Bright Star

I'll be addressing question 17 with this particular blog. The particular form and structure of this poem is referred to as a "sonnet." It is a fourteen line poem divided into two chunks: a six-line piece and an eight-line piece. The rhyme scheme goes A-B-A-B-C-D-C-D-E-F-E-F-G-G, the typical rhyming pattern of a sonnet, and it helps to reinforce the structure. Essentially, the structure is set up so that the first six lines set forth a general idea. The speaker starts by stating that he wishes to be as steadfast as the star, but for the rest of the section, he describes the various qualities of a star that he doesn't want to have, such as distance and loneliness. The next eight lines reinforce this concept by applying the qualities he wants to his own life, referring to how he wishes to be with his love forever. The structure of this poem is essential to conveying the message. The very nature of the sonnet easily allows the reader to divide the poem into the two separate pieces. Therefore the reader is able to see the clear shift in the poem from the first six lines of apostrophe to the last eight lines of his own application of the star's qualities to his own life. The structure of the poem provides this division, making the ultimate meaning very clear to discern.

This is a structure.