Period 4
Mrs. Anderson
Academic Eng.
Dec. 20, 2010
P RIDE
I tell you, even rocks crack,
and not because of age.
For years they lie on their backs
in the heat and the cold,
so many years,
it seems peaceful.
They don’t move, so the cracks stay hidden.
A kind of pride.
Years pass over them, waiting there.
Whoever is going to shatter them
hasn't come yet.
And so the moss flourishes, the seaweed whips around,
the sea pushes through and rolls back--the rocks seem motionless.
And suddenly the rock has an open wound.
I told you, when rocks break, it happens by surprise.
And people, too
F ORM

Form:


Free Verse


the way a poem looks
A type of poetic style in which lines are organized
in a loose conversational way
Why?

It’s not put into groups of lines
T YPES

OF RHYME
Internal

Rhyme within a line

They don’t move, so the cracks stay hidden
(line 7)

End

Rhyme at the end of a line

I tell you, even rocks crack, and not because of age.
For years they lie on their backs
(line 1-3)
I MAGERY

Figurative description or illustration

-ex:
ALLITERATION

Repetition of sounds in the beginning of words

Ex: So the cracks stay hidden (line 7)
Till a little seal comes to run against them
(line 16)
A SSONANCE

Repetition of similar vowel sounds

Ex:
- Whoever is going to shatter them
- A kind of pride.
O NOMATOPOEIA

Use of words whose sound suggest their
meaning

Ex: I tell you, even rocks crack ( line 1 )

And so the moss flourishes, the seaweed whips
around (line 12 & 13)

Whoever is going to shatter them ( line 10 )
P ERSONIFICATION

Giving human qualities to non-living objects

Ex:
-For years they lie on their backs ( line 3 )
-And suddenly the rock has an open wound
( line 18 )
M ETAPHOR

Comparing two items without using “like” or “as”

Ex:
-I told you, when rocks break, it happens by
surprise. And people, too. ( line 19-20 )
R EPETITION

Repeating of sounds

Ex:
A LLUSION

Implied or indirect reference in literation to a
familiar person, place, or event

Ex:
-
S YMBOLISM

An object used by an author to represent
something else

Ex:
S PEAKER

The voice the reader hears relating the ideas of a
poem, not necessarily the poet.
I DENTIFY /A NALYZE /E XPLAIN

A person can only endorse so much criticism and
distress until they finally break down.



Why?
The poem says that rocks can take only so much
pressure just like people.
Hurtful words can leave a huge impact on a
person’s life.
M ERRY C HRISTMAS