INTRO TO POETRY

Working Together
By: David Whyte 
1. The significance of the title is that working together shows us how our surroundings and the people around us truly shape who we are. The title introduces this new idea that even though the world and our surrounding shapes who we are, we can work together to find who we really are.
2. This poem has a reflective poem. It seems as if the author is reflecting on the nature of human beings and the cycle they seem to go through. He is almost looking back and giving his opinion, in a general manner, about what humans go through and how although there is a negative, there will always be a positive to follow.
3. When I read this poem, I rated it a 10 and my meaning behind this was simply truth. There was truth to the poem that connected to my daily life and something that I do everyday, collaborating. This realization came to me after reading this poem because I was able to connect so easily and reflect on my personal experiences as well.
4. This poem shifts work as a pulse. It seems that the first part is true, but expressed in a negative way and then the author follows it with something a little more positive. The author does this all throughout the poem, as if it is going in and out with its shifts.
5. The overall theme of this poem is this flow of influence and how we are influenced by so many different things that surround us. In this poem there is this contradiction, yet also a harmony. Everything connects because people are influenced by the same or different things.
Brainstorming about this poem and going through this question helped me look at it in different ways, which was ironic because the poem itself was telling you how people can view things from so many different perspectives. Talking about this poem in my group also helped me because, as I was looking at it one way, my classmates saw things that I completely missed. I was able to find other ideas and clarify what the tone and theme of the poem was so that I can use the information to write my essay tomorrow in class.