Similarly, ‘Poem At Thirty-nine’ explores a different way in which repetition can be applied in poetry. A phrase is repeated, but only once, simply to reiterate the narrator’s feelings towards the dead of her father. The phrase is, ‘how I miss my father’ however the second time the phrase was repeated, an exclamation mark was added at the end to show how much the narrater really misses her father. The exclamation mark merely emphasizes what has already been repeated in a way that makes the readers sympathize with her even more. That is, after all, what someone at the age of thirty-nine with so much pain needs, sympathy.
Most of the poems are written in first person perspective and personal pronounce are very common, however two poems out of the six are written in third person to express the lack of expression one goes through in those two phases. These are ‘Cherish This Moment’ and ‘Half-past Two’, a baby and a child. The presence of third person narrative in those two poems is conveyed differently and for different reasons. In ‘Cherish This Moment’ it just shows how a baby is idolized by all those around it although it can’t speak or even understand the messy world it’s about to experience first hand. Whereas in ‘Half-past two’ third person narration simply makes the child who’s stuck in class till half past two more isolated than he already is, emphasizing how scared he must be, sitting in a class room with no kids around him or a teacher to guide him.
In contrast, poems such as ‘They Don’t Understand’ and ‘Poem at Thirty-nine’ use first person narrative as it’s their only voice. Struggling with self expression, a teenager experiences a time where no one really understands what he or she is going through. Be it social, domestic or even academic stress, Emily J. Taylor claims:
‘They don’t understand,
My life’s my own to run’
This is directly aimed towards her controlling parents who try ‘to run’ her life. On the other hand, Alice Walker is forced to put up a good front because a thirty-nine year old woman must have her life together no matter how hard it is on the inside to survive. She has to take care of herself by working, paying for her bills and feeding herself. With all these struggles, using first person narrative only seems appropriate to really show the reader what those two people are going through and feeling, making the poems intriguing and eye opening.
How metaphorical phrases and similes are used by the some different poets of the six poems and it’s effect on the reader is interesting to study. In ‘Prayer Before Birth’ there were no similes and only a few metaphors such as ‘in blood-baths roll me’, which works as a visual stimulation inside the readers imagination, to exaggerate the things people can do to the yet to be born baby once it is born. It illustrates the narrators fears perfectly. In contrast, ‘Half-past Two’ uses metaphors to exaggerate how significant it was for the child to be stuck in class not knowing what the time was. The poet conveys that by saying:
‘But he never forgot how once by not knowing time.
He escaped into the clockless land of ever.’
It gives the poem a fairytale sort of ending, relating to the age of the child, making it appropriate for the stage of life it is discussing.
Comparably, in ‘Poem at Thirty-nine’ metaphors and similes are used to relate the narrator to her father and his wonderful character. This can be seen in ‘I learned to see bits of paper as a way to escape the life he knew’ and ‘seasoning none of my life the same way twice’ linking it to the two things she remembers her father do best; take care of paper work and cook delicious meals. These metaphors show her appreciation and respect towards her father and the way he lead his life when he was alive.
The previous three poems, ‘Prayer Before Birth’, ‘Poem at Thirty-nine’, and ‘Half-past Two’, have a few metaphors in the text, but ‘I Felt a Funeral in My Brain’ has a larger number of metaphors. The poet starts simply with:
‘Kept treading - treading - till it seemed
That sense was breaking through -’
This shows that the mourners have been walking back and forth for a very long time, and frankly, with no use. The poet is almost mocking the funeral guests, especially with the dashes, making the sarcasm loud and dramatic. The poet also explains how it felt after the bells rang:
‘And I, and Silence, some strange Race
Wrecked, solitary, here’
This part of the poem is more serious than the previous quote. The poem is expressing how quiet death is, and almost how lonely he’s feeling. As you can see, metaphors are an extremely powerful tool and in this case assists in the expression of a stage of life, death.
How experienced and inexperienced poets handle different techniques such as rhyming patterns differently is also very interesting to learn about and explore. Only four out of the six poets are properly published and recognized poets, whilst the other two are merely published on the internet. It is noticeable that less authentic poems usually follow a systematic rhyming pattern because it’s what seems like the right thing to do, whereas professional poets have enough experience to write poetry without using a predictable rhyming pattern. It’s also noticeable that the stanza’s are more organized in an amateur poets work whereas it’s not organized in a professional poets work. The lack of the two things that may have once been the definition of poetry is what can make a poem beautiful.
In conclusion, repetition, narration, metaphors and similes are used, applied and shown in many different methods. Poets use different ways to convey these techniques in accordance to what point or message the poet is trying to convey. The different stages of life each mean different things. An unborn child theoretically knows nothing of what is outside his mothers womb. A baby is something that is celebrated, adored by all those around it although it’s just as clueless as it was inside it’s mother’s womb. A child is still learning what the world has to offer, even if it’s reading the time. A teenager is trying to take control of its life after learning all the basics, and is seeking independence from their parents. Ironically, an adult of thirty-nine is grieving the death of a parent, struggling to keep her life in place with the memory and the loss of someone so dear to her heart. Last but not least, death comes to everyone, and takes someone’s life. What better way to express this than poetry?
