THE ANALYSIS OF FREE - FORM POEM

THE BIRD
By Ernesto Santiago

Assignment as Partial Fulfillment to Pass

the Course Poetry and Drama in ELT
Facilitated by Dr. Johanes AP, M.Pd., M.Ed.

By
Tri Mulyati

609653527857

Yunita Puspitasari

609653527903

STATE UNIVERSITY OF MALANG

GRADUATE PROGRAM IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION
2010
RAIN SONG
By Ruth Y. Nott

The Analysis of Free-form Poem (Concrete Poem)

Spirits
falling in puddles of grief,
disappointment drowning hope,
tissues soaked in sadness, umbrellas
raised in futile defense, ears closed to
the rain song. Eyes swollen, moist and red,
fingers gripping an offered hand, feet unable
to move, flowers surround, unseen by one who is
unaware of the rain song. Music, soft, sweet, and low,
prayers mumbled respectfully, love shared with family and
friends. Memories linger, vibrant and warm as hearts beat in
time with the rain song. Emptiness, loneliness yet to come, fears
for tomorrow, tears for today, self-pity and doubt, anger and
pain
haunting
and
howling
about
in
the
wind
unable
to
song
hide
rain from
the

2007

The Analysis of Free-form Poem (Concrete Poem)

Rain Song is a concrete poem. It is a form of poem in which the visual

element is part of the poems art, the typographical arrangement of letters and
words on the page (or as here) is as much a part of the poems essence as the more
traditional poetic techniques. In this poem, Nott, the writer, has arranged letters
and word in the form of an umbrella for representing the content. The discussion
of the poem includes its structure as well as its content. In terms of the structure
the poem will be analyzed on how the poetic devices and poetic diction employed,
whereas through the analysis of the content the intended meaning or message Nott
wants to deliver will be revealed.
Poetic Devices Analyze.
The poetic devices employed in Rain Song are comparison, and repetition.
Nott utilized her poem by using comparisons in order that the reader can get more
vivid vision on how she describes her feeling about the rain song and what rain
song refers to particularly. Simile is used to flourish the poem as well as
highlighting the important role of rain song in the poem.
Personification: Nott mostly uses personifications rather than simile. We can find
them in second, third, eleventh, twelve, fourteenth, sixteenth, and twenty second.
Spirit falling in puddles of grief (line2)
Spirit is assumed as an animate that can fall. The word falling describes how
serious the feeling of loosing spirit. She reminds us that if we fall, we feel hurt or
get injured and that is not a nice thing.
disappointment drowning hope (line 3)
As the word falling, the word drowning brings negative effect to the
meaning. Disappointment is supposed as someone that can vanish something as
hope.
Memories linger, vibrant and warm (line 11)
Memories are something abstract which is given a humans character
such as, being energetic, enthusiastic, and kind. It is described in such away so we
can feel that they are valuable nice memories.

The Analysis of Free-form Poem (Concrete Poem)

Fears, tears, self pity and doubt, anger and pain unable to hide from the
rain song. (line 22)
Those feelings are personified to be someone that can hide if he feels
threatened. In this poem, Nott shows that the feeling cannot deny the existence of
Rain Song
Simile: Run Song employs one simile. It can be found in the eleventh line.
Memories linger, vibrant and warm as hearts beat in time with the rain song
This simile comparing memories to hearts beat visualizes the existence of
memories remained in this life along with the rain song.
I. Repetition
This concrete poem uses repetition as in rain song. These words are
repeated four times and put in the same structure, that is, at the end of sentence
(line 6, 9, 12, and 22). The repetition here is to remind us that rain song which
refers to Gods blessing remains anytime.

I. Poetic Diction Analysis

a. Denotation and connotation.
In Rain Song, Nott mostly uses the literal meaning for the words chosen.
The words such as, spirit, tissue, eyes, swollen etc are used to give overt
descriptions of the meaning intended.
However, Nott uses connotations such as, umbrella, flowers, and rain
song. The word umbrellas represents efforts to heal sadness. Flowers express
that there is beauty in the hard life . Rain song refers to Gods blessing. Those
who are down with sadness and suffering sometimes cannot see Gods blessing.
b. Figurative language
Besides personifications and simile, Nott uses hyperbole as figurative
language. The hyperbole is used in line 2 and 4.

The Analysis of Free-form Poem (Concrete Poem)

Spirit falling in puddles of grief (line 1)

Instead of just using the word grief, she adds the word puddles to exaggerate
the situation of severe sadness.
tissues soaked in sadness (line 4)
The word soaked exaggerates the wetness of tissues wiping tears. Here, the
sadness is so deep that it is not easy to be cured
II. Tone and Symbol
This poem brings gloomy and sorrowful tone. Almost the entire
sentences express sadness, like in sentence 1, 2, and 5. Nott also uses symbols in
her poem. The main symbol in this poem is rain song. It symbolize Gods
blessing. The other symbols are umbrellas and flowers. While umbrellas
symbolize effort, flowers symbolize beauty of life.
III. Point of View
The point of view is omniscient point
IV. Content
a. Theme
The theme of this poem is blessing in disguise. God will always bestow
his endless blessing in any condition we are.
b. Message
Nott tells us when we are in the worst condition, sometimes we are not
able to see or even deny Gods blessing. The sufferings are too strong that they
cover our heart from seeing Gods kindness. From this poem, we can learn that we
should not lose our hope easily. We should believe that there is always an end on
every sorrow, as stated in our Koran .