The Word Plum Analysis

Poetry is a piece of literature where the author shares his ideas of a subject or person. He is attempting to allow the reader an understanding of his feelings regarding this subject. Most of the time poetry can be very pleasing to the ear; however, at times it can be written in a manner that is odd. Some poetry is written in a way that the reader can “hear”, “feel”, “see” or “taste” elements in the poem. Some poems may rhyme while others may not need to in order to convey the message. Some poems may have a strict structural form while others may not. The writer can incorporate one of many poetic devices into his work to relay his message to the reader. Examples analyzed today include poetic sound, onomatopoeia, alliteration, rhyme, meter, and verse.
An example of poetic sound, onomatopoeia, and alliteration can be found in Helen Chasin’s short poem “The Word Plum”. This poem doesn 't rhyme; however, it is pleasing to the senses. One literary element it uses is onomatopoeia; this allows the reader to “hear” the sounds in the poem to tell a story. The sounds of the plum in this poem allows the reader to experience the eating of a plum in his mind while he reads it. Words such as “pout and push...savory murmur...pierced, bitten” are

This poem is written in free verse, has an irregular meter, uses the literary element of poetic sounds, and does not use rhymes to express its meaning. The poem is an ode that is written to describe a strong emotion about something. In this case, the emotion of eating pork. Young writes the poem to describe his love and enjoyment of eating pork, but also addresses the sins this food has when partaken. The tone of the poem is contentment; eating the pork makes him happy and satisfied. He describes how it is a pleasure and a delight - something that he cannot live without. It is a comfort food to him; yet, it causes so much grief by causing so many health problems and even