Poems and Short Stories

A Person, A Paper, A Promise

A/N: not a poem or a short story but an analyzation of a poem. I wrote it for a friend's homework but he won't be using it anymore because the poem was not written on the 21st century and I don't want my effort put to waste... so... If anyone needed an analyzation of a poem for school. Feel free to read this, I hope it helps

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     The poem was written by Dr. Earl Reum, it also served as the persona's suicide note. It can also be read in Stephen Chbosky's Perks Of Being A Wallflower, it was the poem Charlie read to Patrick for Secret Santa. It has four stanza and each stanza tackles different times throughout persona's life.

     Everything about the first stanza was adorable and would give one a warm feeling. It might also take one on a trip down his/her memory lane. The first poem the persona did was on a paper with green line, green could mean freshness. The first stanza was all about childhood and it was filtered with innocence. Every children had that innocence, they do not know a lot about the world yet. They can't distinguish right from wrong, and good from bad. He called the poem 'Chops'. The reason behind that was because it was his dog's name. Considering the persona was only in his kindergarten year, he's likely to focus on simple things. He focused on his dog, most probably because he considered his dog a friend and it made him happy. He got a gold star, and his mother hung it on the kitchen door. She also read it to his aunts. That part talked about a mother being proud of her son's achievement. Most mothers were like that; nurturing. The stanza also showed that what's normal for kids was to focus on the positive things. Their local priest, Father Tracy, took all the kids to a trip which they all enjoyed. He got a baby sister. He also noted that his parents kiss a lot.  For a couple starting a family, it's always happy in the beginning. And lastly, there's a girl who liked him but he didn't know that X's on a letter meant kisses. He asked his father about it as he tucked him in bed at night. It's the essence of childhood, enjoying simple things like friendship, his parents, and what made him happy. It was all about the innocence of childhood.

     The transition from childhood to adolescence was the focus of the second stanza. The paper he used for his second poem was white with blue lines which could mean that he was in a higher grade level, probably in middle school. When a kid was in the process of growing up, s/he's going to notice things and stuff s/he used to overlook or ignore before, same with the poem's persona. The second poem of the persona was entitled 'Autumn' because of the season. One could say that in this time of the persona's life, he was slowly shedding the innocence of childhood just as trees shed their leaves. He also found out from other kids that Father Tracy smoked, and sometimes burned holes in the church pews. He did not expect that. What's expected from a priest was to be a good role model to everyone, especially children. He learned there that not everything was black and white, Father Tracy was a good person but it did not mean he couldn't have vices. That same time, his sister got 'nerd' eyeglasses and was made fun of because of it. The line showed that as people grow older, they tend to value physical beauty. It also showed that people stereotype certain group of people which was wrong. Still not out of the childhood phase yet, he asked his friends to see Santa. His friends asked him why, that part happened all the time, there were certain activities that were deemed cool and there were those that were uncool. Wanting to see Santa was viewed as uncool since they were growing up. The relationship between his parents was still stable, they still kissed alot. However, his father stopped tucking him in bed and would get mad if he asked why. When kids reached a certain age, say nine or ten, it's expected of them to act their age. They were expected to let go of their naivety and childishness. They had to mature because life wasn't always going to stay innocent and simple, and they have to be prepared for it.

     The tales of his high school year was the center of the third stanza. His innocence was completely stripped off of him and it's more than the virginity kind of innocence. From a paper torn from his notebook, he wrote a poem. The poem he wrote was called 'Innocence: A Question". It was about his girlfriend, who wore too much make-up it made him cough whenever he kissed her, because he wanted to question her innocence. He learned to question things extensively around him now, not just a what, or a why. He didn't just accept what he heard or saw, unlike when he heard that Father Tracy smoked. Still, he received an A along with a strange steady look from his teacher. It could be because his teacher was judging him, not the poem but him, and how he came up with that poem. This time, he never showed it to his mother. It was either he wanted to keep it a secret, he knew his mother would not care about it, or he did not want to open up to his mother, most likely the last two reasons. He was a high school student, mostly parents wouldn't care less about a single activity as long as one showed a passing grade on a report card. He wouldn't want to open up about his mother and there's another possible two reasons for that as well. First, his mother was a girl, he'd reprimand him about questioning his girlfriend's innocence, she would think he's being sexist. That would be uncomfortable for him. The other reason was because he had a strained relationship with her, the line suggested so. His father and mother stopped kissing, and wouldn't even talk to one another. It could also be the reason why he wouldn't share the poem with his mother. As parents their problem didn't just revolve around them, their children would also be affected. Every family went through this, especially if their children were older. Marriage would be boring because there's nothing new, they've already been with each other for years. It wasn't exciting anymore. He also saw his sister kissing a guy which leads back to his poem about a girl's innocence. He stayed up till three a.m., probably wondering if his sister was exactly like his girlfriend. It could also be because he was lonely that's why he pondered about those things as he heard his father's snores. He matured. The persona finally saw the dark side of living; arising problems, people fabricating themselves, and judgment of others. His eyes were opened. In high school, it was usual to be opened to these things, just like him.

     The lasta stanza was short. The last poem titled 'Absolutely Nothing' was exactly what it sounds like. He wrote it in a back of a brown paper bag, it was most likely the only thing available to him in the moment. The poem seemed to be the last stanza of the poem. It did not state anything about his girlfriend, sister, mother, or father. It was just about the poem. He graded it A, then he slashed his wrists and hung it on the bathroom door because he couldn't reach the kitchen door anymore. It was just that, a tragic end. No explanations why he did it, but it's clear from the third stanza that he was going through something. There was really nothing from the fourth stanza aside from his suicide and how he did it. He just gave up.

     With each stanza starting from the first, it got darker and darker up to the point of his suicide. But even with the first stanza, he wasn't motivated by happiness, or dreams, it wasn't mentioned. He just did what he thought was the thing to do. He could also be suffering from depression, or other related mental illness since he was showing cause/symptoms like; solitude, secretiveness, and sleeping late. His journey was like everyone else's. Childhood was innocence. Adolescence was relearning. And teenage years was discovering life wasn't rainbows and sunshine.