Explication of Summer Twilight by Sharon Thesen
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“Summer Twilight” by Sharon Thesen is a short poem and therefore the linear model will be the most appropriate approach in analyzing the poem (“Poetry Explications – The Writing Center,”2012). “Summer Twilight” poem begins and ends with two verses and the middle stanza is made up of three verses. There is no rhyming summary in the poem, and the poet uses an open stanza(“Sample Poetry Explication,” 2012). The poet uses authentic vision, strong sentiment and a collection of the narrator’s memories of the past to bring connotation. Taking a look at the title of the poem ” Summer Twilight” creates a mental picture of sunset in the mind of the reader. It is noticed in the poem that the imagery rhymes with the content in the poem. This notion is approved by the beginning word in the verse, which is ‘sunset’. The mood of the poem as well as the inclination of the narrator is still and less tense just like sunset. The narrator explains the glimmering but short period of existence. The period being narrated is the glamorous period of youth that looks like it will last forever but it always does not.
In the first stanza the narrator uses color creativity to bring out meaning in the poem. The narrator describes the sunset whereby the sky is bright blue and has a rich red deep color. The narrator however does not directly describe the colors in the sky but describes the sky as being banded with ‘azure’ and ‘crimson’ which is quite a complex description. This color illustration enables the audience to get a mental picture of the sky which is not only blue and red in color but has a dazzling blue color as well an extreme red color inclining to purple(Brinnin, 2015) . The sky been talked about seems to be a sky with no clouds and this exposes to the reader what is in the mind of the narrator.
In the second stanza, we notice the narrator transcending further from the sunset by looking at the lights of the city as well as the neighboring environment. There is a smooth flow of the attention of a reader in the mind from the sunset to the city lights (“Part B Explication of Sharon Thesens Summer Twilight Sharon Thesens Summer,” 2012). At the end of the stanza, ‘a loner cloud’ is used to bring a swift ending. The pressurized cloud is being used as a closure as it is left pending at the end of the stanza. Throughout the poem, the cloud is the focal point of the poem as it is referred again in the poem. The first two stanzas create a scenery view for the story of the poem (“Summer Twilight – Essay by Susan67,” 2012). The sunset and the city lights create a picture which enables the narrator to convey her notion.
The narrator further recounts the ‘loner cloud’ by talking about its shape. This enables the narrator to add a viewpoint to the narrative. The narrator does not however directly describe the cloud, and it is therefore initially not clear what is being talked about. The narrator describes hills in the third stanza as well as if being absorbed in the alluring environment. The narrator seems to be talking about the uplift of the earth ground. In the fifth stanza; we realize the shapes of the hills being talked about represent the clouds.
References
Brinnin, J. M. (2015). Among Old Letters. Contemporary Poetry: A Retrospective from the “Quarterly Review of Literature”. doi:10.1515/9781400871728-007
Part B Explication of Sharon Thesen Summer Twilight Sharon Thesen Summer. (2012). Retrieved from https://www.coursehero.com/file/p2qpvbi0/Part-B-Explication-of-Sharon-Thesens-Summer-Twilight-Sharon-Thesens-Summer/
Poetry Explications – The Writing Center. (2012). Retrieved from https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/poetry-explications/
Sample Poetry Explication. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.clt.astate.edu/wnarey/Shakespeare%20files/sample_poetry__explication.htm
Summer Twilight – Essay by Susan67. (2012, 3). Retrieved from https://www.antiessays.com/free-essays/Summer-Twilight-221660.html