Analytic: Poetry Essay

Submitted By workingprime101
Words: 346
Pages: 2

There is a poem titled "I Am Offering this Poem", and it is very special to me. The poem was written by Jimmy Santiago Baca in 1990. It is not a very well known poem, however I feel that the message the author conveys throughout the text is one very well known to many people. This poem expresses that the world can only exist and thrive through love. It also states that in life, even the poorest of individuals can live happily as long as they have love in their life. The tone of this poem is very calm, as if the author is speaking directly to a specific member of the audience. While there is no clear rhyming pattern, there is imagery used throughout the work. The author continuously describes the items that he is able to provide, while avoiding such descriptive words for the things that he cannot. For example, the author says, "I have nothing else to give you, so it is a pot full of yellow corn to warm your belly in winter". This implies that the author is able to provide her with a simple meal of yellow corn, yet cannot provide her with electricity or a fire to provide the warmth she needs. In the last stanza of the poem, the author states, "It's all I have to give, and all anyone needs to live, ", and this is clearly not true. However, this author is so deeply in love wtih the primary audience of this poem that he feels all he needs to go on throughout life is love. While this is not possible, it does help to demonstrate the power that our emotions hold over us. The