Analysis Of The Poem By Watching

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In the poem By Watching, Hiram Larew uses signature craft techniques to show the realization that people can regain their conviction in God by conquering the doubt in their mind’s eye.
Larew’s use of the consonance sound “s” throughout the poem is ubiquitous. The “s” sound is representative of a hissing sound effect from the serpent whispering doubts in the speaker’s ear. Larew uses of the repetitive “s” sound to convey the notion that doubts are clouding the faith in God. Conversely the speaker was able to regain his or her conviction in God when the whisper of doubt was removed in the last line of the poem. Larew is reinforcing the idea that only by removing the doubts will people finally achieve complete conviction in God. The last line of the poem contains only five syllables the least out all the lines in the poem. Larew is implying that to believe in God is all that is required is to remove or conquer doubts in the mind’s …show more content…

Larew masterfully depicts the speaker’s sense of loss in a world of never ending doubts unable to see his or her faith in God clearly. The end-stop at the end of the poem is Larew’s way of conveying that against all odds the speaker has finally found his or her conviction in God. The journey traveling through the abyss has an end, a compass, leading to the renewed faith in God. The poem is comprised of three stanzas in the order of a ten line followed by tercet and concludes with a quatrain. Ten represents the ten commandments as well as the testimony of faith to the lord. Three represents the three individuals who witnessed Jesus’ transformation on Mount Hermon and five symbolizes God’s grace. Larew is iterating and reiterating the notion that God’s presence is everywhere; all it requires is a watchful eye able to see through the cloud of

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