Poetry Friday: Poem Under Deconstruction

When I look through my notebooks, it's obvious to me that I love to write poems about weather. I live in the midwest, and we get our fair share of all four seasons, and I seem to be obssessed with the weather that accompanies each one. Today, I'm sharing another weather poem, though not one of my own. I came across, "Weather is Full of the Nicest Sounds" by  Aileen Fisher, in the Arrow Book of Poetry, selected by Ann McGovern.

Weather is full 

of the nicest sounds: 

it sings 

and rustles 

and pings 

and pounds 

and hums 

and tinkles 

and strums 
and twangs 

and whishes  

and sprinkles 

and splishes 

and bangs 

and mumbles 

and grumbles 

and rumbles 

and flashes 

and CRASHES. 

I wonder 

if thunder 

frightens a bee, 

a mouse in her house, 

a bird in a tree, 

a bear 

or a hare 
or a fish in the sea? 

Not me! 

In my ongoing journey as a writer, I like to deconstruct and study the work of other writers. I sometimes do this exercise at school visits, as well. This week, I decided to dissect this poem.

1. The first thing I notice is that it is written with quite a bit of rhyme. I worked through the rhyme scheme. You'll notice how the scheme changes about half-way through. I also noticed some internal rhyme added- mouse in her house.

2. Next, I looked for poetic tools/literary devices that the poet may have used. Onomatopoeia is definitely queen of this poem. Sound words are so much fun to immitate and to listen to. These sounds help to create images of different kinds of weather in my mind. They help me to hear it and to see it vivdly.

3. Consonance. The repetitive sh sound in crashes, flashes, splishes, whishes. 

4. Assonance. The repetitive ee sound in bee, tree, sea, and me. Repetitive sounds are FUN!

5. Most of the poem consists of this fun list of sounds, but then we are given some questions to ponder. Sometimes weather sounds can be frightening, but the author turns this theory upside down, and says, no, I'm not afraid, but what about bears, hares, fish, bees, and mice? It's a perfect poetic twist. Do you like to write about weather? Do you enjoy deconstructing poetry? Was there anything that you particularly liked/disliked about this poem?

This week's Poetry Friday is hosted by Going To Walden blog. Be sure to stop by and check out all of this week's inspiring posts.

As always, thanks for stopping by, and Happy Poem-Making!