Silko's Poem

Each punctuation mark has a space before and after it. This differentiates from the regular use of punctuation. This use of punctuation slows the pace of the poem and makes clear where the reader should relax and slowly indulge into the poem. The irregular spacing of the poem is explained by the last lines of the poem, “over 100,000 people disappeared, leaving no solid clues, nor trace only, a space in the lives of their friends” (Reed 43-45). These last lines show that the spacing of the poem represents the spaces left in the lives of those who have lost loved ones.

The sentence structure of this poem is unlike a lot of poems that you might see where the lines are of equal length and contain the same amount of sylables. Rather than taking that approach, Blanco's poem contained senteneces, and lines that were all of different length. For example, in the second stanza blanco included two very long lines that included dashes and comma's because he was creating a list. Some of the very short lines feautured throughout the poem occur beacause the sentence was too long to fit into the line before and was continued in the next line.

The poem is structured in a way which follows the proper metre for a sonnet, however, it is unusual in a sense that it is free verse and has no rhyme scheme. The sentences are broken to fit the iambic pentameter. This creates pauses, and a choppiness in the flow

Throughout the poem the tone and harmony is showing many different moods including shyness, anger and calmness. An example of shyness is at the start of the poem “softy, silently it swishes”, an example of anger is in the middle of the poem “it thumps, it sprays it rips at shores, its ozone spray”, and finally at the end of the poem calmness is shown, “it spends its strength, it sings, it sighs. The wave recedes”. One aspect of the poem I find intriguing is the alliteration and personification. For example, “it sighs, it sings, it seeks”.

The structure of the poem is free, and what it does is to give us the spirit of the sea. The poem is written in free verse, there is no restrictions of formal rhyme or meter. However, the length of the three stanzas of the poem is very even although it is not exact. It makes the flow of the entire poem became balanced. This form of structure is just like the wave of the sea. The period of the wave is natural and balanced; it is pretty even but it is not exact. Also, there are a lot of commas in the poem. Keeping using commas makes the sentences very long. In fact, the entire poem is constructed by 6 sentences only. It makes the feeling of the poem just like the sea, and lines of the poem are the wave of the sea. Each endings of the waves are

Apart from that, the poem consists of a series of turns that reflect different parts of the speaker’s feelings and the experiences he had. The significance of these turns is made possible through the use of stanza breaks. For example, the first

He uses this in the poem to give it rhythm to engage the reader and

The way that the poem rhymes affect the way it sound buy giving it a certain beat and

“The Man to Send Rain Clouds” by Leslie Marmon Silko: This story tells of the death of a tribal elder (Teofilo). Upon his death, his grandsons, Leon and Ken, secure his body and proceed to apply their cultural rituals for a burial. “Before they wrapped the Oldman, Leon took a piece of string out of his pocket and tied a small gray feather in the old man’s long white hair. Ken gave him the paint. Across the brown wrinkled forehead, he drew a streak of white and along the high cheekbones he drew a strip of blue paint.” (Silko, 439) Not knowing much about Native American beliefs I do know that feathers and face painting is a large part of their culture. This is the first clue given that the characters in this work are Native American. After gathering his body they proceed to bring him back to they have an interaction with the local Catholic priest, Father Paul. During this interaction, the family members don’t tell Father Paul that their grandfather has passed when he asks did they locate him. At once I could tell that there is a rift of some nature because the ritual they just performed on the body would be in stark contrast/opposition to a Catholic burial. The author of this novel is describing the encroachment of religion on Native American culture. This is again shown when Ken and Leon stop by the church to ask Father Paul to use holy water to the graveyard. The reasoning for the sprinkling of the holy water is so that Teofilo could send big thunderclouds from the

The third stanza which marks the middle of the poem begins, "The Ocean said, Come flow freely with me" with ten syllables written in pentameter accompanied by iambic, spondee and trochee syllables. A steady rhythm in meter is noted in the next four lines which declines to trimeter for all four lines. Line fourteen, "and the creatures in my seas." contains pyrrhic, trochee and anapestic syllables. The fifteenth line in trimeter, "Here your tears will disappear," contains for the first time in the poem, a dactyllic syllable accompanied by the iambic syllable. Line sixteen, "and your worries will cease." contains again the iambic syllable now accompanied by the pyrrhic syllable. The last line in the series of trimeter lines is line seventeen which states, "Be the element that I need.". concludes the metered pattern. In lines fourteen through seventeen the meter is measured the same, however there is a new element added to the syllables previously used in the beginning stanzas. The repeated trimeter is suggestive of familiar situation but the new syllable is

The poem sits easily on a page and is visually satisfying, although this is in part due to the visual rhymes previously mentioned. This appearance though is false as the poems content is analysed but reinforces the theme of appearance and reality in the 4th stanza. Again, the "controlled" use of structure can be seen as adding to the poems "passion" showing a masterful combination of the two. The repetition of and permutations on the line: "my heart is breaking for a little love" is another structure that reinforces the poems meaning and show the despair that the poem communicates. The move away from the 1st person in the last two stanzas serves to provide a different perspective on the emotions discussed allowing a broader view than if the whole poem was in the first person, again this use of structure emphasises the underlying emotions.

This is another thing that adds to the poem’s distinctness; its engineering. The spacing and enjambment in this poem causes a feeling of pausing in one’s mind, almost like how someone would announce a law. Especially noticeable is the enormous amount of spacing between the words “Good luck to you” and the other lines, almost as if it were a final message after the message sank in for the listener. However, the most evident thing is that the author seems to be almost talking to you, making you feel much more involved than just reading it. This ingenuity makes the reader think and ponder the question of which line to

poem is not merely a static, decorative creation, but that it is an act of communication between the poet and

The poem is structured with 26 lines and each line is of nearly equal length. There is fluidity

Imagery is the strongest supporter of the theme. A description of the sea in its states of calmness and roughness are depicted. Sight and sound help intensify other images. The poems’ strongest feelings are usually expressed by their imagery, though rhythm is also used to convey meaning. Arnold uses the first stanza of the poem to create visual, auditory, and olfactory images that will allow the reader to picture the sea of which the speaker is viewing. Through the use of several poetic Figures of speech, sounds, and irony of words are also used. Line one; “The Sea is calm tonight”(1) has a gentle rhythm that can be compared to the “ebb and flow” (17) of the sea. With this description one can imagine a beautiful beach with water lapping upon the shore. The second line also gives the image of a calm sea. In the opening stanzas words such as “gleams”(4) and “glimmering”(5) are used, giving a sense of light. In contrast the ending stanzas use words such as