We can work on 1.5 Degrees Celsius

Introduction

The poem used for analysis of 1.5 Degrees Celsius” by Elya Braden. The poem is about the climate change and the response of people who want to blame everything else other than their own actions. This essay will explore the form, the content, the meaning, and structure of the stated poem. In the analysis, among other things that will be explored include the structure and purpose, stanza and line structure, rhyme scheme, speaker and tone, and the stylistic devices used in the poem to portray the meaning. The poem will be broken down for the purposes of studying the structure, form, language, and theme.

Body

The theme of the given poem is about the climate change and the human activities have worsened the situation. In the poem, the poet uses different elements of climate change to discuss the different changes that have happened. The first is the global warming occasioned by rise in the average daily temperatures. In the poem, the poet states “1.5 degrees Celsius – so small an escalation of disaster burning through our atmosphere.” In this stanza, the poet alludes to 1.5 degree change is the global temperatures that represents the climate change. However, it is presented ironically to suggest that people have not held it as a serious threat yet it is a disaster burning through the atmosphere. The irony in this statement is presented in the “so small and escalation.” It underplays the magnitude of the disaster. On the human activities, the poets highlight the issue of plastic pollution that finds the way into the ocean and seas. He says “plastic choking our seas, but in disposable fork and knife bedded in a bleached napkin in our takeaway.” Further, the “balloon screaming Happy Birthday as it washes up on shore.” All these are examples of how the poet develops the theme by providing examples of human activities that contribute to the problem. People cannot take blame for the distance, instead, they want to blame the sun for climate change. The poet asks in a question “And aren’t we all complicit? We want to blame that great asteroid for wiping the dinosaurs.” In the development, the poet suggest that these may all be acts of nature since death is the destination for all of us.

Stylistic devices also feature predominantly in the poem. One common style that is used in the poem is the personification where objects have been given the qualities of human. In the first instance is the “roads became mouths, swallowed shoes and feet” in this case, the roads have been given animate characteristics of swallowing. In another instance, the poet has used imagery to develop the theme and to stylistically present the message. For instance, the poet has used “a burning blue sea spread across the sky.” In this, the author wanted to provide an image of a blue sky that is hot from the blazing sun. He also wanted to provide an impression of a sky with no clouds that could give hopes of rainfall. By so doing, he creates an impression of a very hot weather and no humidity. Contrast is also common in the way that the poets has progressed from one stanza to the other. At the beginning, the poet provides an impression of a very hot environment with blue sky and no traces of rainfall, moving forward, the poet provides examples of environments ravaged by heavy rainfall and floods. The poet says “foreign minister of Tuvalu prays hip-deep in the sea slurping the edges of his country’s island.” The fact that the minister is praying hip-deep suggest that there is disaster of rising water levels

The poem has a unique structure made up of stanzas and lines and no visible rhyme scheme. Each stanza is made up of two lines with transition into the other line. The last line of every stanza does not end, but begin in the first line of the next stanza. For example, the last line of the fourth stanza “the foreign” does not end in that stanza but starts in the next stanza a “minister of Tuvalu” this is repeated across the entire poem. Another examples is “vaccines cause autism or Pfizer and Moderna are” where the “vaccines cause autism or Pfizer” and “and Moderna are agents” are in different lines and different stanzas of the poem. The Poem form can be said to be free verse. This is because it lacks any strict meter or rhyme scheme in the way it is done. However, it has specific requirements for the length of each stanza where each is made up of two lines. This length is used consistently through the poem. It has line breaks and is thus not a prose poem. In this way, the poet is able to express himself in pure form without necessarily having to adhere to a given structure and is able to express himself. The author is able to generate transitions in the poem from introducing the problem, expressing how the problem is manifesting itself, and explaining probable causes. The structure of the poem is unique that makes use of lines and stanzas with transitions that introduce the problem of climate change, present manifestation of challenges in rising water levels, and then the cause in human activities.

Conclusion

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