Fictional text
MENTAL EFFECTS
Genre: Poem
http://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/stress-effects-life
Stress by Jody Mark
Stress is eating at me every minute and second of the day, how do I cope with the horrible
effects and make it go away?
I feel so tired and run down and I don't sleep, I lie in bed at night and wonder why it runs so
deep.
Everyone asks why do you look so sad, do I tell them that my stress is eating me up and that I
feel really bad?
Does everyone notice how I walk around in a daze, and that I have deep black bags under my
eyes nowadays.
I wake up every morning feeling so hopeless, like nothing ever goes right and wondering why
my life has to be such a mess.
Stress is my one worst enemy,it's taken over my mind and my whole life in every single degree.
What key information did you learn from this source?
The key information I learned from this source is the mental effects that stress has on a person. For example, I learned that stress takes a lot out of you. It is emotionally draining, it makes you tired; however, it also prevents you from sleeping because your mind won’t shut off, which I know from personal experiences is relevant to teenagers in many ways. This laid out by using different devices throughout the poem, which not only enhances the poem itself, but it enhances or emphasises the information within it too. For instance, the use of personification followed by a rhetorical question saying, “Stress is eating at me every minute and second of the day, how do I cope with the horrible effects and make it go away?”, allows myself as the reader to have a better understanding of how stress drains you emotionally, which I believe is the main idea the poet wanted their reader to learn from this poem.
How was the information organized? Was this an effective choice? Explain.
The information of this poem is laid out with two lines per stanza (in couplets), following an AABB.. rhyme scheme, and alternating between iambic and trochaic rhythm. This is a very effective choice in the way that the flow of the rhyme scheme and rhythm captivates the audience and holds the attention in duration of the entire piece. It also emphasises the main idea of the poem, which is the mental effects due to stress. This is done with the diction used in the rhyme scheme as it highlights key words focussing on the topic such as “hopeless”, “mess”, “sad”, “bad”, etc.;therefore, effectively laying out the poem in order to highlight the mental effects of stress.
From whose perspective was the information presented? Was this an effective choice? Explain.
The poem was written from the perspective of a young person who has been mentally affected by stress. It could perhaps be that the poet, Jody Mark, happens to be this person. This could be the case due to the poem’s use of first person; the poet refers to the character as ‘I’ or ‘my’. Having the poem in first person, whether or not it is true that the poet is also the character within the poem, it is a very effective choice because it shows what the character affected by stress is thinking and feeling from first source, which allows the audience to really have a better understanding of what it feels like to be mentally affected by stress, which is something that has been largely evident in many teens these days.
What types of details were used to present the information? Be sure to include an evaluation of the effectiveness of the literary devices used in answering this question.
Many different poetic devices are used in the presentation of this information. For starters, the stanzas are in couplets, which maintains the interest of the audience by keeping it short and easy to read. Also, the alternation between iambic and trochaic rhythm, along with the rhyme scheme of AABB.., makes the information flow easily, which once again maintains the reader's interest on the subject in the way that the poem contains a lyrical feeling to it. In another way, the poet’s use of rhetorical questions allows the reader to personally feel what stress does to a person. It shows how the character in the poem is feeling on the inside, which happens to be extremely effective as it shows the audience personally how it affects you mentally. This is also done by putting personification to stress saying, “Stress is eating at me”, which is a need way of showing how stress drains a person emotionally.
How was your reading of the text impacted by the type of source? How has this source enhanced your understanding of the overall theme/topic? Make personal connections to the source.
Being that this source is a poem, my reading of it was impacted in the way that the use of poetic devices emphasizes the focus of the topic. For example, personification used on stress emphasizes the emotional drainage along with other effects that stress has on a person. This use of personification also enhanced my understanding of the topic in the same way; it shows how much of a mental struggle stress is, which is something I can really relate to. One quote that really stood out to me because of my relation to it was when the poem says, “I feel so tired and run down and I don’t sleep”. I relate to this because my stress, especially with school, really is emotionally draining to me. It makes me mentally and even physically exhausted; however, it keeps me from sleeping because that stress makes my mind go blurry thinking about all that needs to get done and making me feel like sleep is a waste of time, which just goes to show that this poem is so accurate and effective showing the mental effects of stress since the readers affected by stress can relate so closely.