Elements That Bring Poems To Life Observation Essay

Observation Essay On Elements That Bring Poems To Life

A poem is an arrangement of words containing meaning and musicality. A poem is identifiable by its literary and musical element. Poetry is the type of things poets write. A poet is restricted in the materials they can utilize in creating their works; all they have are words to articulate their thoughts and feelings. These words necessitate being accurately right on numerous levels at once. They have to sound true to the listener even as they delight their ears; have a meaning, which might have been unforeseen, but seems to be absolutely the right one. Moreover, these words must explore the depths of human thinking, emotion, and compassion, while appearing uncomplicated, self-reliant, and modest. These words are the elements found in the poem and are the matter that brings life to poem (Barton and Booth, p5). Although most poetry these days is read mutely, it must carry with it the mood of being spoken loudly, and the reader should practice "hearing” it to grasp all the craftiness that the poet has shaped his work. These elements include among others the imagery, themes, and narrative.

Imagery is the soul of all natures of poetry. Whether the poet is describing a background, an item, or a person, imagery brings the poem alive and lets it to linger in the reader’s mind. Imagery leaves the person who reads spellbound by a poetic piece and is a key to freeing all the emotions in us. Imagery plays a particular part in a poem and every poem contains imagery whether it is complex or simple since poem thrives on imagery. For instance, many of Wallace Stevens’ works utilize a huge deal of imagination in painting an image of the messages he was trying to get across. Such works as "The Snow Man” and "The Death of a Soldier” pictures the world as a cold place that lives as the host to everything that calls earth its home. "The Death of a Soldier” is apparently very realistic and honest in the way that a collapsed soldier’s life can end in the big picture of things that do not mean a whole lot. The opening verse, "Life contracts and death is expected, As in season of autumn. The soldier falls (Bloom,p48),” sets out along in the conviction that soldiers are supposed to and will sacrifice their lives for whatsoever they ought to be fighting for. Wallace compares this idea with the autumn season. The author creates the image of how a soldier dies, not in terms of magnificence but as unidentified, uncelebrated occasion: as unavoidable as the fall of leaves in autumn. The killing during war and upsetting times are comparable with the death of Mother Nature during the autumn season. This way the imagery makes the reader connect with the writer more, because the reader feels they are right there with them thus bringing a poem to life.
In the other poem, "The Snow Man,” this title itself is imagery. Stevens has used this well-known title as figurehead for the environment as a whole, which is full of despair. In the poem, there is no real snowman, yet, when one takes a glimpse of the title, involuntarily the picture that lingers in the mind is that of the winter season-snowy mountains, blizzard type weather,   and others things associated with winter. Therefore, right from the start the poet will have people reflecting on the chilliness and once they read the poem, they will consider whether they possess the "mind of winter (Bloom, p144)." Generally, Stevens utilized his poems as a channel for the journeying of ideas but also as repositories for imagery and language that held well-built hypothetical, and often personal, relations. The descriptions that the Stevens use in his poems create such an image with his poetry that the reader could simply think of it and enjoy his work.
Another element that brings life to poem is a theme. Poetic mind's eye has the mystical power to change every universal, common emotion or incident into an extraordinary piece of poetry some are; nonetheless, of the opinion that poetry is not an appropriate means for all occurrence and purposes. Nevertheless, the poet is not troubled with conveying information. He is troubled with his way of thinking about places, people, it is not the person; it is the poet talking through the poem. Moreover, the theme associates with the general ideas running throughout the poem thus are influencing the liveliness of a poem. For instance, William Carlos William utilized various themes in the poem "By the road to the contagious hospital.” The theme of spring just awakening mutually with the entire natural demonstration of its appearance in the close future, is sketched throughout the entire poem. Besides the poem's arrangement hints that spring is a rushing season when everything changes and becomes something different very swiftly. This opinion can be verified by the lineation of poem, for example "under the surge of the blue mottled clouds driven from the north east (Williams, MacGowan and Crockett p24),”  "blue" and "mottled" are divided by the line break however they are semantically merged. When the reader goes through the poem, the reader’s eye skips from what is usually an adjective-blue- to the following line to discover a noun-clouds- even though the line division suggests that the blue alone is a unit in itself. The lineation forms the effect of a breezy spring sky, the "blue mottled clouds" varying so fast that the person who reads must pay close concentration to differentiate "blue" from "clouds." Thus, this nature of writing causes the reader to envision very intensely what the poet is picturing and offers a better understanding of the poet's own moods and thoughts at the time, and as a result, brings life to the poem.
Besides, narrative is another element that is responsible for bringing life to poems. The poet utilizes poetic devices such as rhythm, compact language, rhyme, as well as attention to sound. Narrative makes a poem resemble a story (Barton and Booth, no. pag). Elements such as characters, plot, setting and conflict makes the poem interesting. For instance, the characters in the poem "Papa’s Fishing Hole” comprises of a grandchild and his or her grandfather. The grandfather is an old angler who coaches his grandchild how to fish. The grandfather is calm and kind. The child is thrilled and pleased. The child is also attentive of what happens as they fish since the poem is narrated from the perspective of the child. Additionally, the poet utilized another element known as onomatopoeia, which is an astonishing technique to include sound in poem. For example, when the child says, "the deadly hook squishes through the worms head.” Such a line amplifies the senses of the person, who reads and gains their attention, as well as enhances poet’s ability of describing the situation on what is presently happening. In this poem, the poet compares the sound the hook produces as it penetrates through the head of the worm, with that soft squelching sound when walked on or in, for instance, when one is walking on a muddy ground thus the poem seems dynamic, and a clear mental picture lingers in the mind of the reader.
In conclusion, a poem is an arrangement of words containing meaning and musicality. The only way to identify a poem is through its literary elements as well as musical elements. The only way poets express themselves is through words since they are limited in the materials they can use to build their works. Moreover, these words require being precise on many levels at once thus; these words are the elements in a poem and are the matter that brings life to poem. These elements may include themes, narratives, and imagery. For instance, imagery is the essence of all types of the poems that exist. This is because poetry thrives on imagery. Whether a poet is giving descriptions of any setting, person, feelings, or an object, imagery ensures the person reading the poetry has the image lingering in their minds leaving them awestruck. Besides imagery is the most important tool for ensuring the maintenance of the life in poetry as it a key in freeing all feelings in us.

References

Barton, Bob and David Booth. Poetry Goes to School: From Mother Goose to Shel Silverstein. Pembroke, Pembs: Pembroke Publishers Limited, 2004.
Bloom, Harold. Wallace Stevens. New York, NY : Infobase Publishing, 2003.
Wallace Stevens: The Poems of Our Climate. NY, United States: Cornell University Press, 1980.
McHale, Brian. "Beginning to Think about Narrative in Poetry." PROJECT MUSE (2009): 11-27.
Williams, William Carlos, Christopher John MacGowan and Robert Crockett. William Carlos Williams. New York, NY, United States: Sterling Publishing Company, Inc., 2003.