Topic Proposal:
The text that I have chosen to write about for Essay 1 is the poem “Hidden Things” by Ed Madden. The central claim to this poem is that even if something horrible occurs, positive things can still take place. In other words, just because something unfortunate happens to a person does not mean one cannot recover. There are many passages in this poem that support this idea, but the one that struck me as the most meaningful was “We may not see the purple tulips again / this year, the second spring a gamble in this zone, / but tuberose will return in full, and the iris / at the corner has multiplied, three shoots / for last year’s one…” (stanzas 2 and 3, lines 3-4 and 1-3). These lines automatically struck me as meaning that even though one thing (the purple tulips) may be gone; there will be an abundance of other things (tuberose and iris).
Important word choices in the text include the often mention of flowers and blooming, which signifies new life and happiness. The last line of the first stanza mentions a jonquil flower, which is also known as a narcissus. This may be a metaphor to selfishness because the narcissus is named after the Greek god Narcissus, who was known as being very self-absorbed and in love with himself and his beauty. Also, the line “the plans you’ve made, are fingering forth in green” means that the plans that have been made are progressing well, just as grass becomes green when it comes alive after winter. Although this poem does use flowering and blooming to indicate life and happiness, there are also a lot of negative words used, such as dark, alone, forced, and quiet. Even though there is a significant amount of negative words, I believe that the overall tone of the poem is one of happiness and re-growth. The thesis for my essay will be “This paper will argue that even though negative events may happen in one’s life, there is always room for new life and growth.” This fits the poem because although the negative event is not directly mentioned, there is enough evidence to prove that something bad may have happened in a person’s life, life will keep going and if one is positive, things may even be better than before.

Introduction to Paper:
“Hidden Things” by Ed Bert is a poem that many can relate to. Throughout life, most people endure at least one tragic event, such as the loss of a loved one, witnessing a horrible crime, etc. “Hidden Things” is a poem about rebirth, growth, and moving on. The poem is written right before springtime, a period of new life. Bert uses flowers to signify this concept. In the poem, it is obvious that a tragic event has taken place in one’s life. The speaker of the poem is trying to convince the person that even though this event (unknown to the reader) has occurred, there is still hope in life. It seems that the speaker is allowing the mourning person to take his or her time to reflect on the negative event, but also lets the person know that he/she will be there for support. This paper will argue that even though negative events may happen in one’s life, there is always room for new life and growth.