2014
ENC 1101
Reflection Essay

This project pushed me because poetry is not my thing. In the past, I have taken poetry
classes in high school so I know a thing or two about the great wordsmiths such as Emily
Dickinson, Robert Frost, and Edger Allen Poe. Although I have studied great works of poetry,
composing them has never been my strong suit. Regardless, the poetry that I wrote in this project
makes me proud. I put a lot of effort into the topics, word play, and structure. Of the four poems,
the sonnet was the hardest to write, but also the most rewarding. My reflection poem about
Michelangelos The Last Judgment had the deepest subject matter so writing this poem forced
me to dive deep into where I stand with my beliefs. While introspection was key for all of the
pieces, this poem required the most. Both of these poems produced great results, but the poem
that was the most enjoyable to write was the item poem. As an exhausted kid in an eight am
class, deciding that my bed was the item to write about was an easy decision. Finally, the
memory poem which took me the longest to write is an interesting read because it conveys the
conflicting emotions of a young adult who is starting his independent life in college. This poem
hopefully expresses what the idea of college is to me as an individual.
The sonnet for me was the biggest challenge. Normally I write poems that consist of
quatrains with either ABAB or AABB end rhyme so the structure of a traditional Petrarchan
sonnet initially stumped me. At first I was hung up on the rhyme scheme of this sonnet
(ABBAABBACDECDE). The break in end rhyme between the first and fourth line forced me
to write off the top of my head and hope that I could rhyme it together a few lines later. This lack

of strategy produced my first draftwhich was a disaster. I chose to write about playing a
pickup game of basketball, a favorite pastime of mine. This first attempt was poorly composed
and lacked intelligence. Desperate to conform to the Petrarchan structure, I forced lines together
just because they rhymed, for example: I checked the time, its game timemy squad is who
Im with/ Ive got the powder like LeBron and Im about to make it mist/. The other twelve line
consisted of the same long, run on lines that lacked consistency and clarity. Upon revision I
realized that I needed to switch the topic from a pickup basketball game to a description of how
basketball makes me feel and why it is important. The much shorter lines of the second draft
(about 5 words per line) increased the flow and sound of the sonnet, in comparison to the average
length of the first drafts lines (about 12 words per line). Also, the end rhyme sounded crisper to
the reader since less time develops between lines. In the first octave stanza: More, ball,
brawl, war, four , entrall, all, and score roll off the tongue easily. While my first
attempt to describe a pickup game was flimsy and weak, I feel that that second draft expresses
my personal connection with a sport that is like a ritual to me. I mentioned earlier that this
process was the most challenging but also the most rewarding. This is because originally I felt
constricted by the sonnets structure, but in the end it forced me to expand my writing strategies
and I am proud of my result. It was a joy to write and to read.
My sonnets caused me to wade into kiddy pool but my ekphrastic poem forced me to dive
into the deep end. This poem was by far the most introspective, and with good reason. The Last
Judgment, a painting by Michelangelo causes the viewer reflect on how he will be judged by
God. I composed this poem with five quatrains of ABAB end rhyme. I started the poem
questioning my actions on earth and how they reflect on my character and relationship with God.
As a Christian whos spiritual life is not the best, these questions are very real to me: When the

world ends/where will I stand? I hope amongst friends/in the Promised land. Later in line 9, I
switch from heavenly acceptance to the possibility of rejection. This painting made me wonder
whether my repugnant sin would make me guilty and cause God to damn me swiftly. In
comparison to the other poems, this topic is heavy, deep, and out of place. This difference
highlights the topic and increases the impact on the reader. After reading poems about basketball,
college, and sleep, this topic is a shock. This is why I choose this painting, it made me think
more than any other work of art. I could picture myself in the faces of those being judged. In the
last quatrain I summarize this thought by saying that the purpose of this heavenly depiction is to
soften the heart and stimulate spiritual conviction.
The previous two poems were my best being the most introspective with the deepest
topics. But these last two were the most enjoyable to write. First the item poem, a beautiful love
letter to my bed. When I came up with the item to write about I was exhausted and looking at an
8:45 am clock, so it is understandable that my bed was forefront in my mind. This twenty-lined,
quatrain-structured poem is a tribute to my favorite item, my portal to paradisemy bed. I
choose this structure because I am the most creative and free when writing in ABAB rhyme
scheme. Each quatrain is composed of two sentences that are cut into four pieces. This way I can
get a complex thought across to the reader without the lines of the poem being too long. In this
poem I appealed to the senses of the reader, a reader who can relate with the joys of lying in a
bed and not wanting to be (anywhere) instead. Another example is in lines 17-20: I lie
between the coversI slowly start to recover. These lines are relatable with anyone who has
ever has a long day. I enjoyed writing this poem because sleep is one of the things that I, as a
college student, am passionate about. This poem refers to my bed in my dorm, which isnt what I
am used to, in comparison to my old bed at home which is twice the size. I choose to specify this

fact because I wanted the reader to know that I was referring to my college bed. This is important
because it shows that I see my dorm as my new home even though is not as nice as my parents
home. To quote myself, while my bed may be skinny I have made the best of it with great
pillows and covers. Of the five quatrains the fourth is my favorite because the joke while cheesy
expresses me as a writer. I always want my poetry to be a little humorous and relatable to the
reader.
Lastly the poem about move-in day, this memory poem was beneficial and enjoyable to
write. I was able to express my emotions and initial concerns with the dorm that I was moving
into. Smith is a little run down but I made it work. The heart of my poem is the third quatrain, to
me college symbolizes where my life truly begins. The collection of memories, friends, and risks
taken in these four years define a person. Structurally this poem is the longest with 24 lines with
an ABAB rhyme scheme though the first four quatrains. These quatrains composed of commas
and dash marks makes the flow of the poem have a baaa-dum, baa-dum tempo. In the last two
stanzas, the switch in rhyme to AAAA-BBBB quickens the pace. The purpose is to break up the
monotony of the last few stanzas and impress the reader with a good set of end rhyme. The last
two lines summarize my point in the telling of this memory; Move in day transformed the room
to something greater. Its my home and I cant express that on paper. The importance of move
in day is that it was a stepping stone in my lifes story, a great transition from child to adult.
Poetry is not my strongest talent, there are plenty of writers who can out do me. But I am
proud of my efforts, while this was a challenging assignment it was both enjoyable and
rewarding. I may never be a poet but for a brief time during my education I have that
opportunity. These four poems have a variety of topics that I hope will help the reader

understand a little more about me and how I see life. I also hope you had as much fun reading
this poetry as I did writing them.