Daniel Kelly Poem CAT 1 UPLOAD Essay

Daniel Kelly Poem CAT 1 2019

Statement of Intention

The Writer by Richard Wilbur (1921 – 2017) was written in 1969 and first published by Harcourt Brace, 1988. The Writer appears as a simple poem but contains many hidden messages throughout. The poem describes a father as he listens to his daughter typing away in her room and wishes her good luck. Yet, as with most of Wilbur’s work, a closer look at the poem shows how he conveys many powerful but meaningful messages about life and reveals his love for his daughter.

The Writer is a free verse poem of 11 stanzas, each with three lines making 33 lines in total. There is no set rhyme scheme and the meter and he uses a short first and third line and a longer second line. The poem is dotted with extended metaphors, assonance, alliteration, similes and enjambments.

My creative writing response reflects the daughter’s feelings as she experiences the journey of life. I describe what she experiences as she tries to find and discover the light in her journey.

My poem would best fit in after Wilbur’s poem, The Writer. My response reflects on her many challenges and how she overcomes them. I first set her on her journey by starting on a road as she experiences a sense of anxiety. She then travels past murmuring rivers, bridges and eventually onto a path that leads her home to her true light, her dad. In this poem I describe how she is nervous about finding her purpose in the world. I also describe the truth about her and a special father and daughter message that describes how to find light in her life. My poem reveals the relationship between a loving father and his daughter and how the relationship comforts her.

Richard Wilbur used many literary techniques such as assonance, caesura, enjambments, metaphors, extended metaphors and smiles to help enhance his poetry. The first line of the poem is the beginning of the extended metaphor. The word “prow” means the front part of a ship, pointed, above water. So the house is a boat sailing through life. He has used other words associated with voyages and sailing vessels such as “chain,” “gunwale,” “cargo” and “passage” to help relate to the journey as through the sea of life.

In my piece, I have also used many literary techniques such as extended metaphors, enjambments, alliteration and assonance. I have used an extended metaphor in my piece by using the concept of life’s journey as a “path.” I expanded on that theme by using hills, rivers, bridges and roads to show the many aspects of life.

“I stepped out onto the evergreen path.

The road was a green velvet ribbon draped over the twilight hills.”

“The road stretched, hugging the land

Far and wide taking each turn in easy stride, over the fears I left behind

Crossing every bridge over rivers”

I have also used assonance which highlights and effects rhythm, tone and mood of a text. The repetition of certain vowels creates and exciting effect to my poem.

“I’m nervous when trying to find my purpose,”

“His warm brown smiling eyes lifted my sombre, sorrowful frown”

Alliteration causes readers’ attention on a particular section of text through the use of sound. I have used this to help create rhythm and this can have particular effects and connotations.

“The infinite twists and turns, tumbles and tricks, never ending”

“His warm brown smiling eyes lifted my sombre, sorrowful frown”

I have also used enjambments which lead the readers to think of an idea, and then move onto the next line, giving an idea of conflicts within my response. I have used this to great effect in my poem.

“Crossing every bridge over rivers,

As I heard its murmuring secrets”

“There are two ways of seeing

The light, he said to me”

Richard Wilbur has used many techniques to enhance his poem and I have tried to use them as well in my creative piece of writing.

Daniel Kelly Poem

Where is the Light?

I stepped out onto the evergreen path,

The road was a green velvet ribbon draped over the twilight hills;

My sore eyes just stared into the abyss.

I’m nervous when trying to find my purpose,

But to simply be alive is just scratching the surface of this magnificent promenade.

As the road goes on, as it does, I will find the truth.

The road stretched, hugging the land.

Far and wide taking each turn in easy stride, over the fears I left behind.

Crossing every bridge over rivers,

As I heard its murmuring secrets.

The gentle whispers can only just heard, a backdrop to the musical notes around me.

Its many voices guiding me.

My mind was a surging perplexity

I was tired of struggling with challenges that invaded my mind

Oh, my life is undulating.

My life, lived as a secret but told as a lie,

The infinite twists and turns, tumbles and tricks, never ending

As I go on, the truth will appear.

Trees magnificently tower over me,

Hills rolled like angry waves, challenging me at every break,

Until I was desperate for a doze.

The path of my mind wanders.

To those who l left behind and had evaded from my memory.

A rainbow of emotions spread,

As I think of him waiting.

His warm brown smiling eyes lifted my sombre, sorrowful frown.

There are two ways of seeing,

The light, he said to me.

Look at yourself and be the mirror that reflects it,

I see the light again.

I find my way along the track,

The warmth of the light pulling me closer and closer,

I feel solace at last.

The path with the many cracks

Don’t matter anymore; I cross them with ease and eagerness.

The light draws me in.

The hills, bridges and the many voices

That confused me, challenged me, surprised me, frightened me,

Bind me no more.

The knot is strong, stronger than everThe strings tight, unbreakable, indestructible and connections powerful

Dad you are my other light.