‘For the Fire’ poem analysis •Some poems I have written in the past such as ‘For the Fire’, ‘Martin and the Hand Grenade’ and ‘Summer Rain’ contain a deliberate, overlying theme. The theme of violence is clearly evident, in ‘For the Fire’ we read about a vicious encounter between a kookaburra and a lizard. In ‘Martin and the Hand Grenade’ a child shows his other class members a grenade, on old weapon of warfare, and I use imagery to create a classroom battle scene. Finally in ‘Summer Rain’ a car crash is depicted. In ‘For the Fire’ the theme of violence is more refined, the theme, is of violence in nature and it is centred around the phrase ‘survival of the fittest’. In this poem strong words are used to help convey the theme some include ‘hacks’, ‘pouting blood’, ‘bones are smashed’ and ‘dead’. •‘For the Fire’ is a poem where I am basically describing a situation I was in. I left the civilised comfort of my home and went outside to gather fire wood. While outside the harshness of nature dawned on me, it was like I had arrived on another plant.
The humble kookaburra is normally depicted as a gently animal that seems to laugh at everything from the safety of the tree tops. My perspective changed as I now realised it to must do whatever it can to survive. •At the beginning of the poem the mood contains an aspect of loneliness especially when the persona is depicted as being the only living thing in the forest. As the poem continues the mood changes to that of violence and fear, when the scene of a kookaburra attacking a lizard is vividly described. Imagery is used in the poem, in the first and second stanza I wrote ‘Its singular, human thud. No one is there, only the wind through sparse leaves’. Through this technique I get the image of myself standing in a forest and the only sound I hear is the axe I am using to chop wood, but occasionally I hear the soft gust of air weaving through the leaves. This imagery creates the feeling of loneliness amongst the ominous and silent trees. •Enjambment is used in the poem; this is where a sentence runs onto a new stanza with no pause intended.
This technique makes the poem run more fluently instead of sticking to the traditional poem structure. •Alliteration is used in the poem, this technique usually makes the poem run more smoothly or even make something easier to remember but in this poems case it emphasises the meaning of the words it is involved in. Alliteration can be found in the fifth stanza when I write ‘claws clutching’, this example contains the repetition of the ‘c’ sound which is a consonant.
It helps better describe what the lizard is doing and also helps us feel what the lizard is going through as he tries desperately to escape the kookaburras grip. •Similes are used in the poem and they help describe a scene by comparing to something we might be familiar with. In the second stanza I wrote ‘through sparse leaves like clockwork’. This technique helps create an image of leaves being gently blown by the wind continuously, like the clicking on a clock. Personification is a technique where a poet gives an inanimate object human like qualities. This helps in imagining what something might look like or sound like. An example of personification is used in the second paragraph when I write ‘the sound drops’. •Onomatopoeia is a technique used to make a poem more interesting by using words that describe sounds; an example of onomatopoeia is used in the first stanza. ‘Thud’ is used to help describe the sound made as I chop wood. This gives the poem a sense of reality by appealing to our senses of hearing.
