The Darker Sooner By Catherine Wing By Darien O’Neal

Catherine Wing Catherine was born in Louisville, Kentucky, and later on went to attend Brown University. She also earned a MFA from the University of Washington. She has written many poems including Enter Invisible (2005), and Gin & Bleach (2012). She has been nominated for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and her work has appeared in journals like Poetry, the Nation, and the Chicago Review. Although, not much is known about Catherine’s childhood. www2.kent.edu/english/people/~cwing1/

A closer look 14 lines and is organized into1 stanza There is no type of rhyme scheme or regular meter to follow, and it doesn’t tell a story Free verse poem Assonance- the “er” sound is used at the end of every line Use of alliteration

The Speaker The speaker is an adult who has who lived in the society that is being spoken of. They have also watched as this society- that used to be a very nice place- fall apart right before their eyes. The entire poem is kind of a monologue for the speaker. This explains why there is no rhyme scheme to follow, and that the entire poem is one stanza.

ANALYSIS Everything is in a bad state and in shambles and it is just getting progressively worse. The “happily-ever-after” that they used to have isn’t as sweet as it used to be. The people are getting lazy and passing things off as being hard when there gets to be too much. There was no one to lead them.

People are loosing faith in their religions. Because there was nothing to do people ended up doing things that ended in disaster. They had nothing that they were in need of. This is where everything came crashing down.

Images “Then came the darker sooner, came the later lower.” This reminds me of a dark place that seems like it should be bright. “We were no longer a sweeter-here” I think of a place that is now in ruins.

“The day was duller, duller was disaster.” A place where not much is really going on and you don’t really see people around “And over this river broke the winter’s black weather.” A river during the winter with a dark sky.

Figurative meaning There is a place that used to be almost perfect. Like in a fairytale it was “ happily- ever- after”, but then things started changing. The people got lazy, there was no one who could lead them (at least properly), and people were loosing faith in their religions. The things they needed weren’t there. Just arguing, and absolutely no love for one another.

Literal Meaning This place that is in the poem is actually representing our modern society. Where things are constantly changing, whether it is for the better or for worse. It also represents what Catherine believes could happen if we don’t stop this decline into laziness, make sure to keep our faith, and start showing more compassion toward one another.

Theme I think that the theme is that “If you don’t fix the small things then they turn into big issues.” This comes from something called the Broken Windows Theory. This states that when a society in a good state, and is still monitored then things that seem small don’t end up getting out of hand.

Author’s Purpose Catherine Wing wants to inform the world that if we keep living the way we are, and behaving the way we are, bad things are bound to happen. The world is constantly changing and, like in the poem, she believes that everything will fall apart. I believe that she thinks that things are moving too fast in this modern world and we are all making, or are going to make, bad decisions.

Work Sited www2.kent.edu/english/people/~cwing1/ www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/catherine-wing www.poetryoutloud.org/poem/243034 fc06.deviantart.net elumn8.me theholywild.wordpress.com pinolaphoto.com poetry.arizona.edu