Some Years There Exists a Wanting to Escape
In the poem “Some years there is a wanting to escape,” I notice that the writer addresses severe non-existence issues and the longing to be in a better place using the second-person narrative. I have seen this through the multiple uses of the pronoun “you” and its position in the poem structure. From this perspective, Rankine, shows how the human body has been turned into an object. This description points to how the body degraded. For instance, Rankine says, “when you lay your body in the body” (p.142), which depicts the body as an object that does not have any form of subjectivity. To adequately stress specific points in her writing, Rankine uses rephrasing in the poem. For instance, she uses different phrases to describe the struggle with non-existence, such as “fighting the weight of non-existence” (Rankine, p.139) and “you are everywhere, and you are nowhere in the day” (Rankine, p.140). These clearly describe the main point the writer drives across throughout the poem.
In terms of the poem’s cadence and flow, I notice that it is imperfect—the lines in the poem end without finality. Additionally, the half cadence used in the poem breaks its flow through a hyphen mid-line or at the end of the line. This type of rhythm and flow gives me tension, which arouses a gloomy mood. The arrangement of the poem lines and its flow gives time to give more profound thought into the issue addressed by the poem. The tension created between lines serves to intensify the mood as I understand the person’s situation. During the reading, I feel pessimistic about any signs of improvement for the person addressed. After the reading, my mood is still somber because it concludes with a description of the persona’s helpless situation as being the worst injury.
Work cited
Rankine, C. “Some years there exists a wanting to escape.” (2014): 139-46.