Kaeshad Williamson World Poetry Blog 2019

My poem that I have chosen is Echo by Alexander Pushkin...

If beasts within a silent forest moan,
If trumpets sound, if thunder rolls and cracks,
Or young girls sing almost inaudibly-
For each initial tone
The atmosphere resounds quite suddenly
With a response, your own.

You listen to the peal of distant thunder,
The rumbling voice of violent waves and storm,
And hear the village shepherd's lonely cry-
And then you send your answer,
But hear no echo, there is no reply...
This also, poet, is your nature.

Source: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse?volume=116&issue=5&page=76

My image reasoning: In this poem there are a lot of references to sound, and how it travels throughout different places and to different people. So this made me think of headphones and sound waves, hint the picture.

Biographical information on Alexander Pushkin:

• Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin was born on the 26th of May, 1799 in Moscow in the noble family.
• Like many aristocratic families in 19th century Russia, Alexander and his siblings began to study French and adopt the French culture at a young age.
• In 1811 Pushkin entered the newly founded Imperial Lyceum at Tsarskoye Selo (later renamed Pushkin) and while there he began his literary career.
• Alexander Pushkin's grandma would tell him stories of his Russian ancestors and Russian folktales.
• As a child, spending time with his grandma over the summer, Alexander would spend lots of time talking to his grandma's peasants, creating bonds with them.

Source: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Aleksandr-Sergeyevich-Pushkin

My Poem Analysis:

Paraphrasing: The initial response to new sound, is silence. After this silence you begin to listen and when your ready to speak no sound comes back to you, for you are in the footsteps of a poet/creator.

 Speaker: In the poem "Echo" by Alexander Pushkin, the speaker of the poem is the person who sees sound traveling. This is so because in order for one to be so in tune with sound, they must know how sound moves and works.

Figurative Language: In the poem "Echo" by Alexander Pushkin, there are many examples of figurative language being used. One example is "The rumbling voice of violent waves and storm." In this example of figurative language, personification is being used, since both waves and storms have no mouths to talk. This form of figurative language was used, because it helps the reader of this poem be able to better visualize the strength and power of the storm and it's waves.

Form: In the poem "Echo" by Alexander Pushkin the stanza division of the poem holds much importance. In the poem there are two stanzas, but the first stanza is there to symbolize how people receive the initial contact of sound. While the second stanza is there to symbolize how people want to respond to that sound that they have heard. The pause in between the two stanzas is to symbolize the time that it takes a person to process the sound that was heard, within their brain.

Tone: In the poem "Echo" by Alexander Pushkin the tone that is put across to the reader is a sense of realization. This is so because throughout the poem the movement of sound and all of sounds power is presented to the reader. This presentation of sound helps allow the author of the poem to realize that as a poet not all sound will be returned to him.

Theme: All sounds big or small are powerful, and those who create sound resemble all creators in this world.