The Cold Within Analysis 2 English1 - 1171 Words

Thompson 1 Amari Thompson Mrs. Christiansen English 9H 2 March 2015 Cold ­Heartedness Leads Nowhere People are quick to try and hurt one another and help themselves rather than try to help each other. James Patrick Kinney wrote a poem titled â€Å"The Cold Within† signifying how negativity within does not lead to greater gain. The theme of this poem questions what lengths some people would go in order to bring someone else down simply because of their differences. Kinney uses multiple types of figurative language and poetic devices to help the reader understand the true meaning of this poem. The poet specifically writes that six people were in this dilemma as†¦show more content†¦Lines 7 ­8, â€Å"She notices one was black† appeals to the visual senses. It creates an image of a circle of people and one being African ­American. Line 10 â€Å"saw one not of his church† also appeals to visual senses as does line 13, â€Å"The third one sat in tattered clothes†. Line 22, â€Å"As the fire passes from Thompson 3 sight†, is visual. While line 29, â€Å"The logs held tight in death’s still hands† is tactile. Instead of being straightforward with what was happening, the author leaves clues for the reader to understand it on their own. Kinney uses figurative language in the poem to show how people can negatively affect others and themselves. The poem has an external rhyme scheme. It also has repetition and the use of assonance. To illustrate the simplicity of the issue and how so many people can be this way, the poet uses rhythm. This creates more of a poetic sound. As does the rhyme scheme of abcb. The author also uses repetition to get his point across to the reader and/or listener. Lines 31 ­32 show that the people did not die specifically from the physical cold. They caused their own downfalls by being self ­centered and selfish. Lastly the author uses assonance in order to keep the poem intriguing and smooth sounding. One example would be line 4 where it says â€Å"Or so the story’s told†.