Discussing 'Breathless'.

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Breathless - 1st Draft

Kris Wong 12TB

        "Breathless" is about a man climbing a very steep mountain. At 21,200 feet, the effects of the high altitude are beginning to take a toll on him, causing him to become weary and breathless. The weariness of the poet grows as the poem progresses until he is nearly unable to climb further. The poet's seems to be asking the reader a question - 'Why are people willing to go through so much suffering to achieve their personal goals?'

The poem is not split into different stanzas, but rather into sentences. The short and succinct sentences, which contain a considerable amount of enjambment, help to give a sense of breathlessness and fatigue to the poem by causing the reader to become quite tired as he/she is reading the poem. These factors allow the poem to be written in an unaligned column, which helps to make it look like the side of a very steep mountain, similar to the one the poet is climbing.

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The title of the poem - "Breathless" tells us that the author is quite exhausted.  The opening of the poem explains the title and helps to further the exhaustion of the poet by stating that his heart ached and lungs panted. The words 'dry air sorry, scant' helps the reader to visualize and experience the scarcity and dryness of the air. The line 'why at all' in line 6 gives us an impression that the poet is not sure why he is willing to go through so much suffering and pain in order to climb up the steep mountain.

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