Literary Essay Sample on the Poem, "My California," by Lee Herrick

Poetic analysis requires the great mastery of various poetic elements like the rhythm, alliteration, the rhyme, the poetic inversion, the voice, the line lengths and finally the line endings to mention but a few (Faulkner n.p). Rhyme can be termed as the repetition of similar sounds in two or more words. In most cases, the repetition is usually noted in the final syllables. In the case of the rhythm, the repetition is limited to the strong and regular repeated pattern of sounds. Alliteration also refers to the appearance of similar letters at the beginning of the adjacent or the closely connected words. Lastly, on poetic inversion, the reference is made to the inversion of the normal word order or pattern in a phrase or sentence. In most events, inversions are used to maintain the rhyme scheme of a poem. The paper will, therefore, focus on the poetic analysis of the poem, "My California," by Lee Herrick. The final part will cover at least two literary criticisms.

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The poem is one of Lee's poetry which he qualified to portray exceptional control, grace, and elegance. Lee Herrick is one of the poets who are not afraid of opting for the leaps of the word and heart; he combines most of his poetic speeches with various stylistic devices with specific attention to emotion and the senses thus ensuring the infusion of the poems with beautiful lyrics and vivid imagery. The poem, "My California," ensures the good usage of sounds and various repetitions of words, free sounds, and free touch. Its content is beautiful as it portrays a bright image of the state of California while also acknowledging the existence of cultural diversity, the carefree youth culture, and other daily occurrences like paperback bookstores and the marketplace. It is worthwhile to realize that the poem contains some stylistic elements, for example, the rhyme, alliteration, and the voice. The voice of the persona help us acquire the feeling of developing an urge of going to California, it is appreciative and recognizes the warm weather, cultural diversity and the mentioning of food that provides literary flavor. For example, there is the mentioning of food items like the "pho, the peaches and grapes, wine, good salsa, and chapchae," something which make one yearn for his homeland in case the person is in a far land.

The poem equally has a rhythm based on the existence of the measured flow of words with the inclusion of the regularly repeated sounds (Attridge n.p). An example can be noted on the choice of words adopted which in some way end with similar sounds. This is noted in various stanzas, for example, the third, fourth, fifth and the sixth stanza to mention but a few. There are also multiple cases of alliteration where there is the repetition of particular syllables in a series of words (Harbus, 207). This is noted in the first stanza with the specific focus to the following words; olive and votive. The ending syllable in both cases is -ve. Many literary critics have equally criticized Lee Herrick's poem; they argue that most of his words were those that captured the reader's emotions with their homeland thus failing in achieving the primary poetic intent. The other literary criticism is on his avoidance of the known literary elements and instead focusing on the poetic syntax and morphology. Even though this criticism exists, many people have argued that Lee Herrick's poems have succeeded in imaging the real issues in the daily livelihood while also adhering to literary standards.

Works Cited

Attridge, Derek. The rhythms of English poetry. Routledge, 2014.

Faulkner, Sandra L. Poetry as method: Reporting research through verse. Routledge, 2016.

Harbus, Antonina. "A cognitive approach to alliteration and conceptualization in medieval English literature." English Language & Linguistics 21.2 (2017): 203-219.