The DayBY: GEOFFREY BROCK

PRESENTATION BY: MEIJAH HILL

Biographical Information.

Geoffrey Brock is known as a American poet & translator. He as received an MFA (Master of Fine Arts) from the University of Florida and a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania. Geoffrey’s first collection of poetry Weighing Light (2005) had won the New Criterion Poetry Prize. Brock usually writes his poems about the ridiculous desperation of our daily lives. As also about God & myths. He’s known to be a most serious poet. Geoffrey has made significant contributions as a translator. He has a received many awards for translating such as the Guggenheim Fellowship award.

The Day

It hangs on its

stem like a plum

at the edge of a

darkening thicket.

Its swelling and

blushing and ripe

and I reach out a

hand to pick it

but flesh moves

slow through time

and evening

comes on fast

and just when I

think my fingers

might seize that

sweetness at last

the gentlest of

breezes rises

and the plum lets

go of the stem

And now it’s my

fingers ripening

and evening that’s

reaching for them.

The poem is considered a ballad poem. Its has 6 stanzas and 24 lines.

Literary Elements.

Simile: Geoffrey is comparing something hanging on a stem like a plum

Imagery: words that Brock used to create a picture for the reader to figure out what the poem is about

Rhyme: every last word in each stanza rhyme with the previous stanza

Sensory detail(s): details describing what's happening in the poem

Stanza #1

It hangs on its

stem like a plum

at the edge of a

darkening thicket.

Simile

Geoffrey is comparing a person living as like a plum hanging on a stem.

Stanza #2

It’s swelling and

blushing and ripe

And I reach out a

hand to pick it

Brock is saying that people go through life having to make different decisions.

Rhyme

Stanza #3

but flesh moves

slow through time

and evening

comes on fast “But flesh moves slow through time and evening comes on fast” Geoffrey is saying that through growth and development people mature at different levels.

Rhyme

Stanza #4

and just when I

think my fingers

might seize that

sweetness at last

He’s imagining how nice something would be in his future.

Rhyme

Stanza #5

the gentlest of

breezes rise

and the plum lets

go of the stem.

Sensory Detail

Rhyme

Geoffrey is saying that a person has established freedom & being on their own having responsibilities.

Stanza #6

And now it’s my

fingers ripening

and evening that’s

reaching for them.

That a person is mature enough to make right decisions.

Rhyme

Author’s Purpose.

Geoffrey Brock’s purpose for writing this poem was to represent the plum as a person growing up & maturing to make the right decisions.

Literal Meaning.

► There is a plum hanging on a stem of a thicket. There is a person trying to pick it off of the thicket. As a gentle breeze comes by and makes the plum fall of the stem.

Figurative Meaning.

Geoffrey Brock is comparing the plum in “The Day” as in living a daily life, growing old, life choices, and time. So, the whole poem is basically all about people growing and living their daily life.

Documentation.

http://taggalaxy.com/

http://www.poetryoutloud.org/poem/245796

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/geoffrey-brock

http://www.123rf.com/photo_17040017_fruits-of-plum-hanging-on-a-tree.html