Project 1

The Tall Cowboys → The Red Wheelbarrow by William Carlos Williams

there are way

too

many tall cow

boys

covered in dried

hay

underneath the glowing

stars

Character → Metaphors by Sylvia Plath

It is hard to explain myself,

An intimidating, compassionate friend

A mango cut into squares.

O blue nails, green, vivid tones!

This macaron is too sweet.

Technology is overwhelming.

I’m petite, a confidant, a nail in wood.

I am not a morning person,

Never turning away from a challenge.

Artist Statement

I emulated the poems The Red Wheelbarrow by William Carlos Williams and Metaphors by Sylvia Plath because I was able to make personal connections. Metaphors caught my attention because I found similarities in the poem’s content to my personal statements for college applications. Plath’s structure of the poem was unique and precise, allowing her to describe herself through simple nouns and adjectives that encompass her. Just like college applications, I have described my personality traits and what has shaped. Since the context of Metaphors was parallel to my personal statements, I emulated the poem by Sylvia Path because I can best relate to it. I also emulated The Red Wheelbarrow by William Carlos Williams because I found constructing a poem based on a single object was interesting. It was interesting to me how the author used exactly four words in each of the four stanzas to describe the object’s environment and characteristics.

One of the challenges I faced for emulating both poems was the writing approach. I didn’t know where to start and I had to dissect and carefully analyze both poems. For The Red Wheelbarrow, I noticed that it was focused on one compounded noun. This then led me to find the first compound noun that I thought of, a cowboy, to base my poem on. After finding this noun, it was easier to describe my noun in four stanzas and in 16 words total. Emulating Metaphors was also difficult because I found no pattern in her piece. Because of this, I identified nouns and adjectives and then replaced them with nouns and adjectives that described myself. Through my approaches towards the poems, I was able to emulate both pieces to describe my own personal traits and ideas.