Textual Analysis Of Poem 4r561h

Harding 1 Tess Harding Laura Darrow Eng 102 18 June 2010 The True Meaning When one reads a poem, the meaning of the poem might not leap of the page. It takes more than reading the lines to figure out the meaning of some poems. Luckily there are some things that can help the meaning become clearer: rhetorical appeals, meter, rhyme, and tone help us analyze the text. In the poem “Song of Napalm” by Bruce Weigl, the meaning is somewhat fuzzy, but context clues and things like meter help the reader to understand the meaning. By using these clues the meaning of the poem “Song of Napalm” is much easier to interpret. The positions of “speaker” and “audience” are important to identify when analyzing a poem. Identifying the speaker will help the reader visualize and feel the mood of the poem. In Weigl’s poem the speaker seems to be a man. We get this first clue form a dedication “for my wife” (Weigl). This could be Weigl himself writing the poem specifically for his wife, or this could be another, figurative, man or person who is addressing another person. The dedication might be the only place where Weigl is actually the speaker; the rest of the poem could be told by the other speaker whose purpose might be only to tell the story. Identifying who the speaker is talking to, the audience, can help with finding the meaning also. In “Song of Napalm” Weigl uses the words “we”, “you”, and “us” in many sentences. “We stood in the doorway watching horses” “So I can stay her beside you” (Weigl). The speaker might not be talking directly to the person or audience but communication is happening through the act of reading the poem. There are many lines that lead the reader to believe that the

Harding 2 speaker is expressing things to his wife; the “for my wife”. The line “not your good love” (Weigl) indicates that they are possibly in a relationship. The speaker tells about how they tried to comfort him out of flashback images of barbed wire saying “but you said they were only branches” (Weigl). Just figuring out who the speaker and audience are draws the reader closer to uncovering the meaning. Meter and pattern are also important to aid in interpreting a poem. Poems can be read in a multitude of ways: like pros; no stopping for line breaks, stopping at the end of each line, or a combination. The author has consciously chosen to end one line and start another for some reason. A part from Weigl’s poem that could be interpreted differently could be the last two lines of the second to last stanza and the first line of the last stanza. “Muscles draw her up into that final position Burning bodies so perfectly assume.” (Weigl) These lines can be read pausing at the end of each line or all the way through without pausing. Pausing at the end of each line puts more emphasis on the line “burning bodies so perfectly assume”, making it almost its own sentence. If the lines are read together without pausing there is less emphasis on the last line, but it fits in with the other line describing the final position. There might not be a rigid meter or rhyme in Weigl’s poem but noticing things like repetition and how the lines are broken up helps with the analysis. Figurative language is something that is common in most poems. The author’s word choice can be a great clue to discovering the meaning. In Weigl’s poem there are many words of war and the horrors of it, like napalm, barbed wire, mortar, pain, and burning. These certain words should automatically get the reader to think that this poem may be about war. The author describes a scene of a girl running from her village, and burning napalm, in great detail. Why the author chooses to describe this scene so vividly should be a key to figuring out what the poem is

Harding 3 about. How the author describes how the speaker sees things like the shadows of trees as barbed wire instead of trees are important to show what the meaning of the poem is. The word choice also lets you get into the mind of the speaker and how they describe things; in this poem, possibly the things they saw in the war. The reader can connect with the speaker and start to relate on their own drawing closer to the meaning. If a reader can connect or relate to the poem then they have an understanding with the speaker. They understand at least some of the speaker’s emotions and feelings through the words of the author. In this case it’s about war. War is almost a constant in the world today. It is publicized and reported on over and over. We hear of the horrors of war, of soldiers coming back only to suffer post traumatic stress disorder. We can’t imagine what they saw but now the speaker is bringing it to you and telling you about it in detail. Maybe the reader has been part of a war themselves. If a personal connection is made the poem is easier to relate to and therefore easier to interpret subject wise. After looking at all these clues and reading the poem over a few times the meaning may start to emerge. First the reader may start to understand what is actually happening in the poem. In Weigl’s poem the speaker starts of by describing perhaps his home and the small things that are happening between him and his wife “We stood in the doorway watching horses (next line) We stared through the black screen” (Weigl). Then he talks of seeing barbed wire in the shadows of the trees leading us to think it’s a flashback of the war. He seems to realize it is a flashback “I turned my back on the old curses. I believed They swung finally away from me ...” (Wegl). But the speaker still can’t shake the memories “but still the branches are wire” (Weigl). Then the speaker goes into detail of the things that he saw and how he can’t erase them from his memory: the girl running with napalm on her dress and mortar and how he did all this just so he could stand with his wife, free. But no matter how hard he tries he can not forget what he has

Harding 4 done “Nothing Can change that; she is burned behind my eyes” (Weigl). And he says to his wife and not even her good love can deny what he has done. By understanding what is really happening in the poem we can easily see the meaning of the poem. The speaker is apologizing to his wife for the things he has done, because now they are forever engraved in his mind and nothing can change that. “Song of Napalm” BY BRUCE WEIGL For my wife We stood in the doorway watching horses Walk off lazily across the pasture’s hill. We stared through the black screen, Our vision altered by the distance So I thought I saw a mist Kicked up around their hooves when they faded Like cut-out horses Away from us. The grass was never more blue in that light, more Scarlet; beyond the pasture Trees scraped their voices into the wind, branches Crisscrossed the sky like barbed wire But you said they were only branches. Okay. The storm stopped pounding. I am trying to say this straight: for once I was sane enough to pause and breathe Outside my wild plans and after the hard rain I turned my back on the old curses. I believed They swung finally away from me ... But still the branches are wire And thunder is the pounding mortar, Still I close my eyes and see the girl Running from her village, napalm

Stuck to her dress like jelly, Her hands reaching for the no one Who waits in waves of heat before her. So I can keep on living, So I can stay here beside you, I try to imagine she runs down the road and wings Beat inside her until she rises Above the stinking jungle and her pain Eases, and your pain, and mine. But the lie swings back again. The lie works only as long as it takes to speak And the girl runs only as far As the napalm allows Until her burning tendons and crackling Muscles draw her up into that final position Burning bodies so perfectly assume. Nothing Can change that; she is burned behind my eyes And not your good love and not the rain-swept air And not the jungle green Pasture unfolding before us can deny it.