Poetry Analysis
Broadcasting the Poem Have you ever felt like you were born to do something? Since I was born I felt like I was born to play baseball, but after that I would love to be a broadcaster. That is why I have chosen to analyze “The Broadcaster’s Poem” by Alden Nowlan. Analyzing a poem is not an easy thing to accomplish for me. As I very rarely analyze anything I read, but you should try everything once. As my eyes read this poem and my mind processes it, I ponder a question. What the heck is Nowlan talking about? Saying things like, “will I take off my glasses and throw them into the water, although I’m half blind without them?” I have not the slightest idea what that means. If you are blind without glasses, then why would you want to take them off and throw them into the water? Maybe he wanted to be Ray Charles for a day, but I doubt it. This poem as well as most poems are for the reader to determine what the meaning of it is. When I read, “The Broadcaster’s Poem” I have no idea of where to begin to analyze it. Well how about the beginning? Nowlan starts off the poem with, “I used to broadcast at night” this lets the reader and I know that it is in the past tense. He does not broadcast anymore, and as finish the poem I figure out why. While reading Nowlan one needs to look at it with great detail, and pick the lines apart. As the reader I there is no wrong interpretation of a poem. It is up to the mind to decide what the meaning of the poem is. Nowlan talks about how he used to be a radio broadcaster, how he was not very good at it, how he broadcasted from a room no bigger than a bathroom, and how as a reporter he covered a car accident. He feels alone and afraid I think. I get this feeling from him saying, “For me to keep believing there was somebody listening when it seemed I was talking to myself” that line makes me get the feeling he is alone in the world. Maybe no one listen to him in his everyday life, why would anyone want to hear him to him on the radio?