The Poetry of Robert Penn Warren Summary

The Poetry of Robert Penn Warren Summary

"True Love"

The name of this poem is trying to show that the narrator is feeling just the opposite - puppy love. When he is ten years old, he sees a girl, and thinks of how beautiful she looks. At ten years old, he does not understand much, and doesn't realize that what he is feeling is not love. The poem continues to tell of the years after then, when she called him by his name, when he thought she didn't know it. Her father is a drunkard, and, as he gets older, he realizes the abuse that she needs to put up with him.

"Dead Horse in Field"

Near a nice group of bushes, the narrator describes a horse that has died. A thoroughbred, the horse appears to have broken its leg, and was shot by someone to put it out of its misery. The narrator continues to describe the natural process of decay for the horse, such as when the crows and buzzards get to it, and later, when plants that "think they are God" grow over the bones.

"Tell Me A Story"

This poem is very short, and gets to the point rather quickly.The narrator tells of when, long ago, he was a boy in Kentucky. On a moonless, he hears a flock of geese, and knows, without seeing them, that they are flying northward. This is representative of the young man simply knowing his destiny, even if he is unable to see it.

"Evening Hawk"

The beginning of this poem seems to have a very mathematical component, as it describes planes of light and the geometry of it. However, as the poem goes on, there seems to be many riddles in it, with no clear main character or narrator, and many things from different points in time are mentioned, from Plato to hieroglyphics.

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