A Word is Dead

A word is dead

When it is said,

Some say.

I say it just

Begins to live

That day.

The title focuses the reader’s attention on the words “Word” and “Dead”, these 2 word are  connected by the alliteration of sound “D”, a dental sound.

The poem, apparently, seems to be formed from a single stanza, but instead it is composed by two stanzas. In the first stanza (1-3) the narrator reports the opinion of some people on the life cycle of a word: these people say that the word dies when it is. In the second stanza, the narrator expresses his point of view on the life cycle of a word: she says that when a word is said, that is just the beginning of a whole story.

This poem was written in short, concise lines to emphasize the importance of each and every word used. The rhyme scheme of AABCDB.

The message is that the words never lose their meaning once they are spoken. The intentions they were spoken with remain with the person spoken to as long as the words are remembered.