The first few stanza's of the poem are used to set up the poem. A basic straight forward description of the character is given in a somewhat child-like fashion. The description of Miss Gee is set out so it seems as though someone is telling a story to a child. This idea is further reinforced by the fact that the tempo and rhythm seem to be like that of a happy child's poem. The juxtaposition of the tempo and the actual context of the poem serve to create a strange tone and some black humor in the poem.
Format and structure is used in literature to facilitate characterization and evoke a specific tone. Kincaid uses little format to portray a glimpse of realism in life and need for acceptance of the speaker in her story. The format of cumming’s work allows the poem to be read with leisure and rhythm, almost in a sense allowing the reader to become lulled into a sense of ease and security. In Girl by Jamaica Kincaid there is little use of format, unless the whole work is considered to be one long stanza. The speaker’s thoughts and phrases are on occasion interrupted with italics used to indicate the possible inner thoughts or spoken voice of whomever is being spoken to in the story.
“An Interlude” The John Gardner’s fiction excerpt “An Interlude” from the novel October Light is a literary narrative portraying young love relying primarily on description. Gardner’s excerpt could be called a love scene, but it is hardly traditional or cliché. His main purpose seems to be to create similarity between the two characters by giving physical descriptions of Margie and Terence, and describing the setting they are in. The writer’s main tactic is simple literary narrative, as he illustrates the short interactions between the young boy and girl who like each other. In one of Dr. Polnac’s comments on the excerpt, he says “Gardner creates verisimilitude…” throughout the narrative between Terence and Margie using physical, characteristic, and setting description.
The two speakers of this poem is the young man's view and the woman's. The lines of the poem are short lines. The lines are grouped into stanzas; Each stanza talks about how they want something from each other and giving them tasks to do and once they do it, they will be each other's true love. There is a end rhyme scheme; it is mostly a repetition of the same words (e.g ''thyme and mine", "fair and there") at the end of the stanzas. The rhyme scheme is mostly a, b, a, b, c, d, c, d, etc.
The rhyme scheme is AABB; meaning that the first two lines of each quatrain rhyme as do the second two lines. This rhyme scheme creates a very simple and easy to follow flow for the poem. The poem is told from the point of view of an ambiguous narrator. Withholding the identity and all personal details of the speaker, makes readers able to place themselves into the poem. The first quatrain explains that the narrator at one time became angry with a friend.
I will also be looking at the authors way of writing and determine the style by looking at other poems by the same author. U.A Fanthorpe (author of Half-past Two) has a childish point of view, it has different narrative voices: poet, child (young boy) and a teacher. The poet has a humorous but dark way of writing same way she writes in another poem of hers, you will be hearing from us shortly. She makes it sound innocent when it’s not. She writes her poems deceptively simple.
The line lengths are kept short, some singling out individual words. These single word lines, such as “equally” attract the reader’s eye, in a way pedestalling it in an attempt to show the reader the fascination and awe of each word. “Words” is written mostly in free verse, with some rhyme but no distinct pattern of it. Perhaps this indicates the overwhelming exasperation that words have given Thomas: a feeling which can’t be contained in a strict structured poem. As “Words” is a tribute to language, the structure must be as unpredictable as its subject is.
These words not only show a calm and loving feel, but in comparison to Auden, it shows the use of soft imagery opposed to harsh, which is portrayed by phrases such as ‘He is dead’. The difference in the type of imagery makes the reader more aware of the differences, especially with the tone of the poems being opposite to one another, beauty and lack of beauty. Byron portrays admiration well through his writing with the amount of emotion he uses. “Whose breast is so gently heaving”. This quote from ‘Stanzas for Music’ shows the beauty felt by Byron and the reader can see that he is trying to express the gentleness and beauty within what it is he’s describing, being a spectacular voice that has the power to stop what is natural in the world.
Both perspectives of childhood and adulthood are equivalent to that of physical, mental, and emotional growth. Poems from Songs of Innocence are written in a more simple form while poems from Songs of Experience are more complex. The poems from Songs of Innocence rhyme and allow one to recall their days of childhood when reading them. There is a feeling of freedom in this group of poems. These poems allow one to form a positive image while the collection of poems from Songs of Experience is the opposite.
The metre of the poem is slow. This poem is meant to be read slowly with meaning and emphasis. The poet uses enjambment and short sentences such as “It promises light like the careful undressing of love.” and “Take it.” so that the reader would pause and read slowly. It is an easily read poem. I believe that the speaker of the poem, “I”, is female although there are not any clues in the poem that show the gender of the speaker.