A Fool's Song

A Fool's Song
By William Carlos Williams

I tried to put a bird in a cage.
        O fool that I am!
    For the bird was Truth.
Sing merrily, Truth: I tried to put
        Truth in a cage!

And when I had the bird in the cage,
        O fool that I am!
    Why, it broke my pretty cage.
Sing merrily, Truth: I tried to put
        Truth in a cage!

And when the bird was flown from the cage,
        O fool that I am!
    Why, I had nor bird nor cage.
Sing merrily, Truth: I tried to put
        Truth in a cage!
    Heigh-ho! Truth in a cage.

An Interpretation of “A Fool’s Song”
By Caroline

My poem “A Fool’s Song” consists of sixteen lines and three stanzas.  This poem has no rhyme scheme.  The point of view of this poem is first person.  This poem’s setting is a room with a person and a bird cage.

 The speaker of the poem is a person who is trying to hide the truth.  The person that has the truth/secret is having a hard time hiding the truth.  The truth/secret keeps on escaping.  But, the person finally hides the truth/secret after many tries. 

In each stanza the fourth line has no punctuation in.  The fourth line does not have punctuation because Williams says “I tried to put” (Williams, ln. 4).   Each fourth line says that.  After each fourth line in all of the stanzas the next lines say, “Truth in a cage” (Williams, ln. 5)!  This makes a full sentence of “I tried to put truth in a cage.”  When Williams says, “I tried to put a bird in a cage” (Williams, ln. 1) Williams means that the bird is the truth/ a secret and the cage that he is trying to put it in means that he is trying to hide the truth/ a secret. 

            My interpretation of this poem is that a person has a deep, dark secret or a truth that they are trying to hide.  The truth/ secret keeps escaping and spreads to people.  The person that has the secret doesn’t want anyone to know so they try to hide it.  After many tries of trying to put the truth back in the cage/ trying to hide it the person finally achieves their goal and hides the truth.

            Another interpretation to this story is that the speaker cheated on a test.  The speaker keeps on peeking on the test next to them.  Each time they go to look at their neighbor’s test the teacher catches them cheating.  Finally the speaker comes up with a good technique to cheat and the teacher doesn’t catch them cheating.  When they get their test back they got a 100%. That means that their goal of cheating is finally achieved.  They have successfully cheated.  When the bird is finally hidden the persons cheating habit is finally hidden.  They can use that technique whenever they want and not get told on.

            The bird is a metaphor for a deep dark secret or a truth.  The cage is a metaphor to the person trying to hide the truth/ secret.  Each time the bird escapes it is a metaphor to the truth escaping and spreading to people.  When the bird is finally kept in the cage the metaphor is that the truth is finally hidden. 

            When Williams writes, “Why, it broke my pretty cage” (Williams, ln. 8) the truth had escaped and the cover was broken.  When the poet, Williams, says, “Heigh-ho!  Truth in a cage” (Williams, ln. 16) it means that he is very happy that the truth is hidden and that he doesn’t plan on the truth or secret getting out again.  “And when the bird was flown from the cage” (Williams, ln. 11) means that the truth or secret had escaped and that the truth was being spread around everywhere.

            The poem ends by finally saying that the truth is hidden.  When Williams says that it is hidden/kept control of it means that the truth will not escape again.  It is finally hidden forever.  It is a nice way to end the poem because the poem is about the truth/secret escaping a lot.  But, when the speaker finally hides the truth it is a relief.   It is a relief because the speaker finally keeps the truth from escaping.  The speaker doesn’t have to worry about the truth/speaker escaping.

The Last Shot

By Caroline

            It was halftime at the field hockey game.  The Green Hornets A team was playing the Crofton A team. I think the score was 1-0 and my team, the Green Hornets were winning.  The second half of the game started.  We were getting so may fouls.  It was a whistle every couple seconds.  It went on the whole entire first half of the second half.  In the middle of the second half Crofton scores.  The score was tied and the pressure was on.  We were fighting as if it was the championship game but it was really the first game of the season. We wanted to start off our season with a win.  The time was running out and the game was still tied.  It was down to the last five minutes of the game and we were fighting as hard as we could.    The time was going so fast and both teams couldn’t get full control over the ball.  It was down to the last minute and we were still fighting for the ball.  All of a sudden we all stopped when we heard the buzzer ring.  The game was over unless they let us go in to overtime.  The referees discussed and overtime was about to begin.  

Our coach was talking to my team.  They went out on the field against the five other Crofton players.  They did the draw and the other team wins the ball. They tapped sticks three times and then fought for the ball.  They start dribbling down the field.  They pass to a girl close to the goal. She shot.  Our goalie saved it.  We ended up fighting for the ball.  It was a constant battle for the ball.  The players know that they only had five minutes of overtime.  They had now wasted at least three minutes.  They were still fighting but after a few more seconds we had finally got possession of the ball.  The other team played defense to get the ball back to their team.  But, we still kept control of the ball.

            We finally got full possession of the ball. I believe Sydney passed the ball to Erin.   Then, Erin passed the ball to Hunter.  Hunter got a long pass and she started dribbling down the field.  My teammates and the Crofton players were chasing her from behind.  Our whole team was on the sidelines screaming as loud as they could.  Hunter finally made it down to the goal.  She went to shoot and the whole crowd got quiet.  If she didn’t make this shot there would be fifteen seconds left to shoot again.  She shot.  The goalie made a quick slide for the ball.  I heard a “bang” on the backboard of the goal.  The goalie didn’t save the ball.  Hunter had just made the winning shot of the game.  We all went crazy and we were screaming as loud as we could. 

My team sat down to talk about the game after we shook hands with the other team.  Our coach congratulated us and told us our next practice time.

            As soon as I got in the car, I soaked in what had just happened.  It was amazing.  We had just scored in the last fifteen seconds of the game.  It was a great game and I was still in shock.  I woke up and went down stairs.  I stared talking to my mom but realized it was more like a whisper.  I had then remembered that during the whole overtime I was screaming as loud as I could. 

I still remember this game as like it was yesterday.  I miss my team and that game.  I wish I could replay that game over and over and over again. Hopefully my team this year will be as great as a team and as good friends as my team last year.  I will always remember that field hockey team as the dream team and the best field hockey season ever!