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The prose poem, block format, is very appropriate for the subject matter of ‘The Colonel.’ It allows the poet to tell her story without getting weighed down by line numbers, rhyme schemes, or repetition. Some readers might even see the similarities between this block of text and a news article. Detailed Analysis Lines 1-7
- Female
- October 9, 1995
- Poetry Analyst And Editor
Analysis. The diction and syntax of “The Colonel” are simple, straightforward, and concrete. The sentences are short and clipped, creating a matter-of-fact tone as the speaker describes the ...
Form and Meter. It's poetry. It's prose. It's two great tastes in one. This is a poem, but it's written in a block, without the broken lines or stanza breaks present in most poems. For that reason, it's considered...
"The Colonel" Meaning. When the poem begins, the colonel and his home seem very ordinary. He has a doting wife and typical teenagers. The colonel also has dogs, a television, and newspapers. The sun sets over his house as it does everywhere else and the moon rises. But underneath his comfortable, upper-class lifestyle is a strong current of danger.
- Prose poem
- 1981
- Inconsistent
- Carolyn Forché
Summary of the Poem. “The Colonel” is a single-stanza, free-verse prose poem, meaning that it does not follow a specific structure and eschews common poetic forms such as rhyme and meter. It ...
Analysis: “The Colonel”. Forché’s “The Colonel” is composed in a large block of unbroken prose, consisting almost entirely of simple, declarative sentences. Before the poem begins its string of observations, it opens with a curious rhetorical device, claiming, “What you have heard is true” (Line 1). This first line communicates ...
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The colonel is spitting mad at the U.S. and those who seek to expose human rights violations. While you're gasping for air in the suddenly suffocating atmosphere of this poem, it ends with the ears coming back to life, somehow able to bear witness this man's crimes. "Some of the ears on the floor were pressed to the ground" (32-33), as if ...
