The Altar p
448

From the
title I expect the poem to talk about sacrifice, devotion and god(s). The title
introduce a sacred atmosphere, the reader know that the poem is something holy,
something very important to the writer. The poem has one stanza of sixteen
lines in rhyming couplet. The first and the last two are longer than the
others, to introduce and to conclude it. The third, the fourth, the thirteenth
and the fourteenth lines are shorter than the first and last two, but also
longer than the eight in the middle. Though thinking that there is just one
stanza, the poem is divided in five parts.  the first one talk about this broken altar "made
of a heart, and cemented with tears", a love, that the speaking voice thought
would have been hallowed (a marriage), that fled away and left behind the tears.
In the second one the "altar", that love wouldn't be touched by anyone else.
The central part of the poem deal with the emotion, the sadness of the speaking
voice, his heart that is falling apart. The last two parts are a last, maybe
desperate, try to grab her back; offering her all what he has, sacrificing
himself to have her love. There are also five words in uppercase: altar, heart,
sacrifice and altar again which underline once again the sacred atmosphere of
the poem.

Offerings p
459

From the
title I expect the poem to deal with a religious offer, a proposal or a
donation to someone who is consider as a saint, a god or, at least, a very
important person to the speaker. The poem has four stanza: three quatrain and a
quintet. There are no rhymes. Every stanza has the same organization: in the
first line, the speaking voice come to her beloved in a different part of the
day, in chronological order, like an account of a day. In the second line, the
speaking voice offer some kind of flowers; in the third the speaker express his
emotions, his desires. In the last line the beloved ignore the offer and the
feelings of the narrator. In the last stanza, before refusing the gift, the
beloved gives the speaking voice some hybrid orchids, that means "thank you for
granted yourself" and is a symbol of  sexuality.
The fact that the orchids are hybrid ones, means a changing of her sexuality. The
speaking voice will never be with her.