Comments on "Easter" Poem

Easter 

Three months passed since the Asian tsunami;

And much sadness still lingers in the air;

Easter has landed, north, south, east and west,

With many customs and pagan legends,

And here am I in Aotearoa,

Walking in reverse so my head tells me;

So strange, Easter falls in autumn, not spring.

Such a movable feast you will agree;

Marching along toward April showers,

And variable in so many ways:

Like the Westerlies crossing the Tasman,

Or like those northern Atlantic Trade Winds;

Akin to Pesach, and the Risen Christ;

Redemption is approached in heaps of ways.

During Holy Week we watched the TV;

Beaming images to ‘The Long White Cloud’;

Pope John Paul Two with tracheotomy,

In the Vatican at Saint Peter’s Square,

Gave an Easter muted blessing on us.

Through faith, we wished his silent voice would speak,

But, his waving hand signaled us farewell.

The fertility symbol of Easter,

We agree, springs up a new successor;

Amid chicks, bunnies, and eggs we behold

In awe, this mystic season of rebirth,

Where bright colors of daffodils’ sunlight,

Our hope, from a Savior who burst the tomb!

God’ Son, our great gift from the Almighty...

His death, resurrection, and ascension,

Reclaimed for you and me our Paradise;

So we pledge allegiance to the Risen;

Through Him, no evil power can hold sway,

For we all have found grace in God' great sight,

And His Light has brightened our darkest spot;

So flying kites cannot outpace our prayers.

Comments on - Easter


The poem “Easter” has five sextet stanzas (sextet has seven verses in a stanza)is written in Blank Form also known as Blank Verse which is in the category of Fixed Form poetry. Fixed Form poetry is defined by the following rules:

All verses must be in iambic pentameter

All verses must have no end-rhymes

All verses must have end-stops. In poetry end-stops mean punctuation marks

Blank form poems rely on meter to give the desired structure and to create the sense of poetry and not prose. The rhythmic flow of the verses in Blank Form poetry is remarkable. William Wordsworth used Blank Verse in the pastoral poem “Michael” as shown in the excerpt below:

Michael


IF from the public way you turn your steps

Up the tumultuous brook of Greenhead Ghyll,

You will suppose that with an upright path

Your feet must struggle; in such bold ascent

The pastoral mountains front you, face to face.

But, courage! for around that boisterous brook

The mountains have all opened out themselves,          (William Wordsworth)


The poem “Easter” falls into the genre of Occasional Poetry with a serious topic. It is only fitting that the poet relinquished the role of writer and has taken up roles of speaker and omniscient observer. In the delivery of the poem, the poet is now speaking as the voice of “First Person Persona Omniscient. We know this is so because of first person pronouns “I” and “you”. Taking the pressure off the “I” ; the speaker draws in the audience by invoking the pronoun “you” and continued with revealing what happened during “Holy Week”. Now the speaker playing the role of omniscient Observer is revealed. The speaker in these five stanzas wears as it were, an “all seeing eye” which allows for observing, panning every move minor characters make by making inferences on their behaviors as well as analyzing their thoughts and emotional state of mind; in addition to having control over chronology of the narrative, moving it backward and forward in time to present back-story or to inform readers of future outcomes. These moving parts as presented by the speaker are depicted in Table 1a and 1b below:

Table 1a

Easter
Stanzas	Analysis
	Instances in poem where poet  takes on the Role of First Person Persona
Stanza 1 Three months passed since the Asian tsunami; And much sadness still lingers in the air; Easter has landed, north, south, east and west, With many customs and pagan legends, And here am I in Aotearoa, Walking in reverse so my head tells me; So strange, Easter falls in autumn, not spring.	First person persona:  I  my, me The poet has taken on the role of “speaker”
Stanza 2 Such a movable feast you will agree; Marching along toward April showers, And variable in so many ways: Like the Westerlies crossing the Tasman, Or like those northern Atlantic Trade Winds; Akin to Pesach, and the Risen Christ; Redemption is approached in heaps of ways.	First person persona  you The “speaker” now shares this role by including the pronoun ‘You”. This technique insures that the audience is paying attention and interest in what is said by taking the pressure off the “I” the speaker draws in the audience by invoking the pronoun “you”

 


Table 1b

Easter
Stanzas	Analysis
	Instances in poem where poet  takes on the Role of First Person Persona Omniscient
Stanza 1    And much sadness still lingers in the air;	First Person Persona Omniscient The  speaker plays the role of first Person Persona Omniscient is revealed in   Stanza 1 as follows: And much sadness still lingers in the air;
Stanza 3  Through faith, they wished his silent voice would speak, But his waving hand signaled his farewell.	First Person Persona Omniscient Through faith, they wished his silent voice would speak, But his waving hand signaled his farewell.
Stanza 4 No doubt, will spring up a new successor; Amid chicks, bunnies, and eggs they behold In awe, this mystic season of rebirth,                                                          Where bright colors of daffodils’ sunlight, Of hope, from a Savior who burst the tomb!	First Person Persona Omniscient No doubt, will spring up a new successor; Amid chicks, bunnies, and eggs they behold In awe, this mystic season of rebirth, Where bright colors of daffodils’ sunlight, Of hope, from a Savior who burst the tomb!
Stanza 5 His death, resurrection, and ascension, Reclaimed to mankind the Lost Paradise; So pledging allegiance to the Risen; Through Him, no evil power can hold sway, For all mankind has found grace in God' sight, And His Light has brightened the darkest spot; So flying kites cannot outpace their prayers.	First Person Persona Omniscient Reclaimed to mankind the Lost Paradise; Through Him, no evil power can hold sway, For all mankind has found grace in God' sight, And His Light has brightened the darkest spot; So flying kites cannot outpace their prayers.

So in addition to being the lead speaker in poem “Easter”, the speaker has revealed instances of getting into the minds of characters as documented in Table 1b above. Thoughts revealed provide the test that the poem is not only a First Person Persona but a First Person Persona Omniscient.