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Wakeful In A Beach Poem Summary

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In the poem “Wakeful in a Township”, Elizabeth Riddel masterfully utilizes tone, imagery and juxtaposition to encapsulate the internal conflict of the persona - her sense of discontent at being confined within a township she holds no rapport with, and her desire and burning ambition to be so much more. The word “Wakeful” in the title helps to accentuate this sense of ambition through the connotation of it, that being the idea of not being able to sleep. The word captures this restlessness in the persona which ties in with her immense desire to be free from the confinements of the township. In addition, the usage of the article “a” connotes emotional distance. She sees her home as a township and not the township, symbolizing her lack of attachment …show more content…

The persona makes no remarks of sentiment despite it being their home, but instead sounds more of an observer, or rather, an outsider. In addition, the words “[w]ho would live in a country town [i]f they had their wish” echoes the personas sentiments. There is a sense of disdain towards the township in this, which eventually progresses into frustration in the third stanza. There is a notable line break in “[m]any around me sleep // [b]ut not I” which evidently separates the persona from the townspeople. This conveys how the persona has absolutely no sense of belonging to the township whatsoever, which ties in with the earlier use of the distancing article “a” in the title. The persona feels that she does not belong to the town and wants no association with it, out of the disdain at the unchanging life of the others. There is a tone of frustration stemmed from the desire to be more, and achieve more. The persona is extremely critical of the nonchalant and relaxed lifestyle of the township, and feels that it hinders her ability to achieve her goals and aspirations. Though the person never has any concrete ideas of what she desires, her hunger to just be greater than what she is now

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