Poem#1: A Friend

THE POEM: A FRIEND

A friend is one who stands to share
Your every touch of grief and care
He comes by chance, but stays by choice
Your praises he is quick to voice

No grievous fault or passing whim
Can make an enemy of him
And though your need be great or small
His strength is yours throughout it all

No matter where your path may turn
Your welfare is his chief concern
No matter what your dream may be
He prays your triumph soon to see

There is no wish your tongue can tell
But what it is your friend's as well
The life of him who has a friend
Is double-guarded to the end.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Edgar Guest is a poet who was famous in the first half of the 20th century. He was born in
England but became an American poet. He became a naturalized citizen in America in 1902. Guest was especially well known in the North America for his sentimental, optimistic poems. During his lifetime he published 11,000 poems.

PERSONAL RESPONSE

When I read this poem, I liked the part when the poem had rhyme structure AABB in each stanza. Not only did the rhyme impressed me but also its meanings as well. This poem reminds me of my friend in high school in Korea. Whenever I had hard problems and concerns, he was the one who always dealt with my problems more than I did. In this poem, the 4^th line in stanza 2 relates to his behavior and it reminded me of my friend. This poem is talking about a friends characteristics and this poem made me think about my friends. It made me think about whether they are really my friends or not. Just because I hang around with them doesn’t mean that they are really my friends. I felt sorry for those who did care me a lot but I didn’t act the same like I did. Through this poem, I had noticed that if they are true friends, friends should care each other instead of being an unbalanced relationship. This poem made me feel sorry for those who I did not care well and reminisce the past with my friends. I felt thankful for all the friends I had and this poem gave me motivation to even care more to my friends. Before reading this poem, I felt sort of lonely, but after reading this poem, I felt reassured thinking about my true friends who trusted me no matter how far they are. Through this poem, I reflected my behaviors to my friends.

TP-CASTT

TITLE: The title "A Friend" made me think about my friends. I thought about the events that happened with my friends and the friends who I did not meet for a long time. Through the title, I think this poem will talk about the writer's friend who he misses a lot.
PARAPHRASE:
A friend is one who does not hesitate to share
By caring your grief
He meets by chance but decided to stay
He will be quick to praise

A passing whim or a grievous fault
will not make him an enemy
No matter how big or small your need is
He will always help you with all

No matter what changes in your life
He will concern about your welfare
Doesn't matter what your dream is
He will pray for your victory

There are wishes that you can't say
But your friend will have the same wish
The life of being friends with him
Is guarded by both me and him

CONNOTATION: (Formal Analysis)
1. Structure: 4 quatrains, Rhyme scheme AABB in each quatrain, iambic tetrameter
2. Speaker: Someone who knows about the friend, Audience: the "friend" in the poem
3. Figurative language: none
4. Imagery: none
5. Repetition: none

ATTITUDE:
friendly, insightful, lighthearted

SHIFTS:Throughout the entire poem, the speaker is mainly focusing on the characteristic of a friend. In the 1st quatrain, he is describing the friend as someone who praises and cares. In the 2nd quatrain, he is describing the friend who is dependable; nothing could change his friendship and he will always be your strength. In the 3rd quatrain, the friend is concerning about your path and success, and finally in the 4th quatrain, the speaker is describing the friend as someone who has the same wish.
Shifts occur in the 4th quatrain line 3 and 4. Throughout the entire poem, the speaker is describing the characteristics of a friend but in line 3 and 4 in the last stanza, the speaker is saying that the life of being a friend is actually double guarded which wraps up all the characteristics into one conclusion.
TITLE: After reading the poem, I realized that the title did not replace the friend the speaker is missing but rather generalizes the characteristics of a true friend. By explaining what a true friend could be, the author is using the title "A friend" to describe what a friend really is.

THEME: A friend should be someone who cares about you no matter what happens.

REFERENCES (APA-6)

Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Guest>.