Poem Commentary On Continuum By Allen Curnow

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Alejandra Zimmermann November 5, 2012 Period 1 “Continuum” By: Allen Curnow 1. The poem is about the thoughts of a writer trying to go to sleep but having trouble being able to.  His references to the bed and the moon make you think it about him literally wants to sleep, but it is back his lack of inspiration to write, in which compares in to not being able to sleep as well. 2. The narrator is speaking to himself because in the third line of the poem, the author reveals to the reader that, “I am talking about myself,” in two ways in which he compares him self to the falling moon and that he, him self, is whom he is speaking to. The poet suggests through the poem that he views his thoughts as two different personas, his own and that of “the author”, his “cringing demiurge”; the creative side of the persona and he is in an inner-conflict because one side of him wants to sleep the other one wants to write a poem. 3.  A.) The poem conveys this message by describing some actions that he does in order to get some inspiration to write, even though he is sleepy, tired and bored, “It is not possible to get off to sleep.” What I notice about the appearance, just by looking at the poem, is that it is to be read straight through, sort of like a rambling. The shape is straight, having all beginning of lines on top of another and separating when going into another thought. The poet uses long, drawn out sentences split apart by continuation into next line, commas and conjunctions. The shortest sentence in the poem states: “a long moment stretches, and the next one is not/ on time.” Its length, in contrast to what it tells us, is ironic because it talks of a great length of time, yet the
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sentence itself is so short in comparison to others throughout the poem. “The moon rolls over the roof and falls behind my house and the moon does neither of these things, I am talking about myself,” This use of imagery makes the reader imagine the moon is falling behind the house but it is described to be interrupted as if he was falling because he was not getting any inspiration, he is felling restless and trying to find ideas. It is a metaphor. The first two lines are personification because moon personifies the situation of the poet. The poet states ...

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