So far we have discussed the meaning, the word choice, the word significance, and the title in W.D. Ehrhart's "Not Your Problem." Let's talk about structure.
The structure of a poem is very important. When I say structure, I intend to focus on the way the poem is set up:
- How many lines, not sentences, per stanza are there?
- Do the number of lines vary in the stanzas?
- If they vary, is there a pattern?
- Does the same word appear in each stanza? In a certain number of stanzas? Every other stanza?
- How do the stanzas end? Do they end in punctuation marks? Is it the same mark?
As you can see, many of these elements can help you determine what exactly the poem is trying to say.
Number of Lines per Stanza
The number of lines, not sentences, per stanza in our poem changes.
- Stanza 1 is only one line.
- Stanza 2 is 2 lines.
- Stanza 3 is 4 lines.
- Stanza 4 is 5 lines.
- Stanza 5 is 3 lines.
- Stanza 6 is 3 lines.
- Stanza 7 is 5 lines.
- Stanza 8 is 1 line.
- Stanza 9 is 2 lines.
Why is this important? Often, the number of lines in a stanza reflect a patter in the poem.
Patterns in the Stanzas
Notice the first and second stanzas. Now go to the last two stanzas. Look familiar? In this poem, the first stanza is one line, just like the 8th stanza. Stanza 2 is like stanza 9.
This is a pattern. Patterns can give you insight into what the narrator is getting at.
Stanzas 1 and 2 begin the poem. Stanzas 8 and 9 end the poem. They do it exactly the same way; they have the same number of lines.
Think of it this way: the terrible conditions that the narrator tells us about begin in Stanzas 1 and 2. The changes that the narrator tells us are coming begin in stanzas 8 and 9. By repeating this pattern, we see the beginning of a change that will endure just as the terrible conditions have. The number of lines in the stanzas starting with stanza 1 to 7 are respectively: 1, 2, 4, 5, 3, 3, 5. The information contained in these lines are negative.
The narrator wants to change this negative information into positive, so he is repeating the pattern at stanzas 8 and 9. Although the poem ends here, we can at least hope that the narrator was successful in his changes and he could present the good changes with the same pattern. We have stanza 8 composed of 1 line and stanza 9 composed of 2 lines, but the other stanzas should follow with 4, 5, 3, 3, and 5 lines respectively.
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