Do They Have Reason by Stephen Dobbyns - Book Report/Review Example

An Explication of "Do They Have Reason" by Stephen Dobbyns In Stephen Dobyns's poem, "Do They Have A Reason," the poet addresses the subject of lost childhood innocence. He does this through the tongue-in-cheek perspective of an older narrative reminiscing about youth as though it were in the present. His light tone is reinforced through such wry observations of proposed occupations by the children, be they bank robber or doctor " but mostly we start out / idealistic" (lines 9-10). While addressing the 'seriousness' of such pressing daydreams, the point of view almost subconsciously registers that this is an older narrator: through such factors as how he recalls the conversation rather than recording it, or in how he portrays the third graders easily smoking their first cigars, without any coughing or other difficulty.

These examples are kept intentionally vague and universal, to try and give the reader the broadest base possible for identifying with the scene. These ideals are sharply reversed through the relation of one boy's ultimate fate of dying through a traffic accident; the narrator uses this instance to illustrate his claim that "One day you experience a click in your head / as the world turns from one place to another." (lines 26-27). The poem then becomes an elegy for the lost conceit of Innocence.

The final metaphor, friends missing while older boys bully the narrator, attempts to cement the lost abstract into a stronger example of experience. The loss of Innocence relates to a loss of faith in all known rules, a new ocean of experience without any kind of compass to impose an arbitrary direction to one's progress. To underscore this theme, the poet uses free verse in a rough pentameter. The most traditional poetic device occurs in the first line, "Life begins, you make some friends," (line 1) which contains a simple internal rhyme.

This being the most obvious use of rhyme in the poem, it seems to illustrate an initial starting point of rules and standards connecting to tradition. The rest of the poem then being in pentameter would imply a reference to Shakespearean blank verse - which was said to most closely imitate natural conversation more so than any other poetic form - only Dobyns's free verse mutates this pattern into a confusion of lost possibilities. For while each childhood friends has a physical representation in the narrator's mind, they also symbolize the dreams he has lost: each one having been harshly cancelled (i.e., 'run-over') or has distanced itself beyond true recall.

The "They" portrayed as the older sixth-graders, being the "They" mentioned in the title, are a personification of all the hardships and difficulties arising in life in opposition to one's dreams. Thus, the poet ties the metaphor of the bullies into a simile for dashed aspirations, recognizing that "They don't need a reason. When the world / you love is changed for another, it's like that." (lines 37-38). Dobbyns is recognized for using "ridiculous" symbology to ponder deeper meditations. His concrete imagery has only been strengthened by his detective fiction and a journalism background.

While teaching at Syracuse University, he became involved in an infamous scandal involving sexual discrimination, allegations his lawyer successfully defended his from while casting a dubious pall over the character of all parties involved. This experience would only naturally make the sensitive poet side of Dobbyns bitter and cynical. It also explains the cynicism of the poem's narrator and his strong attachment both to the innocence of youth and the jaded prejudices with which he now views them.