"Writing" by Jan Dean

This poem is striking in both its style and content and is one of my most favorite selections from these poetry packets.

The poem's style is quite unique, distinctly in two certain facets. First, the poem doesn't read like a poem. Yes, the text possesses a certain flow and several poetic refrains of key words and phrases in the first stanza, but without rhyme scheme, meter, structure, or explicit lyricality, the poem reads as a story in the first stanza and a conversation in the second. (Note: "lyricality" should be a word.) This decision of Dean's makes the horrifying tale described by the young child far more real to the reader; the words frighten and move the reader on a personal level. This in turn makes the anger experienced by readers during the second stanza surprisingly intense because we sympathize with and want to comfort the child of the first stanza, which the teacher fails to do whatsoever.

The second unique aspect of Jan Dean's style is that "Writing" is one of, if not the, most understated and realistic poem I have read. The situation described is not fantastical or poetical but grounded in reality, and the poem needs no complex diction or syntax to leave impact on the reader, in fact using confusing and purposefully incorrect diction. Dean places endless trust in the power of his content to shape the reader's reaction to it. He doesn't strive to achieve impact but rather lets it occur.