TP-CASTT: Veronica Simon
Darkness is not a death, does not obliterate,
will not bury you or take your breath away.
Darkness will not erase you the way it erases day with night
because darkness is not the clock but merely the time
falling away from the clock's circular face.
Darkness is not the loss but the thing misplaced,
not the hammer but the nail in its curved emergence
from wood's grasp, not the storm's insurgence
but the limbs broken off from their miraculous
suspension in a storm out far, beyond us.
Darkness is not about hearts, imperfect as they are,
but what leaks through their incorrigible doors, not the stars
but the glissade or glide of their dust.
Darkness no longer shields the hunters' musk
in search of you, or turns you to animal prey,
it is only a measure of weight or days.
Not something without a beginning or an end,
it is not even—especially not—an end.
Nor is it vertigo, nor the whole, but merely a piece.
No, darkness is but a ghost of an idea, the least
remembered, most estranged prayer, and your fear
but a lingering, limbic fear torn from shreds of forgotten years.
Only that much is clear.
Title: Think about the title before you read the poem
Maybe the darkness is misunderstood, or overlooked. Maybe there's more than just darkness.
They might have chose the title to get the point of the poem across and so it can represent the poem.
Paraphrase: put the poem in your own words:
Darkness will not kill you, nor will it harm you,
It will not take you away,
And it will not last forever,
But it will keep on going, Everyday
The darkness does not make you get lost,
You get lost in the darkness,
It is not the darknesses fault that you got lost,
It was your fault, for going into the darkness,
You may get stuck,
But you will not stay,
The darkness will eventually go away,
Then the light will come,
The darkness isn’t but merely a crucial part of the light,
It’s not about the darkness itself,
But what is inside the darkness,
It allows you to be hidden, not revealed,
And has a beginning and an end,
To every day,
It is not the end, in any situation,
It is not everything,
But it is something, apart of everything,
Darkness is everything left behind,
But everything that is remembered,
That is all we know.
Connotation: Think about the poem's meaning, go beyond the literal meaning (figurative language/imagery)
Line 3) Imagery: Erase
Line 5) Personification: "clock's circular face."
Line 6) Metaphor: "Darkness is not the loss but the thing misplaced,"
Line 7) Imagery: "the nail in it's curved emergence"
Line 9) Imagery: "limbs broken"
Line 11) Simile/Metaphor: "Darkness is not about hearts, imperfect as they are,"
Line 20) Metaphor: "darkness is but a ghost of an idea,"
Line 23) Imagery: clear
Attitude/tone: What is the author’s attitude, or tone?
The tone is upset, maybe frustrated or explanatory, or all.
Shift: Were there any changes in tone from beginning to end?
The shift is in line 17. The author stopped beginning the sentences with 'darkness'. And began to explain more thoroughly.
Title: Look at the title again. Does it make any sense? Have your views of the title changed?
Now that i have read the poem, the title makes more sense. I now know that the title means that the darkness is misinterpreted and that it should not be overlooked.
Theme: What is the universal message? (Life lesson)
Don't be afraid/ The darkness is not something to be afraid of, it is something to accept. Don't judge a book by its cover-type message.
Credits:
Created with images by nakataza02 - "the moonlight the night a beautiful view" • fxxu - "starry sky star mountains" • Hans - "starry sky star galaxies" • WikiImages - "the pleiades star cluster star star clusters" • Hans - "starry sky star galaxies" • Unsplash - "night sky galaxy space" • rkarkowski - "moon the fullness of sky" • Melmak - "blue night moon winter"