Poem analysis

The poem that I choose is Cheerios by Billy Collins. The poem is composed of 5 stanzas and each stanza has 4 lines except the last stanza; last stanza only has one line. Because the last stanza is just a line, it makes audience to pay more attention in the last one and makes some kind of pattern. This poem is written by first person and it is also quite different compared to other poems since it does not have lot of rhymes or sounds like other poems do. But still there are some repeated words such as ‘I’ and ‘Ch’ sound  in the first stanza, and ‘hills’ in the fourth stanza. The rhyme scheme would be A,B,C,A since the last words in first and fourth lines start with ‘Ch’. Instead of a lot of patterns and rhymes, this poem is more focused on narrating story with using concrete nouns to make a realistic occurrences. While other poems are more abstracted and more complicated to understand, this poem is more detailed and clear to understand through the writer’s using of concrete nouns and being specific. The writer’s using of concrete nouns in the poem turns into a realistic occurrence, and helps the reader to better visualize the story. Rather than talking vaguely about cereal, he uses specific brands of cheerios; he also specifies that he is in Chicago, and reading the Tribune, which is a Chicago newspaper. He even goes as far as to say that he is eating eggs and toast, and drinking orange juice as he goes through the article. The specific details creates a very specific image of a real man sitting on a restaurant. The images in the poem are neither vague or confusing; his specific words drives the reader away from any possible misinterpretation, and they made the poem clear end to the point. However, there are still some figurative language; for instance, Billy used simile, idiom, and hyperbole in line ‘Why that’s as old as the hills’, and used metaphor in ‘Why that dude’s old as cheerios’. Furthermore, even the title ‘Cheerios’ is symbolic since it symbolizes of being old, but still having popularity as an old thing.

The story and occurrences in the poem are really simple. The narrator (first person) is having breakfast in a restaurant in Chicago, while reading Tribune. He reads about the fact that cheerios, the breakfast cereal, is seventy years old, as he is. After figuring out that he is same age with Cheerios, the narrator starts to realize that he is feeling old, and he thinks about passerby that will judge him as old as cheerios. Overall, the poem is about aging and how it affects people. The poem is combination of seriousness and comedy, dealing with seriousness of feeling old and silliness of comparing himself to cheerios. Instead of showing that wisdom is conferred with age, he expressed light of humor and good temperament, which communicates well during this poem. The image of “stopped an threadbare back”  and “Indeed, I was a few months older than cheerios” show how he feels old, but then he just laughs off with a overheard whisper of “Why that dud’s older than Cheerios”. Billy mixed sense of humor and seriousness to describe his aging and its affection to people.