Analysis of How Children and Adults View Time and Space
Karl Constantine FOLKES 1935 (Portland)
Irony of Time.
The ways we humans see it.
How it is measured.
In so many different ways.
During the human lifespan.
When we are children.
Just starting out our lifespan.
A day seems quite short.
But a year — forever long.
As if it would never end.
True, that makes much sense.
For a two year-old infant.
Since one year is half.
Of that child’s entire life.
Must seem like a century.
On the contrary.
In senior years of adult life.
Time seems so short-lived.
Each day begs for lingering.
But a year comes too quickly.
Children and adults.
Inhabit different spaces.
See time differently.
Adults see time running out.
Children see it lingering.
And did not Einstein
After keen contemplation.
Call Time relative.
He should have observed children.
Earn from them native wisdom.
Suffer thus children.
To bring to us their knowledge.
How they view the world.
Of such is source of wisdom.
Offered without pretenses.
From conversation.
This poem was created.
A child and grandpa.
Both discussing Time and Space.
Both sharing their reflections.
The thirteen year-old.
At the end of a school day.
Sharing how each day.
Seemed to swiftly pass away.
But a year seemed forever.
This sparkled a thought.
How I saw Time differently.
Unlike my grandchild.
She, looking at the distance.
To realize her life’s dreams.
And I, retired.
Now, stretching out each moment.
A year being short.
Grandfather and granddaughter.
Measuring Time differently.
Irony of Time.
The ways we humans see it.
How it is measured.
In so many different ways.
During the human lifespan.
Scheme | ABCDE fegxx xhxij jixkj xxjxk xfxfl fxxlx fxxxx xmmmn xjxxx xhgnj ABCDE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (28%) Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 10011 0111011 11110 01101001 100101 11110 1101101 01111 1010101 1111101 11111 1011110 11111 1110101 1110100 10100 01011011 11111 1111100 1011110 10001 01010010 11100 0111101 1011100 01110 101010 11100 1110110 1111010 10110 1111110 11101 1111110 1001010 1010 1101010 0101 1010101 1101010 01111 1011011 10111 1110101 1011010 11001 1111100 0111 1101010 110011 0101 1101110 01101 10010 1001100 10011 0111011 11110 01101001 100101 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 1,560 |
Words | 332 |
Sentences | 59 |
Stanzas | 12 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 |
Lines Amount | 60 |
Letters per line (avg) | 20 |
Words per line (avg) | 4 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 101 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 22 |
About this poem
This poem falls into the realm of human perception, human behavior, and the nature of human reality Itself. Dear reader and fellow traveler of life, have you ever wondered how children and adults view time and space quite differently; that while we, as social beings, commune, communicate, and dwell, mostly together, and sometimes even apart, we inhabit different spaces and different senses of time? My thirteen year-old middle school granddaughter, Mikaiya Zenee Beasley, eagerly brought this to my attention, when she, being driven on the way home from school, announced dramatically to me: “Grandpa, each day is so short, while a year seems forever!” This ‘quirky’ question, bearing a puzzling, yet strident philosophical contrast, registered strongly in my poetic ears. It made my heart leap upwards in reflective thought; and I informed my granddaughter that her remarks seemed so ironically relevant. Her follow up response was immediate: “Grandpa, you should put our conversation into a poem. I would like to reflect, as time goes by, on what we, in this moment, have shared together.” It is that discussion, that interesting engagement with my granddaughter, that constitutes the genesis and creation of this poem, which is composed in Tanka 5-7-5-7-7 syllabic format, in twelve stanzas, to convey the personal emotional expression shared by an octogenarian grandfather and his thirteen year-old granddaughter. The poem is written in the form of a poetic Inclusio, with the first and last stanzas being of identical composition to encourage reflection. Indeed, as another thinker, another commentator of space and time, once so prudently observed, the child is father of the man. more »
Written on November 02, 2022
Submitted by karlcfolkes on November 02, 2022
Modified by karlcfolkes on November 03, 2022
- 1:39 min read
- 767 Views
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"How Children and Adults View Time and Space" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 5 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/141783/how-children-and-adults-view-time-and-space>.
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