This Poem

Analyze the message of the poem and write about how

effectively the poet delivers the message.

The message of "This poem..." is to offer critique of the

way poetry is treated with caution and not properly

interpreted. Hence, it has lost its meaningfulness and

cannot deliver its message to people who are not fully

appreciative of the emotional immediancy of poetry. From

the first line, "it should not be left within the reach of

children," we can see that poetry should not be taken

lightly, and that poetry can cause changes in people. In

the third and fourth line, "...who might swallow it whole,

with possibly undesirable side effects," we can tell that

people may not analyze poetry for hidden, deeper

meanings. Instead, they may take the poem at face

value, which may cause them to miss out on things or

cause a change in them.

In the fifth and sixth line, poetry is metaphorized as a

object of suspicion, like a ticking bomb, not to be handled

lightly. Instead of interpreting the poem by yourself, the

poem instructs you to hand