The Poem, Identity, a Poem of The Freedom Place, is found on page 6 of my book of poems, Beyond These Dark Lands Are Edges Of Joy, Words of Comfort And Hope. This is a poem that gives hope in God during your darkest days.
TITLE
I always struggle to come up with titles for my poems and often wait until after the piece is written. I want one that is not obvious but is a clue to the poem so readers will be forced to think about it.
With this one, I went through several titles as the poem took form. I ended up with a title that refers to a doctrine of the Christian faith about our accreditation before God as being hidden in the sacrifice of Christ. The scripture at the bottom of the page, Romans 8:1, is a reference to this teaching.
STRUCTURE
The 27 lines make this one of the longer poems in the book. There are three sentences which are broken up by line breaks, most of which are 5 and 6 syllables long with a few exceptions placed for emphasis.
It starts with a repeating phrase of three syllables followed by a five syllable line,
"You try, and
You try, and
You try to do good..."
(Yes, I know it is redundant and a cheap emphasis). The drama is further set up by two lines of five syllables,
"But your failure
Seems to be stronger..."
The poem takes the first turn with two 5 syllable lines,
"Until your bones ache
With guilt and remorse."
The next turn introduces the hope,
"But the promise of God
Is..."
This is part of a set of six lines of five and six syllable lengths, which cause the reader to move through with ease. This section leads the audience to the hope which is the object of the poem.
Line 24 ends the second sentence with the two words, "In Christ."
The poem switches to a soft voice as it concludes. The conclusion is made of three lines of different lengths, so the reader pauses to consider each meaning. The bluntness of the conclusion is a contrast to the metaphors earlier. The soft voice calms the bluntness of the last statement.
WHAT IT SAYS
This poem says that in spite of our best efforts we experience failure of character or purpose, leading to guilt and shame. But there is hope because those who have come to God through faith in Christ will find that they are free from guilt and condemnation.
WHAT IT MEANS
This poem points to eternal, powerful, and abiding hope. It is not a hope in our efforts or some vague force of the universe. Our hope is in God because He does not condemn our failures if we are in Christ.
This makes sense of the second part of the title because our freedom from judgment is through our identifying with Christ.
This poem points out that if a person is feeling guilty and discouraged by failure in their lives they can have hope because of Christ in their lives.
ILLUSTRATION
The picture I drew for this is a road through a barren land divided by a crevasse. It illustrates the first half of the poem about our defeat.
You can read this poem on page 6 of the book. If you would like to read a sample poem choose the link below for the website.
TITLE
I always struggle to come up with titles for my poems and often wait until after the piece is written. I want one that is not obvious but is a clue to the poem so readers will be forced to think about it.
With this one, I went through several titles as the poem took form. I ended up with a title that refers to a doctrine of the Christian faith about our accreditation before God as being hidden in the sacrifice of Christ. The scripture at the bottom of the page, Romans 8:1, is a reference to this teaching.
STRUCTURE
The 27 lines make this one of the longer poems in the book. There are three sentences which are broken up by line breaks, most of which are 5 and 6 syllables long with a few exceptions placed for emphasis.
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| Illustration for the poem, Identity, a Poem of the Freedom Place From the Book, Beyond These Dark Lands Are Edges Of Joy © Adron 2018 |
"You try, and
You try, and
You try to do good..."
(Yes, I know it is redundant and a cheap emphasis). The drama is further set up by two lines of five syllables,
"But your failure
Seems to be stronger..."
The poem takes the first turn with two 5 syllable lines,
"Until your bones ache
With guilt and remorse."
The next turn introduces the hope,
"But the promise of God
Is..."
This is part of a set of six lines of five and six syllable lengths, which cause the reader to move through with ease. This section leads the audience to the hope which is the object of the poem.
Line 24 ends the second sentence with the two words, "In Christ."
The poem switches to a soft voice as it concludes. The conclusion is made of three lines of different lengths, so the reader pauses to consider each meaning. The bluntness of the conclusion is a contrast to the metaphors earlier. The soft voice calms the bluntness of the last statement.
WHAT IT SAYS
This poem says that in spite of our best efforts we experience failure of character or purpose, leading to guilt and shame. But there is hope because those who have come to God through faith in Christ will find that they are free from guilt and condemnation.
WHAT IT MEANS
This poem points to eternal, powerful, and abiding hope. It is not a hope in our efforts or some vague force of the universe. Our hope is in God because He does not condemn our failures if we are in Christ.
This makes sense of the second part of the title because our freedom from judgment is through our identifying with Christ.
This poem points out that if a person is feeling guilty and discouraged by failure in their lives they can have hope because of Christ in their lives.
ILLUSTRATION
The picture I drew for this is a road through a barren land divided by a crevasse. It illustrates the first half of the poem about our defeat.
You can read this poem on page 6 of the book. If you would like to read a sample poem choose the link below for the website.
© Adron 3/24/18
