Darkness falls.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
i wrote this myself, i hope it's okay!
The Last Time I Saw Him
The Giver looked at me
I could see it in his eyes
He missed Rosemary dearly,
But at that time I didn't know she was his child.
But
He held it back
And gave me memories
Of music, of Christmas,
Of love and family.
Then there were the bad times
Of war and tragedy
I saw the red of fresh blood, fights,
Guns and life, melancholy
I broke my leg
The second time I rode a sled
The pain was dizzying.
At the end
He said Good Bye
And I took Gabriel too.
He couldn't stay
In this place of disarray
Where he didn't have a place
The Giver and I, we had a plan
To save Gabe,
And let me go to a foreign land.
I was nervous, but
I had to do this;
If I didn't,
This Newchild would suffer under the needle, and have Death's kiss.
I left with an ache
In my body,
in my heart.
I couldn't serve this lowly society
Where nearly everything had its part.
We slid down through the snow,
I was falling asleep, but
I heard music, and Gabriel stirred
We couldn't stop then,
We were nearly Elsewhere.
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This poem portrays several scenes where the Giver parts with his memories to Jonas, and when he leaves his community with Gabriel. In the first paragraph, Jonas does not quite understand why the Giver was so sad when he talked about Rosemary, until he found out that she was his child. This shows that many feelings and facts are hidden in Jonas' society, and it is only by chance or questioning that he finds out these facts.
The rhyme in the poem suggests that although Jonas does not want to leave the community, he feels a sense of responsibility for Gabriel's life, which helps him to make the decision to leave his utopian society. However, when the rhyme is disrupted in the last paragraph, it shows how he wavers, but yet he knows that they are near their destination.
Some sentences in the poem end haltingly with the use of the word 'but'. This shows Jonas' hesitation when he is trying to make the decision on whether to leave or not. However, the poem goes on, and finishes when he is reaching 'Elsewhere'. This shows the amount of determination that Jonas had and how seriously he treated the matter of his escape, and even included the Giver when they hatched the plan.
The poem also recounts the many times Jonas visited the Giver and where the transfer of memories took place. This stanza can be related to our own lives, when we have the good times and the bad, which could be compared to the 'life, melancholy' that Jonas experienced and the 'love and family' that he felt when he saw those memories. Therefore, as many of us experience many good things and less of those rather extreme bad conditions in life, what Jonas learnt through his sessions with the Giver is comparable to our everyday lives.
The last stanza ends abruptly, which is due to the fact that Jonas knew that he was fast approaching Elsewhere and felt a sense of relief and finality, which ends the poem on a mysterious note, leaving the reader to wonder if he gets there at all.
Labels: But., Christmas, Elsewhere, escape, family, Giver, love, poetry, snow
4 comments
thankyou.
