Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Phetcharatana
1
IB English A1 HL December 14, 2010 Pinnapa
Phetcharatana
In the opening stanza, the speaker opens with “They have their
strategems too, though they can’t move.” The speaker may be aware
of the world’s common materialistic view of books, and he feels that it
is important to not underestimate their power (“…though they can’t
move, they know their parts.”). In this stanza the speaker creates a
rhyme between the words “parts” and “hearts” in order to add a sense
of grandness to the opening, given that this pair of words are the only
rhymes found in the poem. The fact that this poem is written in free
verse (hence lack of proper rhyme scheme) suggests that the speaker
may be lost in contemplation or an overly-driven passion or influence,
perhaps by the great power of books as he suggests.
2
IB English A1 HL December 14, 2010 Pinnapa
Phetcharatana
say it?” It is interesting how the speaker may view his audience as
young children, hence the sudden shift from the deep and thoughtful
tone in the first stanza to a now playful tone. However the speaker
does not answer the question he has posed, but rather he proceeds to
explore different settings, “in the library, at night, or the sun room…”
which all appear to be insignificant details. Perhaps the speaker
mentions this to suggest that no matter where the books are, their
ideas and purposes follow along with them. A sense of mystery is
added as the speaker mentions the “curled thriller by the window” and
that “something is going on [...] that you don’t know of…” yet he does
not explicitly state what. This evokes anticipation among readers as
there is a rapid transition into the next stanza.
3
IB English A1 HL December 14, 2010 Pinnapa
Phetcharatana
Finally, in the last stanza the speaker’s tone shifts suddenly from
light and whimsical to dark and somber. “They have you. In the end
they have written you.” This underlines the powerful, influential force
of books. A horrifying idea is presented: that readers may lose their
identities to books. The world inside the books occupies the reader,
and this becomes his/her world. Readers become absorbed by the
contents of a book to the extent that every word the reader speaks
could be just quotes: their words are “caught between quotation
marks” and their “heart’s beat an allusion,” where the readers’ lives
become defined by the ideas of the books as they are reduced into
simple characters living through life’s plot.
4
IB English A1 HL December 14, 2010 Pinnapa
Phetcharatana