Analysis of The Dreadful Unknown
When I was five years old, no one listened to me;
Nor heard my silent screams;
No one was there to tell my blistering story; Not even me;
Grandma nor Grandpa, neither Mom had tried;
They were far too busy to notice, the Blazing Red Sky;
Between the Blistering Pains keeping me alive;
And Knowing the Hurt that bound my soul
To the Fears of the Dreadful Unknown;
So, walls did I build so high and proud.
Behind lots of restless noise and many a fake laughter;
No one was to know my Blustery True Story;
A Story, far beyond the control of a scared little boy;
So the solution was simple indeed:
Off to live with a “stranger” and his wife;
With Laddy, Toro and Baron to set the stage;
At first, some happiness did come quietly in;
Calming some of the fears of a scared little boy;
But the Tide did shift the following year;
Grandma Dotty was gone; as was the little blue cottage;
With a thigh high turquoise picket fence.
Unrelenting Fears and Pains crept, silently in;
So once again, not being Heard;
“Mom” nor “stranger” Dad had even attempted a try;
Dad was off to war and fight in Viet Nam;
They, too, were too busy to notice the brewing, Blazing Red Sky;
From Viet Name to Europe;
Discovering His happiness;
He was never to be home; telling me I didn’t matter;
Between the Blistering Pains letting me know I was alive;
And Knowing the Hurt that bound my soul
To the Fears of the Dreadful Unknown;
I was chained to a trailer of enormous white lies and darkened deceits looming;
Larger than life;
But in truth it was all I had, and it was All Mine;
I had finally learned My Place;
The Pain In My Heart, is not meant to be seen;
With Uneasy, Laughter, and Negative Attention being born;
Ice Walls I built, to hide the Endured Horrors;
Pain had permanently engulfed; my little Boy;
The Impossible Ask never to be Spoken;
“Please hold and Love Me”;
Fears of the Dreadful Unknown;
Scheme | axaxbcDExfag xhxigxxxi xbxbxxf cDExhxxx xxgxae |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111111111011 111101 1111111100101101 101110111 10111011001011 010100110101 010011111 101101001 111111101 01111010100110 111111100110 010101001101101 1001011001 1111010011 11100101101 111100111000 101101101101 1011101001 10101111010110 101110101 01010111000 11011101 1110111001001 11111010011 1101101100101011 1011110 01001100 11101111011110 010100110111101 010011111 101101001 11110101010110100110 1011 1011111101111 11100111 01011111111 1010100100010101 11111100110 111000011101 001001101110 11011 1101001 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 1,906 |
Words | 395 |
Sentences | 3 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 12, 9, 7, 8, 6 |
Lines Amount | 42 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 291 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 70 |
About this poem
The poem is about growing up in a split and broken family: in Fallon NV 60 miles outside Reno. Also the chosen life of a US Navyman during wartime when absentee fathers were the norm. When I was 5 years old my older sister and I went to live with my father and my 2 brothers and younger sister moved to New York with my mother. Since I didn't know my father he was a stranger to me and I didnt know my step-mother either (the Dreadful Unknown),
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Written on February 14, 2024
Submitted by jamesrpendleton on February 14, 2024
- 1:58 min read
- 129 Views
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"The Dreadful Unknown" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 9 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/180988/the-dreadful-unknown>.
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