Paul Fleischman's Poem 'Cicadas'

Paul Fleischman’s poem, “Cicadas”, is a lyric poem because it has a specific setting, identifiable characters and a plot. The characters are cicadas in mid-August emerging from living underground. The plot of the poem is the life of a cicada. Fleischman’s poem is a free verse poem because it does not follow any specific predetermined rules. The word choice and pattern is meaningful; however, the format of the lines and syllables is completely up to Fleischman. The poem opens with the setting of mid-August. Fleischmann immediately brings indirect imagery in when he compares the temperature in August to “Air kiln-hot”. Indirect imagery is when something is described through comparison (Overview). August is a month that is often humid and hot. Fleischman uses a metaphor, a comparison in which something is something else, when he says

This format helps the most important pieces of the poem to stand out. When the two readers speak at once, a specific word or phrase of Fleischman’s choosing is emphasized. The lines that Fleischman decides to have read by both voices tells the story of the cicadas growing in numbers and together as a family. The story begins with only two cicadas, then goes to five, then twelve, and then grows into a mighty choir (Fleischman). This shows how the cicadas are surfacing from living underground for many years. As the poem continues along with time, the number of cicadas in the story builds. In contrast with “The Passenger Pigeon”, which the subject is slowly dying off, in “Cicadas”, the subject is figuratively coming back from the dead. After the cicadas come after darkness, the poem works into a repeat after me style with the two voices. This repetition of voice A to voice B shows how the sound of the cicadas becomes intense because of its overpowering sound. The monotonous sound is exciting. As the poem closes, the excitement hits a high with the insects “joyful noise”