Subesh Kumaravel
Ms. Timmins ENG4U0-D 09/10/14 THE SUBURBS – A Closer Examination “THE SUBURBS” is a lyric poem written by Kenneth Sherman in the year 1997 coming from the “Clusters” collection in the Mosaic Press. There isn’t sufficient evidence to prove that Sherman lived in the suburbs; however it can be noted that he was growing up during the time that suburban neighborhoods were being developed. As a result, this timeframe has played a major role in the creation of this poem. The writer aligns himself with the speaker to provide a first person perspective. The standing theme found in this piece is appearance versus reality. Throughout the poem, the speaker talks about the suburban neighborhood and about how the suburban lifestyle lacks happiness and a sense of identity. When suburban neighborhoods were first being developed, every house looked identical. The speaker touches the…show more content… The writer’s experiences of the suburbs have been incorporated in the poem through the speaker. Another significance of point of view is that the speaker starts talking in singular first person perspective and transitions into the plural form. The poem starts with the line “I too dislike the scenery” (1). This shows that like everyone else, the speaker also dislikes the scenery. The meaning behind this is that one person’s opinion doesn’t have as much value as the shared opinion of a group of people. The speaker uses this as an opportunity to show that he isn’t the only person feeling this way. After establishing this connection, the speaker refers to himself like he was speaking with a group of