POETRY

WHAT IS A POETRY?

Poetry is a type of literature based on the interplay of words and rhythm. It often

employs rhyme and meter (a set of rules governing the number and arrangement of syllables in

each line). In poetry, words are strung together to form sounds, images, and ideas that might be

too complex or abstract to describe directly.

Poetry was once written according to fairly strict rules of meter and rhyme, and each

culture had its own rules. For example, Anglo-Saxon poets had their own rhyme schemes and

meters, while Greek poets and Arabic poets had others. Although these classical forms are still

widely used today, modern poets frequently do away with rules altogether – their poems

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generally do not rhyme, and do not fit any particular meter. These poems, however, still have a

rhythmic quality and seek to create beauty through their words.

EXAMPLES OF POETRY IN POPULAR CULTURE

Example 1

Rapping originated as a kind of performance poetry. In the 1960s and 70s, spoken word artists

like Gil Scott-Heron began performing their poems over live or synthesized drumbeats, a

practice that sparked all of modern hip hop. Even earlier, the beat poets of the 1950s sometimes

employed drums in their readings.

Example 2

Some of the most famous historical poems have been turned into movies or inspired episodes of

television shows. Beowulf, for example, is an Anglo-Saxon epic poem that has spawned at least

8 film adaptations, most recently a 2007 animated film starring Angelina Jolie and Anthony

Hopkins. Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven has also inspired many pop culture spinoffs with its
famous line, “Nevermore.”

Essential Questions:

1. What are the elements of poetry present in the poem read?

2. How was the poem different from the traditional poem you know?

3. What are its characteristics?

The Promise by Jane Hirshfield is a reflection on how things in the poet’s life
seem to drift away from her, leaving her behind. She asks objects such as
‘flowers’, a ‘spider’ and even her own ‘body’ to stay, but in the end they always
leave or change. The final stanza of the poem focuses on asking lovers to stay,
to which they answer ‘always’. This ending can be interpreted both positivity,
in that they stay with her, or as a lie – a broken promise repeated lover after
lover.

Structure and Form

The Promise is split into six stanzas of unequal length lines, with stanzas
ranging from between two to six lines. Lines are typically finished by an end
stop, with only three lines in the entire poem using enjambment. The meter is
therefore very blunt, with the poem stopping and starting repeatedly, perhaps
representing the relationship Hirshfield builds only to be left behind.

Throughout the lines, there is the frequent use of caesura, which can be
understood as a representation of the separation the poet finds between
herself and other people/objects. A caesura breaks up the sentence, both
grammatically and within the poem’s meter, demonstrating a linguistic pause
as the lines read

Analysis of The Promise

Stanza One
Stay, I said
(…)
their heads lower.

The Promise begins with the indicative command, ‘Stay’, focusing the poem on
this anaphoric plea. The first word is followed by a caesura in the form of a
comma, acting as a short pause after this initial word. Hirshfield is placing
emphasis on ‘stay’, with the moment of silence signifying the desperation of
the poet.

This stanza focuses on the poet asking ‘the cut flowers’ to ’stay’ with her, yet
they ‘bowed their heads lower’, ignoring her cry as they wilt. This is the first
moment in which an element of nature does not ‘stay’ with the poet, with their
drooping ‘heads’ an image which instils sadness within the opening stanza.

The enjambment between ‘bowed / their heads’ is a representation of the

dropping flowers, their continuous wilt not stopping for the poet’s plea to
‘Stay’.

Stanza Two
Stay, I said to the spider,
who fled.

This stanza is two lines shorter than the first, but expresses much the same
sentiment. Hirshfield requests that a ‘spider’ ‘stay’ with her, but still it ‘fled’,
leaving her alone. The anaphora of ‘Stay’ is utilised again in the same form,
with the dramatic pause caused by the caesura further compounding the
sense of desperation after each chime of ‘stay’.

The shortness of this stanza could be a reflection of how, unlike the flowers,
the ‘spider’ actually flees from Hirshfield. While the flowers droop and begin
to die, they ultimately would still be in the same place, the wilting process
taking more time than the simple action of fleeing.

Stanza Three
Stay, leaf.
(…)
embarrassed for me and itself.

Hirshfield’s plea moves to a ‘leaf’, the poet begging a third form of nature. In
this stanza of The Promise, much like the flowers, the process which Hirshfield
is trying to stop is a process of nature. Whilst the flowers wilt and die, the ‘leaf’
turns from green to ‘red’, reflecting the changing of the season.

In this stanza, the command to ‘stay’ is more abrupt, the ‘leaf’ being followed
by a full stops to finish the line. This newfound quickness can be understood
as a reflection of Hirshfield realising that her pleas are ineffective, being left
alone no matter what she does.

Stanza Four
Stay, I said to my body.
(…)
soon starting to tremble.

The fourth stanza is directed at the poet’s own ‘body’, The Promise moving

away from external aspects of nature and looking inward. While in stanza
three nature was personified, here her body is dehumanised, relating it to a
‘dog’. This dehumanisation could suggest that she doesn’t have a good
relationship with her body, perhaps feeling insecure or self-conscious.

Although not expressed literally within The Promise, we can assume, based on

the idea of change detailed by stanza one and three, that the thing that is
changing within this stanza is to do with her body weight. The idea of
‘obedient for a moment’ then followed by ‘soon starting to tremble’
resembling the failing of self control.

Stanza Five
Stay, to the earth
(…)
with a changing expression, in silence.

The fifth stanza of the poem is the longest of all, measuring six lines, and due
to the length, detailing more than one thing that leaves her. She discusses a
landscape, split into ‘valley meadows’ and the materials that compose it,
‘limestone and sandstone’. This stanza acts as the ultimate abandonment by
nature, with a whole landscape failing to communicate with her. The final word
of the stanza, ‘silence’, compounds this idea of being left alone, with the
isolation evoked in the blank, expressionless environment causing the poet to
feel that this aspect of nature has left her too.
The images within The Promise seem to expand in size, with this final plea to
the landscape the most desperate of all. Yet, still, the poet is left alone, with
even the materials that comprise the ‘fossil escarpments’ rejecting Hirshfield.
The enjambment connecting ‘It looked back / with a changing expression, in
silence’ could represent the cohesion of nature, something which she can
never truly be a part of. Moreover, it could be interpreted as the distance
between the poet and nature, ‘it looked back’ followed by a space manifesting
the distance physically on the page.

Stanza Six
Stay, I said to my loves.
(…)
Always.

The final stanza can be understood in many ways. Some readings of this poem
discuss the final ‘always’ as suggesting love is the one thing that never leaves,
always remaining even after natural things like ‘flowers’ and leaves have long
passed.

Yet, due to the italics placed on ‘Always’, I would suggest that the comment is
seen as ironic by the poet, with her actually rolling her eyes at how lovers have
lied to her in their promise. This ‘Promise’ constitutes the title of the poem,
with Hirshfield pointing out the deceit that humans are capable of. While the
first five stanzas of the poems indicate a desperate and sad tone, the change
to italics here, and the scorn which it involves, suggests that Hirshfield does
not mind about nature leaving – indeed, it never said it would stay – but her
lovers have lied, they said they would stay and didn’t.
Indeed, the suggestion of ‘loves’, in the plural form, suggests that there have
been more than one. Of course, if the first would have stayed, then there
wouldn’t be plural ‘lovers’, therefore they broke their promise to ‘stay’. This is
a repeated offense, ‘each answered’, every lover Hirshfield takes deceiving her
and eventually leaving.