Poem Analysis: What I Heard at the Discount Department Store
Macy Sarria ENG MO1B 8am Mr. Bailes Poetry Question 22 July 2013
“What I Heard at the Discount Department Store” ─David Budbill
Q: How soon do you understand that a character, other than the poet, speaks this poem? What is her tone and how do you know it?
In David Budbill’s poem, “What I Heard at the Discount Department Store”, it is evident by line six that someone other than the poet speaks this poem. The poem starts off in first person. The character is an angry mother “dealing” with her young child in a discount department store.
Stop it. I mean it. You know I do. If you don’t stop, I’ll give you fucking something to cry about right here and don’t think I won’t either (lines 2-5)
This displays how the character which is obviously the mother is speaking and it also displays her anger and frustration. The poem continues on and the point of view changes and as the reader, I became the spectator. “So she did. She slapped him across the face. / And you could hear the snap of flesh against the flesh…” (6-7). Understanding that both the poet and the character are speaking in this poem occurs early on and it isn’t until the poem redirects back to first person point of view, that it is
“What I Heard at the Discount Department Store” ─David Budbill
Q: How soon do you understand that a character, other than the poet, speaks this poem? What is her tone and how do you know it?
In David Budbill’s poem, “What I Heard at the Discount Department Store”, it is evident by line six that someone other than the poet speaks this poem. The poem starts off in first person. The character is an angry mother “dealing” with her young child in a discount department store.
Stop it. I mean it. You know I do. If you don’t stop, I’ll give you fucking something to cry about right here and don’t think I won’t either (lines 2-5)
This displays how the character which is obviously the mother is speaking and it also displays her anger and frustration. The poem continues on and the point of view changes and as the reader, I became the spectator. “So she did. She slapped him across the face. / And you could hear the snap of flesh against the flesh…” (6-7). Understanding that both the poet and the character are speaking in this poem occurs early on and it isn’t until the poem redirects back to first person point of view, that it is