How Unpoetic

My topic is slightly unorthadox-it is a card game. But no ordinary card game-oh no, this is not your poker, your Texas hold'em. I speak instead of a fantasy card game, one that many people have not heard of, or, having heard of it, have dismissed entirely as something only a "nerd" would do. I speak of the game "Magic: The Gathering" (I believe I mentioned it briefly in a previous post. To me, this particular game is a huge part of my life. You make a deck of 60 cards out of a huge pool of cards, and pit yourself against opponents in a bid for...well, whatever's one the line, be it pride or something else. The ability to create your own deck, based on your own thoughts and analysis of the game is what makes it, to me, more interesting then the ever-the-same deck of Kings, Queens, and Jacks. To me, the most interesting part of the game is tournament magic. You meet so many different types of people-its spectacular. No matter their quirks, every person at the tournament is united by a common love and comittment to the game that one would normally expect to see in, say, football. Of course, no game could do so well without a savvy company to promote it, and for that you have the company "Wizards of the Coast." They not only release new sets at intervals to keep the game fresh and interesting, they, in their incredible commitment to seeing the game succeed, host tournaments of all kinds, up to and including the Pro Tour-yes, their is in fact a pro circuit. Of course, you don't need to be a hardcore tournament player to enjoy the game. A kitchen table can support the game just as well as a table in a tournament venue should you so choose-to many people (and to me, at times) the draw of the game is simply playing casually, nothing on the line, for nothing but laughs and fun (although theirs plenty of that in tournaments as well, believe you me). Yes, dynamic, ever shifting, a wonderful social exercise, and, to me, something to be treasured...to me, that is Magic.

Finding devices within poems

Success is counted Sweetest
By Emily Dickenson


SUCCESS is counted sweetest
By those who ne’er succeed.
To comprehend a nectar
Requires sorest need.

Not one of all the purple host 5
Who took the flag to-day
Can tell the definition,
So clear, of victory,

As he, defeated, dying,
On whose forbidden ear 10
The distant strains of triumph
Break, agonized and clear.

"http://www.bartleby.com/113/1001.html"

I chose this poem because it really stood out to me. The words seemed put together better then most other poems I have seen-in particular, the last two lines of the poem "The distant stress of triumph
Break agonized and clear" really made this poem unique to me-the "strains of triumph" can arguably refer to the strain of the battle itself, and hence, refer in turn to the death cry of another, who was probably also straining for the same triumph. This particular irony was, to me, quite well done.


The title of the poem, "Success is considered sweetest" is self explanatory. It relates the strugges of a person (probably a soldier, from the tone of the rest of the poem) who doesn't know success. It goes on to detail that
"Not one of all the purple host
Who took the flag to-day
Can tell the definition,
So clear, of victory"

One can take this to mean simply that even though someone may have achieved a victory, it may not feel like a victory-indeed, how could it? If you take the poem at face value, it appears that while one side is celebrating its victory, the other is lamenting its defeat with death cries. This is probably why the strains of victory break "so agonized and clear."


To comprehend a nectar
Requires sorest need.


Here is a prime example of a metaphor. Prior to these lines, she speaks of people who never succeed. Hence, here she is saying that to really appreciate something, like success (nectar), you have to need it really badly (sorest need). This firmly establishes what the poem will be about, as well as what mood the reader can expect.



As he, defeated, dying,
On whose forbidden ear
The distant strains of triumph
Break, agonized and clear.

This is the most powerful stanza in the poem, in my opinion, and a good example of imagery. The mental image of defeated, broken soldiers, lying forlornly on the ground is powerful enough, but to imagine such broken people being forced to hear the cries of victory from those who may have kill them, that is truly powerful.


The tone becomes quickly appearent as something very sombre and dark. It already gives a sense of foreboding when one begins reading, but it quickly turns to a dark thing when you reach the second stanza, and the subject of the poem becomes apparent. She creates the mood through use of powerful imagery, painting a vivid picture of fearful things in the mind of the reader.

Writing Territories

Every person has a passion-something that they always feel that they must get better at, something that drives them. For me, that is, as cheesy as it sounds, a card game. Not a normal card game-this is no poker I speak of, but rather a fantasy card game called Magic: The Gathering. (Incidentally, my love of fantasy novels probably helped to draw me into this). I first discovered the game when I was a very young child. A friend of mine introduced me to it, and showed me some very basic cards from the game. I was, to put it simply, only mildly interested at the time. I did not imagine then, what a huge part of my life that card game would become. A while after this, my mother (whom I had told about this) noticed an advertisement for a class about the game. I figured "why not?" and enrolled. I still remember the room where we learned. It was pretty bare bones, mostly grey. But they had several great huge tables throughout the room, and the instructor, who I remember only vaguely, informed us that if we did not have our own decks, we would each recieve what he called "a starter deck." Looking back on it now, the deck wasn't very strong at all, and needless to say, I lost nearly every game I played. Even still, I fell in love almost immediately. What wasn't too love? We got to battle our opponents with all magnificent arrays of creatures and spells! I soon began buying my own cards and creating my own deck, which, beginner as I was, wasn't very strong either, but I began winning, at least. I played off and on for a few years, until about seventh grade, when Magic became a fad at my middle school. Suddenly, everyone was playing! It was at about this time that I started getting interested in playing competitively...I don't know if it is an exxageration to say that if I hadn't had that experience, I never would have continued with magic as I did, but it definately contributed. Retelling my entire story would take hours on end to do, but suffice it to say that today, I still play the game every weekend, at a competitive level. It's a huge part of my life...but to be honest, I wouldn't trade it for the world. And I would definately do it all again, if I had to.

Myself as a writer

Truth be told, I like to read all manner of books, with the exception of auto biographies. However, my favorite books by far are fantasy novels. Something about the (oft tortured) hero going off on some epic quest to "slay the dragon" or whatever the author decides to call it just grabs me for some reason, even if it is a bit cliche'd at times. I've enjoyed books like that since I was very young, since I had (and have) a rather active imagination.

I like to write the same kind of stuff I like to read-anything supernatural or surreal is my niche'. I also enjoy (and, I think, am fairly skilled at) any sort of novel which involves a political issue, or a situation that arose because of politic (various wars, for example). Unfortunately, I have a bad habit of making my stories a bit too wordy at times, but I'm working on fixing that.

I don't write as often as I'd like too if it's not a school assignment...I always seem to get sidetracked. If I had better control of myself, I suppose I would write once or twice a week.