I Cry
By Tupac Shakur
Literal
1st stanza:
~The speaker cries when he is alone because he is alone
2nd stanza:
~The speaker says that if he had somebody, he confided in them
3rd stanza:
~The speaker is alone and he cries and nobody cares
Situation
~The poem does not tell a story but it explains how the speaker cries by himself because he has no one
~The poem describes a sad emotion and the speaker feels alone and like he has nobody to confide in
~The speaker is Tupac Shakar, the speaker is speaking directly through his experience.
~Tupac is speaking to the audience, to anyone who reads the poem
~Yes, I can trust the speaker because he seems to be emotionally dealing with the feeling of being alone and he seems to be telling the truth about his emotions
~The tone of the poem is melancholy, The speakers attitude towards the poem is very lonely and vulnerable.
~A tone that seems appropriate for reading the poem aloud is a very quiet, sad tone, one where you are feeling the poem and the emotions that come with it.
~The clues I get towards the tone are:
1. "The tears I cry are bitter and warm."
2. "My heart is torn"
3. "So painful and so sad."
These quotes show that the speaker is going through a painful time and what he is sharing with us, as his audience, is something very hard for him to share because his emotions are so strong.
Structure
Form
~The poem is 17 lines
~At one line, there are a series of dots that trail off and this makes it seem more sad, "and sometimes....." It seems like the speaker wants to say something but its hard for him to know how to put it into words so he trails off and begins with something else
Movement
~The poem is more of a constant
~The poem circles back to being alone and not having anybody as it states in the beginning and then again in the last line
Syntax
~There are seven sentences in the poem
~Some of them are simple, others are complex with commas and the way the poem is formed it appears that the sentences are more complex then they really are
Punctuation
~There are commas and periods, no other punctuation marks are apparent
~The punctuation does not always end with the ending of a line, they sometimes carry on for a few lines before they are punctuated
~It is enjambment sometimes and an end-stopped line sometimes
~There is no punctuation in the middle of lines
~The title is "I cry" which is self explanatory because the reader is speaking about being sad and in pain and crying
Language
~The diction is colloquial meaning that it is everyday language, it is rather simple and middle schoolers could easily understand this poem
~Mood: Sad, Painfull, Depressed, Lonely,
~Imagery:
"The tears I cry are bitter and warm"
"My heart is torn"
~Personification
"The tears I cry are bitter" Tears cant be bitter.
Musical Devices
~There is no rhyme scheme
~There are four lines that rhyme:
"The tears I cry are bitter and warm.
(and )
"The world moves fast and it would rather pass by.
Then to stop and see what makes one cry, "~There is no rythm or meter
MLA
Hip-hop legend
Stage name was 2Pac