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BIS 3013 – INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH LITERATUREBIS 3013 – INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH LITERATURE
ASSIGNMENT 2
POEM ANALYSIS – POEM 2 ( LIFE )
S HOUSE
ASSIGNMENT 2
POEM ANALYSIS – POEM 2 ( LIFE )
S HOUSE
GROUP
UPSI 01
LECTURER
DR. LAJIMAN BIN JANOORY

2. 1. COPY OF POEM ENTITLED, LIFE.
Poem 2:
LIFE
Life is but a passing glimpse
A small frame of time out of many
Too short for Pleasure
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3. Too long for Suffering
It’s a sand of uncertainties
Of Happiness, Sadness … Apprehension
It’s the eternal cycle of Fate
Sometimes motherly, sometimes a tyranny
It’s but a shadow play
And we the insignificant puppets
Playing the short scripts of Destiny
Directing our little histories
Applauded by Death.
By Lajiman Janoory
2. This poem has been written by Dr. Lajiman Janoory.
3. Physical analysis : It has been written in three paragraphs which is contains of 2
sets of quatrain and a set of quintet.
4. Topic : Life
5. Theme of the poem : A cycle of life.
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4. 6. Summary :
This poem is telling about a cycle of life which is facing by all the human in the world.
All the human will be having their obstacles or problems, happiness, sadness as their
experiences in their lives. The point is, all of the human have their own experiences but
towards the end, they will be going and arriving to the same destination, that is the
dead.
The first stanza is telling about the nature of a human life which is the feeling and
emotions of human are there in living in the world. It is normal for human to feel the
happiness for a short period of time but it is longer for the human to feel the sadness or
the obstacles in lives. It also a normal thing when we are having fun, we will feel that our
lives are too short but when we have any problems, we will feel that the lives are too
long to go through.
The second stanza is describing that all those problems, obstacles, emotions, feelings
are happening in different ways. Some of them are good and nice to be memorized but
some of them are a bit tragic , sad or suffer to be remembered and go through into it.
And, all those things are apprehension which is nobody knows what will be happened in
the future.
The last stanza is the climax of the poem which is telling the conclusion of the part of a
human. We as the human are only a part of the lives, playing a role as a puppet, who
are only playing our role and characters ( good or bad people ) in this short period of
lives. Towards the end, we will be at the same and last phase of lives that is the dead.
7. RHYME – This poem is not using the rhyme scheme which is a pattern of rhyme
( usually end rhyme, but not always ). But, it uses some Onomatopoeia which is words
that imitate the sound they are naming or sounds that imitate another sound such as the
sound of /s/.
For example :
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5. It’s a sand of uncertainties
Of Happiness, Sadness … Apprehension
It’s the eternal cycle of Fate
Sometimes motherly, sometimes a tyranny
8. VERSE – It is a free verse poem which is does not have rhyme, very conversational
which sounds like someone is talking with you and it is a more modern type of poetry.
9. IMAGERY – The writer uses some imagery elements to intensifies the impact of the
poet’s words as he shows to us. For example : Life is but a passing glimpse of
existence is showing that our lives are too short. And another example is the use of
word ‘puppets’ in the line of And we the insignificant puppets is telling to us that we
are the characters or person who are having the lives with our own experiences in this
world.
10. Personal Reflections :
I selected this poem because it is related closely to my own life because all of us
are having the same cycle of life. The only different is the way how do we face and deal
with our memories, obstacles, moments in our lives. My favourite lines are in the first
stanza which is telling the true and real scenario of a human life. For example, we as
human will automatically feel that it is too short of time to feel the happiness rather than
facing the sadness. That is the reality of human lives. All of us will feel the same feeling.
The most attractive lines to me are in the third stanza, line 3 to 5, which is telling
that we are only functioning as the players of the characters and scripts ( flow of lives )
in the world. All of those things are destined by our God and we should be more
thankful to Him for giving us chances to live in the world in certain period of time given.
So, the moral of the poem is, we should try and do the best and good things before
leading to the dead. And. to me, life is like a drama too as we have the characters of the
story, plots, settings, conflicts, climax and the ending. Each of the elements have their
own impacts to bring the audience or the other people to think of the reality of lives.
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6. REFERENCES
Retrieved on 12th
May 2013 at : http://www.oregoartscommission.org/sites/www.oregoartscommission
.org/files/imageup/Example%20Poetry%20Analysis.pdf
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7. REFERENCES
Retrieved on 12th
May 2013 at : http://www.oregoartscommission.org/sites/www.oregoartscommission
.org/files/imageup/Example%20Poetry%20Analysis.pdf
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