25 minutes to go.

They're buildin' the gallows outside my cell.

I got 25 minutes to go.

And in 25 minutes I'll be in Hell.

I got 24 minutes to go.

Well, they give me some beans for my last meal.

23 minutes to go.

And you know... nobody asked me how I feel.

I got 22 minutes to go.

So, I wrote to the Gov'nor... the whole damned bunch.

Ahhh... 21 minutes to go.

And I call up the Mayor, and he's out to lunch.

I got 20 more minutes to go.

Well, the Sheriff says, 'Boy, I wanna watch you die'.

19 minutes to go.

I laugh in his face... and I spit in his eye.

I got 18 minutes to go.

Well...I call out to the Warden to hear my plea.

17 minute to go.

He says, 'Call me back in a week or three.

You've got 16 minutes to go.'

Well, my lawyer says he's sorry he missed my case.

Mmmm....15 minutes to go.

Yeah, well if you're so sorry, come up and take my place.

I got 14 minutes to go.

Well, now here comes the padre to save my soul

With 13 minutes to go.

And he's talkin' about burnin', but I'm so damned cold.

I got 12 more minutes to go.

Now they're testin' the trap. It chills my spine.

I got 11 minutes to go.

'Cuz the goddamned thing it works just fine.

I got 10 more minutes to go.

I'm waitin' for the pardon... gonna set me free

With 9 more minutes to go.

But this ain't the movies, so to hell with me.

I got 8 more minutes to go.

And now I'm climbin up the ladder with a scaffold peg

With 7 more minutes to go.

I've betta' watch my step or else I'll break my leg.

I got 6 more minutes to go.

Yeah... with my feet on the trap and my head in the noose...

5 more minutes to go.

Well, c'mon somethin' and cut me loose.

I got 4 more minutes to go.

I can see the mountains. I see the sky.

3 more minutes to go.

And it's too damned pretty for a man to die.

i got 2 more minutes to go

I can hear the buzzards... hear the crows.

1 more minute to go.

And now I'm swingin' and here I gooooooooo....

Sheldon Allan Silverstein

Poem analysis 

In 25 minutes to go, the writer uses various literary devices and words to bring across his message more clearly as well as add heavier emphasis on the idea of his poem.

The writer uses anaphora in the poem in a way that he repeatedly includes the number of minutes left in his poem after each sentence. The number of minutes left is written after each continuous sentence. This creates a very rushed effect on the person reading it as the person will be consistently reminded of the number of minutes the poet has left. Apart from creating a very rushed effect, it also causes the reader to want to continue to read on and not want to stop because of the curiosity and urgent desire to find out what happens after the last minute. The poet intentionally uses anaphora in the poem as repetition is able to secure emphasis and also further increase the intensity of the message of the poem. In this case, the amount of minutes left is greatly emphasized because of the use of anaphora. This appeals to the reader’s emotions, pathos, as the reader will feel more anxious and curious to find out what happens at the end, thus wanting to read on.

Also, in the poem, words and phrases with negative connotations are used to express the poet’s anger and unhappiness in the poem. For example, the word ‘damned' carries a very angry and violent vibe which suggests that the poet is angry to the point where he's very close to using violence. The phrase 'spit in his eye' also suggests that the poet's anger has led to him beyond his internal feelings and has caused him to use physical expressions to show and display his anger. 'Cuz the goddamned thing it works just fine' tells the reader that the poet was hoping for the trap to be faulty and not work. This suggests that the poet still harboured the thought of not getting executed immediately.  

Conversation

We smile at each other -

and I lean back against the wicker couch.  

How does it feel to be dead? I say.

You touch my knees with your blue fingers.  

And when you open your mouth,

a ball of yellow light falls to the floor  

and burns a hole through it.

Don’t tell me, I say. I don't want to hear.  

Did you ever, you start,

wear a certain kind of silk dress

and just by accident,

so inconsequential you barely notice it,  

your fingers graze that dress

and you hear the sound of a knife cutting paper,  

you see it too
and you realize how that image

is simply the extension of another image,  

that your own life

is a chain of words

that one day will snap.

Words, you say, young girls in a circle, holding hands,  

and beginning to rise heavenward

in their confirmation dresses,

like white helium balloons,

the wreaths of flowers on their heads spinning,

and above all that,

that’s where I’m floating,  

and that’s what it’s like

only ten times clearer,

ten times more horrible.  

Could anyone alive survive it?

Ai

Poem analysis  

In this poem, the writer uses various metaphors to further emphasize on the message she is trying to bring across. for example, in "wear a certain kind of silk dress and just by accident,

so inconsequential you barely notice it", the dress is a metaphor for someone becoming matured and death slowly approaching and taking over that person. It suggests that slow but inevitable maturity that one acquires over time. Like how a dress is donned onto a person, the person dons on maturity. In "image is simply an extentions of another image", the image refers to the person realizing that he/she has matured and the maturity is the extension of becoming closer to death.  The sentence "realizing ur life is a chain of words that will one day snap" refers to fact that she'll die one day and that death is inevitable being made known to the poet.

Also, the sentences "How does it feel to be dead? I say." and "Don’t tell me, I say. I don't want to hear." are contradictory to each other as the poet on one hand is asking for an answer but on the other hand, refuses to hear it. The two conflicting sentences represents and reflects the poet's own struggle with coming to terms that death is inevitable and that she will have to face it one day. The irony in the two sentences is also used to bring out the emphasis on the author's struggle with herself about coming to terms with the negativeness and horrible truth of death.

Ai, the poet.

(click here for bio and history background of Ai)

The trouble with snowmen

'The trouble with snowmen,'

Said my father one year

'They are no sooner made → winter is at the end of the year?

than they just disappear.

I'll build you a snowman

And I'll build it to last → snowmen typically melt after winter, but here it lasts.

Add sand and cement → survive through the hotter seasons eg. summer. which in real life it would melt

And then have it cast.→ meaning of cast: an object made by shaping molten metal or similar material in a mould = that it would last and stay in that shape and form forever.

And so every winter,'

He went on to explain

'You shall have a snowman → is it a gift for his son? Why must he make a snowman everytime? is it to maintain his youth?

Be it sunshine or rain.'

And that snowman still stands

Though my father is gone → passed on

Out there in the garden

Like an unmarked gravestone. → undisturbed; be it winter or summer

Staring up at the house

Gross and misshapen → snowmen is tortured and wants to pass on.

As if waiting for something

Bad to happen. → it is counted as bad in the persona's perspective

For as the years pass

And I grow older → began to understand and mature

When summers seem short

And winters colder. → winter: depressing season

The snowmen I envy→ envy those who can easily let the snowmen go and destroy it as the snowmen was a very significant thing to the persona where his many memories of he and his father are created.

As I watch children play

Are the ones that are made 
And then fade away.

Roger McGough

Poem analysis

This poem is about a snowmen that is not only just a normal ordinary snowmen but a snowmen that is of huge significance to the persona. This snowmen is an object of remembrance to the persona as his father has passed on which can be seen from, "though my father is gone" and it is the only thing and memory of his father he has left because his father built it for him. In stanza 5, it can be seen that the snowmen was "gross and misshapen", probably because it felt tortured and wanted to pass on. But the author said below "Bad to happen" the word bad here is from the persona's point of view, he considered it bad if the snowmen has to be erased and 'moved on' because he is unable to let go and erase the memories the only thing that is left of his father. He also does not want to disappoint his father as the father said in stanza 2, "I'll build you a snowman and I'll build it to last." the father's purpose of building the snowman for the persona was for it to last, "be it sunshine or rain" thus causing the persona to not being able to destroy it despite the snowman being gross and misshapen.
In stanza 7, the persona said that, "envy as I watch children play are the ones that are made and then fade away." it can be see here that the persona is envious at how easily the children let their snowman fade away while he was still stuck in the past. The line "are the ones that are made" also tells us that probably it is like a human; a soul that passes on when its time and the memories will eventually die together with them.
Therefore this poem gives off a very nostalgic feeling, especially for the persona as the snowmen symbolises and reflects his father.

Quirky.

Hello! 

Our group is doing on the theme quirky. We were really interested in the poems because they were are unique and very different compared to the other themes. For this theme, we thought that there was much more to explore than the other themes, therefore we chose to pick up the theme quirky. 

Also, we wanted to write our original poem based on the class. The class is made up of many people with different personalities, making us special and unique.

by, group two - Charis, Aina, Calista, Megan (3H)