Reading Analysis of David Lees The Farm - Essay Example

A Reading of David Lee’s “The Farm” Literally, the poem involves an individual talking to another person through a telephone about a land that he sold. The persona, who has a wife named Jan, was previously a farmer keeping pigs on the land in question before selling it to another farmer. Apparently, he agreed with another person named John in making the decision of land sale. In the process of convincing the other person at the receiving end, the persona cites numerous reasons for selling the piece of land. However, the speaker misinforms and deceives the listener on the phone concerning the actual reasons that influenced the action in question. The poem is established within a community comprising farmers. Members of the neighborhood include children population who are used to farm animals. The persona appears to be a man trying to inform another sibling, family member or his employer about the farm sale. Towards the end, the persona gains vehement disapproval of his actions from the listener on the phone who sounds disappointed. Based on the stern and unprecedented insults at the end of the poem, the listener insinuates that the persona made a lame choice and depicted irresponsibility by selling the land. Within the writing, the poet strives to develop the theme of failure and disappointment. In addition, he highlights the relationship between social disappointments and poor choices caused by irresponsibility in life. In line 5, the speaker knowingly deceives the listener about the reasons for selling the land by mentioning, “complaints of the smell”, which was not true. In this case, the poet portrays the persona as an irresponsible individual ready to disappoint others in order to execute his or her poor choices. In the process of developing the theme of irresponsibility and poor choices, the poet incorporates additional supporting phrases in the poem. At one point, the speaker cites lame excuses for selling the land, for instance, “because I was tired”, in line 13. In this context, the speaker made a serious life decision by following the dictates of his emotions and physical desires. Aspect of irresponsibility develops fully at the end of the second stanza when the speaker admits that he could not be responsible. Failure and disappointment manifest in form of insults and disapproval at the end of the poem. In line 26 of the poem, after the silence within the phone conversation, the listener says, “you poor stupid bastard.” The insult insinuates a substantial degree of disappointment and failure in the listener’s plans and wishes. This section portrays existence of unprecedented challenges of failure and disappointments by friends and family within actual social settings (Forrest 34). The poet is an art scholar holding a PhD in literature (Lee 03). “The Farm” is one of the poems from his collection of art work contained in his 1999 document of selected poems entitled A Legacy of Shadows. David was born and raised in the American state of Texas, within an agricultural background (Lee 05). At his youthful age, the poet literally worked as a pig farmer in his land. In his writing, the poet draws his inspiration from natural aspects of the society, especially economic activities. He employs realistic and authentic aspects of life in portraying the American rural settings. The poet derives his inspiration from the immediate social and economic context prevailing during the historical setting of the poem (Forrest 21). Within the poem in question, the writer strives to develop the relevant themes by adopting appropriate settings and characters. As stated earlier, David once engaged in pig farming in his Texas farmers-rich neighborhood. Vivid description of a pig farming setting facilitates development of character authenticity and themes within the piece of writing. Portrayal of the speaker as an irresponsible custodian of farming assets remains as the most developed theme throughout the poem. David achieves this through numerous excuses and deceptive reasons provided by the speaker supporting his non-commendable action. In this case, the poet seems to inform potential audience about typical challenges encountered by members of the Texas farmers’ society during the poem’s historical context. Therefore, social/historical aspects of the poet’s life played a significant role in enhancing thematic construction within the poem. Within the poem, the writer articulated the prevailing physical structure into achieving the desired effect of developing the theme. Metric variation features at the beginning of the poem when the speaker starts by saying, “we sold it.” In this context, the quantitative aspect of metering used captures the readers’ attention into acknowledging the specific action dominating within the poem (Brooks 45). Short and direct statement of action in the first line of the poem insinuates presence of authoritative utterance and confrontation. This implicitly signifies presence of defensive statements within the main body of the poem. In this case, the short quantitative meter aspect provides a basis used by the speaker in trying to justify his actions later in the poem. From the first line, the poem lacks a definite rhyme structure. Consonant and vowel syllables change unexpectedly from one line to another. Subsequently, lack of a clear rhyme scheme results in a corresponding failure in development of a sustainable rhythm throughout the poem. David uses this structure on a deliberate purpose in order to elicit appropriate emotional senses for embracing themes of failure and disappointment. In addition, random variation of sounds at the end of each line portrays presence of a disorganized structure within the poem. This translates into the aspect of irresponsibility witnessed within the speaker in his actions of land sale. In the process of theme development, the poet employs substantial use of numerous stylistic devices within various parts of the poem. In the second line, the speaker refers to the land buyer by saying, “who would be…” In this instance, the poet uses alliteration by repeating the consonant sound “w” in the words “who” and “would.” The use of alliteration serves the purpose of emphasizing the subject matter of the individual responsible for purchase of the land concerned (Muhau 01). This introduces the reader into significantly acknowledging the fact that the land has actually been sold. The poem receives conspicuous utilization of anaphora within the first stanza. In lines 13, 14 and 15, the speaker cites his reasons by repeating the use of “because” within every clause in the lines. This facilitates acquisition of reader’s attention to the exact clauses, which highlight elements of irresponsibility and poor choice by the speaker. In the second stanza, speaker says, “the patriarch lost his first crop to weeds”, “threw a rod in the tractor”, “dug a basement…” In this context, these consecutive phrases have similar structures. This signifies the use of the stylistic device of parallelism in order to draw reader’s attention to the elements under description (Woods 67). In line 5 and 6 of the poem, the speaker says, “complaints of the smell (though there was none).” The use of parenthesis as a stylistic device promotes reader’s understanding by supplementing additional information, which in this case portrays the speaker’s quality of irresponsible deception. Within the second line of the poem, the speaker refers to the land buyer by saying, “…would be a patriarch” (Lee 13). In this case, patriarch serves as a representative terminology for wealthy and influential persons within the poem’s social and historical context. In this regard, the poet uses metonymy as a stylistic device meant to provide generalization and representation of wealthy members of the society. This device enhances further development of meaning and relationship between the land seller and the land buyer. Towards the end of the poem, the writer employs the use of personification. This features in the insults directed towards the user when the person receiving the telephone call says, “you stupid sonofabitch.” In this case, the poet personifies the word “bitch” into assuming a human form capable of producing a son. The personification makes the last part of the poem lively and interesting to the reader. This captures reader’s attention on the message contained in the phrases, which in this context portrays disappointment and contemptuous feelings caused by failed plans. Based on my personal experience upon reading and developing a comprehensive perspective of the poem, I would say that it succeeds in conveying the intended message to target audience. The writer employed the use of numerous stylistic devices including parallelism, metonymy and anaphora, among other devices, which facilitate creation of the required attention on readers. Articulate use of additional devices such as alliteration and personification allows readers to focus on the areas containing elements of emphasis in order to acquire informed meanings (Wainwright 38). I think that the writer also succeeds in developing the intended themes by integrating his social background with the immediate setting of the poem. In the process, the writer is in a position to create an authentic and vivid description of typical settings within America’s rural societies. This promotes reader’s interest, hence enhancing conveyance of an intended message to target audience. Relevance of the poem materializes in a situation where individuals within the society end up making wrong choices and life-changing decisions based on their emotional desires. The poem portrays the speaker as a representation of irresponsible individuals who fail in their role of providing custody to family and friend’s assets. Works Cited Brooks, Cleaneth. The Well Wrought Urn: Studies in the Structure of Poetry. Detroit: University of Michigan Press, 2007. Print. Forrest, Veronica. Poetic Artifice: A Theory of Twentieth-century Poetry. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2008. Print. Lee, David. A legacy of Shadows: Selected Poems. Indianapolis: Copper Canyon Press, 2009. Print. Muhau, Daniel. “Poetry Analysis: How Poets Use Various Stylistic Devices.” The Citizen June 19, 2012. Web. April 10, 2013. http://www.thecitizen.co.tz/magazines/33-success/23311-poetry-analysis-how-poets-use-various-stylistic-devices.html. Wainwright, James. Poetry: The Basics. Pittsburgh: Routledge, 2004. Print. Woods, Geraldine. Wiley AP English Literature and Composition. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2013. Print. Read More