Activity: Rough Draft Assessment

“Life in a Slam”

As I sit here in the morning light,

Watching the day set in slowly,

With sweet silent thought in flickering flight,

The tears from beneath my heart rise to my eyes.

Myself I can picture in my imagination world,

In a land far, far away,

Chasing something within my own soul

And the tears they swell in eyes and stay.

Maybe this is how it’s planned to be?

Maybe one day I would pursue my dreams?

Maybe? Maybe? Oh does it matter anyway!

And the tear they swell in my eyes and flow in a stream.

Process Analysis:

In “Life in a Slum,” the poem explores the life of the persona through poetic devices

like imagery and symbolism that helps create the meaning as well as intensify the mood in

the poem. The title of the poem utilizes a metaphor that enables the reader to relate the

context to an existing societal setup. The poem also uses symbols. Ideally, the environmental

context of this poem is hidden in the title. Further, imagery forms another important poetic

device in the poem. For instance, the title of the poem gives the reader an impression of

where the persona could be situated. On the other hand, the person appears to be addressing

certain issues in society in a rather poetic manner. This placed poem reflects on global issues.

This essay analyzes the above poem.

In the poem “Life in a Slum” imagery is used to create an impression in the reader’s

mind. As the poem starts, the reader gets a snapshot of the persona sited somewhere in a

slum. In other words, use of imagery in the poem provides the reader with a sense of own

memories or experiences that the persona emotionally connects to the poem (Perez).

The author demonstrates the re-occurrence of imagery in different instances. Referring to the

2nd stance the persona is chasing something within own soul. This constant use of imagery

exposes us to the persona experiences. The persona has to reveal own experience briefly the

use of this tool makes the poem effective.

Through constant use of imagery, the poet creates an impression of challenges faced

in slums. In other words, the poem reveals the hardship and life in slums in a rather unique

way. For example in the last stanza, the persona is in conflicted thoughts. “Maybe this is how

it is planned to be,” or maybe one day I would pursue my dreams.” These two questions are

important in the poem because they somehow show the quagmire the persona is in.

In the poem, “Life in a Slum,” figurative language has been employed in the poem.

Figurative language uses different figures of speech such as rhetorical devices or alliterations

to make the poem more persuasive and impactful (Zwaan 240-250). In the poem, the use of

figurative language is used to create an impression of the life the persona is experiencing.

The author demonstrates the use of symbolism to emphasize the state of economic hardship.

The poet writes, “The tears from beneath my heart rise to the eyes,” and “the tears they swell

in my eyes and stay.” These two examples as presented in the poem convey information in a

rather twisted way. As the two symbolisms reflect, the person is in agony.

By use of figurative language, the persona is able to explain to the reader’s hardship

and challenges in this society. From the onset of the poem, the poet is able to express the

economic as well as social challenges in this environment. My relationship with the chosen

place is based on cultural concerns to my experience in a slum during my teenage. I have

been able to show this by applying imageries, rhetoric devices and symbols to mention a few.

The poem is able to tell a story of life experience in a slum. In broad perspectives, the theme

in the poem can also be used to relate to global social economic issues that are affecting the

people. Economic hardships and psychological perspectives as represented in the poem

concerns large ideas related to politics a society. Arguably the persona state can in one way or

the other be attributed to poor governance. On the other hand, the aspect of the persona

giving up depicts a society where people are reluctant.

Work cited

McCurdy, Nina, Vivek Srikumar, and Miriah Meyer. "Rhymedesign: A tool for analyzing

sonic devices in poetry." ​Proceedings of the Fourth Workshop on Computational Linguistics

for Literature​. 2015.

Perez, Craig Santos. ​from Unincorporated Territory [saina]​. Omnidawn Pub., 2010.

Zwaan, Rolf A. "Toward a model of literary comprehension." ​Models of understanding text​.

Psychology Press, 2014. 249-264.