Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Sign Analysis - "Sex Ed"

I chose Erika Meiter's "Sex Ed" poem this week for my sign analysis. It's funny, I honestly had no idea how much her work was influencing me until I re-read my free write today. A lot of that influence comes from this poem I discovered after also re-reading "Sex Ed" today. Anyhow, these are some tools or truths I see that are working within this poem.

  • The poem is narrative in style which is very well executed.
  • She uses lists and inventory to convey her message, - "..drinking in backyards, smoking blunts in parks, making out in bathrooms, etc."
  • Use of repetition - Lines 36-54 have 10 sentences, all starting with the word "We" which works very well because it makes the point of view more broad and experience more vast. It widens the poem's frame.
  • The second stanza is one sentence - there are some dashes and a semi-colon but it is one continuous thought and it creates tension and sets up the third and forth stanzas.
  • The third and forth stanzas employ short sentences to counter-act with the previous stanza. Sentences like, "We are at risk. We are self-conscious." 
  • The poem uses company names like K-Y Jelly, Trojan, and Seventeen which can be related to, it ups the specificity. 
  • Alliteration at the end of the poem - "Exahusts, exalts, raises us up ecstatic." "Forgiveness for exploring fingers..."

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