The Cigarette Burn'D
Maria Farias
Professor Fullmer
English 2010
January 29, 2012
The Cigarette Burn’d Analysis In the poem The Cigarette Burn’d written by James Douglas Morrison in 1968, James Morrison uses metaphors and sensory imagery to reflect his usage of drugs, and give the audience an experience of his hallucination. The first stanza of the poem begins by using a metaphor and comparing the log to the cigarette stick. James Morrison says, “The cigarette burn’d my fingertips and dropp’d like a log to the rug below.” In my opinion, this means exactly what he says. While he was smoking something must have caught his eye and by surprise it made him drop his cigarette on the rug. The second stanza is very powerful and defines what this poem is about. In this stanza James Morisson compares himself peeking to a crouched cat. It begins by saying “My eyes took a trip to dig the chick crouch’d like a cat at the next window”. In my opinion this stanza means that he felt as if a “chick” or woman was watching him. His eyes began to take a trip, and he kneeled to peek out of his window like a “Crouched cat.” This statement makes me think that he is looking out the window in hopes to not be seen. Often many drug users feel that sense of paranoia, and I think that this stanza is proving just that. In the third stanza of James Morrison’s poem there is a strong use of imagery. In my opinion he describes what he is hearing which in his case resembles music as pleasure and comfort to describe how the use of drugs make him feel. In this last stanza we see what is going on in the characters mind. He says, “My ears assembled music out of swarming streets but my mind rebelled at the idiot’s laughter, the rising frightful idiot laughter cheering an army of vacuum cleaners.” I think this means that he was hallucinating different things. For example he describes the swarming streets or the noise of cars passing by like being music to his ears. I also think that he refers the idiot’s
Professor Fullmer
English 2010
January 29, 2012
The Cigarette Burn’d Analysis In the poem The Cigarette Burn’d written by James Douglas Morrison in 1968, James Morrison uses metaphors and sensory imagery to reflect his usage of drugs, and give the audience an experience of his hallucination. The first stanza of the poem begins by using a metaphor and comparing the log to the cigarette stick. James Morrison says, “The cigarette burn’d my fingertips and dropp’d like a log to the rug below.” In my opinion, this means exactly what he says. While he was smoking something must have caught his eye and by surprise it made him drop his cigarette on the rug. The second stanza is very powerful and defines what this poem is about. In this stanza James Morisson compares himself peeking to a crouched cat. It begins by saying “My eyes took a trip to dig the chick crouch’d like a cat at the next window”. In my opinion this stanza means that he felt as if a “chick” or woman was watching him. His eyes began to take a trip, and he kneeled to peek out of his window like a “Crouched cat.” This statement makes me think that he is looking out the window in hopes to not be seen. Often many drug users feel that sense of paranoia, and I think that this stanza is proving just that. In the third stanza of James Morrison’s poem there is a strong use of imagery. In my opinion he describes what he is hearing which in his case resembles music as pleasure and comfort to describe how the use of drugs make him feel. In this last stanza we see what is going on in the characters mind. He says, “My ears assembled music out of swarming streets but my mind rebelled at the idiot’s laughter, the rising frightful idiot laughter cheering an army of vacuum cleaners.” I think this means that he was hallucinating different things. For example he describes the swarming streets or the noise of cars passing by like being music to his ears. I also think that he refers the idiot’s