AUTHOR'S OTHER TITLES (2) Sadness (Poetry) A poem. [123 words] Devil Me, Angel One Day On (Short Stories) A short story. [883 words]
Poem Analysis Ana Lucia Mora
POEM ANALYZATION By: Ana Lucia Mora M. 8-B
Summer Stars By: Carl Sandburg
Bend low again, high of summer stars. So near you are, sky of summer stars, So near, a long-arm man can pick off stars, Pick off what he wants in the sky bowl, So near you are, summer stars, So near, strumming, strumming, So lazy and hum-strumming.
In order to understand a poem and know what it says, there first has to a long procedure of analysis. This process includes the understanding of poetic devices and the rhythm it contains, which will make the structure be clearer. Therefore, the reader will come up with some of the vast interpretations the poem has. To comprehend how these steps should be done, and be able to grasp what a piece of writing hides behind it, the poem “Summer Stars” written by the remarkable famous author Carl Sandburg, will be analyzed. The first step to finding the meaning to a poem is to look at the structure and all the characteristics that make it. Notice there is a lot of poetic devices in “Summer Stars”, which have to be analyzed. The one poetic device that stands out the most is alliteration because it’s in most of the verses. Alliteration is when there is more than 1 word in a line that start with the same letter. In this poem, alliteration is used with the letter “s”, making it have a playful sound when it is read out loud. For example, on the second verse it says, “So near you are, sky of summer stars.” These poetic devices have now been uncovered, leaving the sentences that make up the poem, clear in what they might express. The next aspect of the poem to analyze is the rhythm, which, as well as the figurative language, makes up the structure of the poem and helps understand the meaning better. Just by looking at the verses of the poem, many people would say it doesn’t have any rhythm because it does not have a rhyming scheme. However, if the poem is read carefully, it’ll be seen that the rhythm can also be caused by other techniques. For example, this poem’s rhythm seems very slow and soft because the descriptive words found in it, give a sensation of calmness. Yet, as it is read out loud, its rhythm is faster because of the many repetitions it has. This poem repeats the words “summer stars”, “stars”, “sky”, “so near”, “pick off”, and “strumming”. As a result, it is noticeable that this poem might be talking about something emotional or maybe its character has a strong feeling, because the words and rhythm it is written in, give that impression. Now that analyzing the structure has been done, the meaning of each part of the poem is known. Still, each reader has its own way of interpreting the poem, so there is no wrong or right meaning. However, no matter who the reader is, generally there are two ways of seeing the poem’s meaning; the explicit and the implicit. In the explicit way, which is just what the poem is talking about, it is simply describing the sky. “Summer Stars” might have been written by a person who’s looking at the night sky and describing how beautiful and filled with stars it is. Also, it is saying how near the sky seems that night. This is just an interpretation of the poem that can be seen without it having to be analyzed because you can notice immediately it is talking about the sky even though you don’t understand the subtleties. Along with the explicit meaning, there is another way of looking the poem, which is the hidden message under the verses. Looking deeper into the words, this poem might be talking about how there are some things that seem so near, but they’re actually very far away from your reach. For example, a way to interpret this message is that this person loves this other person very much, and he is certain it is very easy that they’re together, but suddenly a bunch of obstacles appear. It is that although these two people seemed very close to each other, they’re really very difficult to be together. This can be one intention to the poem, even though there are many other ways to find a meaning to the symbols of the poem. As seen, analyzing a poem is a long process that takes specific steps to open its way to the meaning. These steps’ purpose is to grasp what every single edge of the poem says, so there are more clear interpretations to it. As a result, this way the intention of the poet is easier to get to and find a message of great value no matter the size, theme, or techniques of the poem.
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"I think it was quite excellent how she broke down the poem into its elements. I guess that's what happens in an analysis. She used simple, everyday language to describe something wonderfully profound. She reminded of me of Frank Sinatra's "The Impossible Dream." Oh, is he dead?" -- Dennis, Quezon City, Philippines.
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