Poem Criminal

C RIMINAL
(Stephen Dunn) (1939 -)

………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Stephen Dunn is holder of prestigious awards like Pulitzer Prize, James’s wright
prize, academy awards in literature. Poet Stephen Dunn was born on June 24,
1939 in New York City. The first of his family to go to college, Dunn earned a BA
from Hofstra University on a basketball scholarship and later worked in
advertising. Dunn’s poetry reflects the social, cultural, psychological, and
philosophical territory of the American middle class; his intelligent, lyrical poems
narrate the regular episodes of an everyman speaker’s growth. His poetry is
concerned with the anxieties, fears, joys, and problems of how to coexist in the
world with all those who are part of our daily live
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Themes and issues raised by Stephen Dunn in his poems……………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
1. Social, cultural, psychological and philosophical issues.

2. American middle class
3. Growth of individual; ethical life
4. Human nature and conduct
5. Mudane, dark themes and mortality
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Terms and ideas presented by author in the poem ………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
 Criminal
 Crime
 Crime wrong criminal law
 Criminal and its condition
 Introspection
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Criminal
 Social, psychological, economic, environmental, cultural, familial, parenting,
abnormalities: neurological, psychiatric, alcohol/substance abuse, problem
with impulse control, aggression, hormones, mis/adventure, individual
choice and habits.
Crime
 Age/ adult/ delinquent, physiological development, participation: commit
or abet a crime, frequency: number of crimes as an active offender, level of
offence- theft, murder, property, seriousness of offence
Crime wrong criminal law
 Culpability ‘excusing conditions’ insanity, self defense
 Chromosome abnormality
 Genetic disorder
 Broken homes
 Criminal parents/community/state/place/ignorance of laws/ alien/
immigrant ‘anywhere’ ‘eminently decent’ – good family but wrong
choices, wrong ways, immoral way of living, illegal acts.
Criminal and its conditions

 Fate forgotten incident, freak accident, lack of evidence – no witnesses,
fingerprints, tampering. Favorable factors and environment nasty winds,
aggression, misadventure/fun, inebriated/intoxicated condition, reckless
driving, speeding car.
Introspection
 Guilty of crime, no evidence, unfinished crime, bear burden, destiny,
conscience. Aaron biblical allusion gospel of remission of sin/ expiation of
guilt. Repentance, confession, atonement, righteousness, religion, ethical
conduct.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Born wrong could simply means as that. Wrong parents. Wrong country. Or born
anywhere, eminently decent, but on the wrong side of bad law.
Poet states that we judge born wrong is so complex, but is as simple as that the
wrong country you born in or born in some decent place but you are on the bad
side of law. Bad side of law means the line which we draw to mark the criminal.
Eminently decent born means born in good family but wrong choices, having
illegal or immoral way of living.
Then there is luck that separates the forgotten incident of criminal one, like the
time I accidentally set the corner lot ablaze, a nasty wind that day, no witnesses.
Here, the author claims that our good fortune shields us from being
apprehended. Everyone has engaged in some form of criminal activity in the
past, but fortunately, they were never arrested because there were no witnesses
to attest to their actions. As a result, the unlawful activity is now a distant
memory. The author suggests that it is a criminal's destiny to be a criminal. The
author describes an instance in which he accidently set a corner on fire and set
something on fire. He was not caught because there were no witnesses, so he
again avoids being found out. Setting things on fire was against the law, but he
got lucky and avoided getting arrested.
I think too of the children might have killed had they timed their carelessness just
right, a trace of liquar on my breath, their ball rolling into the street, my car going
slightly faster than slow fingerprinted, front paged. Instead, a normal evening at
home, a citizen, nearly upright.
In these lines, the author describes how a small error I made that day could have
turned me into a criminal. The children were rolling a ball on the road while I
was driving drunk and recklessly. If I was caught, I could end up on the front
page of the newspaper as a criminal, and the police could identify my traces like
fingerprints.
Aren't most of us, caught or not, responsible for some kind of choice? And of
course certain criminals calculate, plan, hide in the bushes, alter the books. So
little separates me from them.
In this passage, the author interrogates the reader, suggesting that most of us
get trapped due to our decisions. The decision we make regarding the solution to
an issue in life could have legal repercussions and/or land us in legal hot water.
The individual determines his or her manner of life. There are those that
carefully organize their course of action, hide in bushes, and falsify documents
to avoid detection; this place them in legal trouble and leads to their capture.
The distinction between criminals who are known to us and those who have tags
appears here.
Send us off into the wilderness without a goat, bearing our own burdens. Or
maybe we deserve worse, or just to be left alone? We probably have more than one
destiny, but one of them for sure is to meet up with ourselves, no Lord, no one to
condemn or forgive.
In this passage, the author alluringly alludes to the biblical story of Jesus Christ
being sent into the wilderness with a goat for assistance, but he also challenges
the reader to consider all the wrongdoings and transgressions he has previously
committed without considering God's forgiveness. Consider your life filled with
sins; without the mercy of God, we would discover that we were completely
guilty. The author asserts that because of our own weight of guilt and misdeeds,
we deserve more and even worse treatment without any aid.
……………………………………………………………………………………………….
Writing style: Author has written in a very original manner. Due to the lack of
verses and rhythm, it appears to be prose, but it is actually a poem or "prose
poem." Since there is no line break, prose poetry is constrained yet brief. Every
word matter and helps to create suspense in this poetry, which has a musical effect
and compact elements. It is a creative work of poetry written in prose.
The poem's author has skillfully compared it to actual events and asks the reader
to reflect. The poem is made more interesting by the fact that he alludes to a
biblical occurrence. The author's writing style calls for the notion to be clarified
through explanation and questioning.

Poem Criminal

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Poem Criminal

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Poem Criminal

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

C RIMINAL

(Stephen Dunn) (1939 -)

1. Social, cultural, psychological and philosophical issues.

Criminal and its conditions

You might also like