To Myself

Let’s be honest here I picked this poem first because, it is one of the shorter poems but, the title also caught my eye. The skeleton of the poem is a single 16 line poem (we don’t have the word for 16 lines). For the rhyming scheme, this poem is a free verse because none of the lines rhyme. Although what I did notice is six of the lines end in you. This poem is about staying true to yourself. The lines “Even when I forget you, I go on looking for you” (lines 1 and 2) explain it all to me. I think when all humans feel they’ve lost their true self’s they often go searching for it. The poems lines that stood out most to me were most 3-4. I like how the lines talk about remembering. This poem made me think of how I often remember some events in my life as how I want to remember them, and how often I remember other people as I want them to be. Another part of the poem I really enjoyed was lines 4-7, Merwin is talking about how in his memory it is as if he was still there but it was long ago. To me those are the most enjoyable memories where you can live completely in that moment. To me it’s like where you have a dream and it is so real you almost question if you are awake or not. These memories are so emotionally powerful to me this poem is a pathos. Another part of the poem I liked a lot was lines 14-16 to me these lines mean you are a true individual and not what people say you are. Even when you lose yourself and change, you are not lost; you are yourself undefined and beautiful. Over all I really enjoyed this poem because of the dreamy flow from line to line, and the poems marvelous ideals. *The pictures are pictures I've taken that made me feel how I felt when I read the poem.