English Language Arts A30 Poetry Analysis

In this poem, Hailstorm, by Peter Christensen, the author recollects a hailstorm that struck his father's farm in his childhood. Though the storm affected the land, the author is more focused on ho it affected his father. Hailstorm is a first!person recollection of an e"ent in the author's childhood. #s the title suggests, the poem is about a hailstorm, but is focused on ho the author's father reacted to the hardship. The author feels as though he has a "i"id memory of the storm, e"en though he as too young to remember it. His 'memory' really comes from his father often retelling the e"ents, such as the storm, of those difficult years, because his father, not the storm, makes more of an impression on him. This goes to sho ho much influence those e lo"e and respect ha"e on our thoughts and memories. In the first stan$a of this short poem, the poet recalls the memory of a hailstorm in the year %&'(, hen he as "ery young. I remember that hailstorm as if I as )uite old hen it happened. I as too young to really remember it, but my memory of the hailstorm is al ays getting clearer because my father has told me so often about it. He is al ays telling me about those hard years. *Hailstorm, Christensen, In the Clear, p.+,In the second stan$a, the author describes ho he percei"es his father. He is standing in a field, the stretch of land that feeds his family. He seems almost "acant as he aimlessly stands in the open field. *Hailstorm, Christensen, In the Clear, p.+,The short poem is free!"erse and split into t o stan$as. This simple structure adds to the effect of the poems simplicity. It is ritten as the thought of one so engrossed in memories of his childhood that airs are not put on to make the poem fancy or elo)uent. The poem has a brooding tone, as though the author is recalling a memory, but it is not a happy one, though it is not a tragic one either. There ere three particular ords used to enhance the poem's mood and meaning. The first as in the phrase my memory thickens. This paints the picture of the author remembering something and being "ery caught up in the past. The ne.t ord that the author uses, to increase the poem's melancholy mood, is in the phrase those hard years. The ord reflects on the negati"e aspects of the years and ho they ere trying for his father. The most interesting ord in the poem is the ord adrift/ the author remembers his father as standing adrift in one of his fields. The definition of adrift is floating ithout control0 drifting not anchored or moored or lacking aim, direction, or stability *1ictionary.com-. The simple ord adds so much meaning to the poem in describing ho the author's father feels. 2y adrift in his garden he means that his father as feeling shaken by the calamity and de3ected by disappointed hopes of prosperity in his li"elihood. The ord also describes ho the father felt helpless and lost since nothing in his po er could change hat had happened or get his family through another year. The only emphasis put on the landscape is to describe a ripened barley field as the father's garden, hich is to say that he tends it to pro"ide for his family. There is no descriptions of the land in the poem, because the father, and not the landscape, as more important to the author. Though this poem is "ery short and simple, there is a lot of feeling and meaning ea"ed into the "erses. This poem struck a chord ith me hen I first read it. It as interesting to read it o"er se"eral times and understand it better each time. The author has felt the effects of a reminiscing father, and I can relate to this "ery ell. 4y dad has been orking ith the land and gambling on the eather all of his life, so 3ust like the father in the poem, my dad has despaired for hat the eather steals, too. Though not to do ith the eather, there is a specific time that reminds me of hat the poet rote about. 5hen 267 hit and cattle markets plummeted, I as "ery young. I remember seeing the sick cattle on the ne s, and I remember that it as a "ery stressful time for my dad, but I don't ha"e many memories of

my o n of that time. 4ost of my 'memories' are really 3ust accounts of hat it as like, yet I can procure "i"id pictures in my head of that year. 8ust as it as in the poem, my dad stood in the midst of cattle that couldn't be sold, adrift in his garden. Christensen's poem is "ery short and simple, yet through his careful but uncomplicated ord choice, he spun a poem that is "ery easy to connect to. Though a hailstorm is a memorable e"ent, and the author no doubt recalled it in part, the most memorable things for an impressionable youth are the actions of lo"ed ones.