Reflective commentary:
“TSN” is a poem composed of four different sections of verse; three ballad stanzas, a section of blank verse followed by a rhyming couplet and finally four stanzas of free verse. The first three sections of prose are written in predominately consistent meter, alternating iambic tetra- and trimeter in the three ballad stanzas, and iambic pentameter in the section of blank verse and the rhyming couplet. “Predominately” as there are some substitutions within two of the ballad stanzas (despite the poet’s best efforts). More specifically two trochaic substitutions, “Monarch”, and “Dire”, and an anapestic substitution “absolute”.
The rhyme scheme varies throughout the poem, corresponding with the traditional schemes of the respective verse froms. There are examples of alliteration and internal rhyme in the section of free verse, as to create emphasis, as well as drive the poem forward by creating a sense of rhythm. alliteration in the rhyming couplet: assonance in line 28: Not, and low, and the internal rhyme in line 23, “reality - normality”.
The subject is made rather obvious through the choice of title: “TSM”, the shortened version of the full title of the maxis game “The Sims Medieval”. This, in combination with several
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Hence, is the immediate reading of the poem as a commentary on how on simulation games offers a retreat from the complexities of reality, but a superficial one. TSN incorporates a number of lyrical qualities to explore an underlying theme of control, or rather the illusion of control. This theme, due to the lyric speaker’s hesitation towards using explicit words to reveal their interiority, is reflected in the composition of the poem, the lineation and punctuation. It is through these features the speaker explores their subjectivity and conflicted relationship with control. This additionally gives the poem a contiveplative