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Question

I need help on an essay I am writng for a grade 12 academic English class. I haven't spoken English my entire life but have learned it over the years. Now I live in Canada and it is the first language.

I need to write an essay on the form of this poem, and how it reinforces the theme and subject of the point.

This is the poem:

Telling lies to the young is wrong.
Proving to them lies are true is wrong.
Telling them that God’s in his heaven
And all’s well with the world is wrong.
The young know what you mean. The young are people.
Tell them difficulties can’t be counted,
And let them see not only what will be
but see with clarity these present times.
Say obstacles exist they must be encounter
Sorrow happens. Hardship happens.
The hell with it. Who never knew
The price of happiness will not be happy.
Forgive no error you recognize,
It will repeat itself, increase,
And afterwards our pupils
Will not forgive in us what we forgave

Any help is appreciated. My chief task is to prove that the poet uses form to emphsize the main idea.

All I really need is 3 subtopics I can elaborate off of.

Cheers.

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

I would not be able to comment on this poem without being rather critical.
If this is, in fact, your own poem, I would rather not comment.
Can you tell me the author of the poem?

ABBA · Answer

the poem is named, 'lies,' and its written by Yevgeny Yevtushenko

CalifJim · Answer

Ah! A translation! And Russian. That explains a lot. Here's what I came up with.

Telling lies to the young is wrong.
Proving to them lies are true is wrong.
Telling them that ***’s in his heaven
And all’s well with the world is wrong.

young

lies / lies

wrong / wrong / wrong

The young know what you mean. The young are people.

young / young

Tell them difficulties can’t be counted,
And let them see not only what will be
but see with clarity these present times.
Say obstacles exist they must be encounter
Sorrow happens. Hardship happens.

difficulties / obstacles / sorrow / hardship

The *** with it. Who never knew
The price of happiness will not be happy.

price of happiness / not happy

Forgive no error you recognize,
It will repeat itself, increase,
And afterwards our pupils
Will not forgive in us what we forgave

forgive no error / not forgive / forgave

The general tone of the poem is rather dreary. Except for the use of the "young" near the beginning, most of the words which receive emphasis, generally through repetition, are negative: lies, wrong, difficulties, obstacles, sorrow, hardship, the price of happiness, "will not be happy", "forgive no error", "will not forgive". This Calvinist dirge is divided into four sections.

1. It is wrong, wrong, wrong to sugar coat the awful truth just because young people are the audience. (The author seems to think that the truth is predominantly awful. Saying, for example, "all's well in the world" is supposedly lying.)

2. Here we move from what NOT to tell young people to what TO tell them: Young people must be told of the countless difficulties of life, the unavoidable obstacles, the sorrow, and the hardship.

3. A summary statement now intervenes claiming that happiness cannot be achieved unless it is paid for. The price paid is presumably the sorrow and hardships referred to in the previous section.

4. A concluding section offers yet another piece of advice, namely, that the forgiveness of errors in the young is simply the wrong strategy. The reason is that forgiveness of errors leads to further errors. The final warning is to those who don't believe the entire thrust of the poem: If you are lenient with the young, later they will blame you for your leniency. All in all, a much less pithy way of saying "Spare the rod, and spoil the child."

The poem as a whole has nothing to recommend it by way of consistent rhythms or rhymes. It is nearly perverse in its avoidance of any regularity of meter, although to call it avoidance is to ascribe to the author some sort of plan, which may be too generous. [Afterword: This may be due to an unsuccessful translation from Russian rather than to anything in the original.]

It is three lines too long for a sonnet. I don't recognize any other standard form it is written in. [Afterword: Maybe because I don't know the standard forms of Russian poetry.] It lacks so much in poetic technique that it reads more like prose, which is probably appropriate considering all the prosaic sentiments it expresses.

MountainHiker · Answer

CalifJim,

Thank you for jumping in and assisting ABBA.

MountainHiker

Guest · Answer

hi this is a student. i am writing a descriptive paragraph on the topic based sensory. so would you please help me.

Matthewg · Answer

Hi,

Do you mean sensory as in sensory perception, or as in censorship?

ABBA · Answer

thanks alot. the help is much appreciated!

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