So for the multimodal project I had completely forgot that we needed to post an analysis up on our blogs, so here we go:
Because the text that I am choosing to use is a shorter poem, the imagery and symbolism is not in excess. However, this poem can be deeply dissected through Murray's many ideas and definitions. The poem that I have chosen is a short comedic poem by Dr. Seuss. I have chosen this poem because it is one of my favorites, and although it is a bit scattered, it most definitely tells a story. The story within the poem is that there is a man who works at a law firm and either loves his job or is being extremely sarcastic about how much he loves his job. Throughout the story the man says exactly why he loves his job, and at the end a few men in lab coats come to take him away. These men are in white coats which hints to the fact that the men are from a psychiatric center. This then implies that the man does not actually love his job, and that his job has made him go crazy.
This poem is a humorous way of showing that most people do not love their jobs. In fact, a good number of people in the world do not like the career that they have, so this poem provides a bit of comic relief for that. Also this poem uses Dr. Seuss's typical rhyming style, as well as his typical made up words. Because Dr. Seuss was so well known for writing children's books, this poem reminds the reader of what it was like to be a child and not have so many worry's. The fact that Dr. Seuss was writing to an older audience is also very interesting to the reader because of the fact that he was so well known for writing children's stories.
As for what Murray would have to say about this, he would most likely compare the poem to his five values of multi modality. The five values include image, unity, layering, juxtaposition, and perspective. The first value, image is very apparent within this poem because it paints a very vivid picture of what the person's life is like. The poem shows the reader an image of a very unhappy working class person stuck in the same routine day in and day out. As for unity, the poem display's unity through its use of repetition and rhyme scheme.
There is also quite a bit of layering throughout the poem. Layering is the use of tensions and resolutions within a piece of literature. In this poem the tensions are that of the man and his employers as well as his job. Although their is no positive resolution at the end of the poem, their is a resolution and that is of the man being taken away to a psychiatric ward. The next value is that of juxtaposition which is a collage or an altering of scale. This is seen throughout the poem because Dr. Seuss makes sure to jump around from one topic to another within the poem. Because of this there is a sense of an altering scale.
Lastly is the value of perspective. This value is the angle at which something is viewed. In the poem "I love my job", the reader sees the world through the narrator's eyes and sees how much he actually dislikes his job. The poem then is in the perspective of the man (narrator).
Through all of these values it can be seen that Murray would have quite an amount to say about this poem even though it is fairly short. Also it can be said that this poem has a non-discursive aspect within it even though it was designed as a discursive piece.
The first stanza of this poem repeats how the narrator loves his poem oh so much. The author makes use of repetition to emphasize how much he absolutely loves his job. The narrator also uses internal and end rhyme to make the poem flow. Also within this stanza the narrator describes the hierarchy in his work place, and emphasizes how he is in fact at the bottom of the corporate food chain. This stanza gives the reader an idea of how the narrator truly feels about his job.
The second stanza of this poem is a bit longer, and for good reason. This stanza gives some more detail about the narrators job, and although the narrator says he loves the different aspects of the job, any reader can tell that his job is not the best. The humorous part of this stanza is that any "office drone" knows exactly what the author is talking about in the poem when he talks about computers and office mates. One of the most important lines within this stanza is the point where he says "I love their leers and jeers and sneers"- this part of the poem not only uses a great rhyme scheme but the author uses made up words to make a point. These made up words are also symbolism of how the narrator is in fact going crazy.
In the final stanza of this poem the narrator says how happy he is to be at work, but at this point in the poem the reader can tell that the narrator has been sarcastic about his job the entire time. At the end of this stanza we find out that the narrator is in fact crazy and that people from a psychiatric ward are coming to take him away. An important quotation from this stanza is "the happiest slave of the firm." This shows just how the narrator truly feels, and shows how taken advantage of he actually is. A slave refers to someone who is forced into working, and this narrator feels trapped in his usual life routine.
Although fairly clear, this poem is a satire about corporate jobs and how much people in these jobs hate what they are doing. This poem is also a metaphor for our daily lives and how bored we can get with them.
