Textuality » 4BLS Interacting
“I am the new year”
Considering the title an intelligent reader could suddenly understand that the narrator coincides to the lyric voice; moreover, he/she should be curious to find out the sentence’s meaning “I am the new year” (a personification).
The lyout makes clear the poem is arranged into seven stanzas made up of two triplets, two quatrains, one sextain, one triplet and a final line. The line length is more long in the center of the poem.
The first two triplets have the role to introduce the content of the poem and present a personification (“I am an unspoiled page in your book of time.
I am your next chance at the art of living.
I am your opportunity to practice...”) and an anaphora composed of the words “I”.
The two quatrains and the sextain present another anaphora in each first line and some run on lines; in addition, they are about the positive aspects that the new year could present (“All that you sought
and didn't find is hidden in me,
waiting for you to search it out
with more determination.
All the good that you tried for
and didn't achieve
is mine to grant
when you have fewer conflicting desires...”).
The sextain present another anaphora (“All that you dreamed but didn't dare to do,
all that you hoped but did not will,
all the faith that you claimed but did not have.”).
The last two stanzas present a personification and an anaphora, too (“I am your opportunity
to renew your allegiance to Him who said,
'behold, I make all things new.'
I am the new year.”).
So to summarize, the poem is about good opportunities that the new year could offer.