Telescope Is a Collection Of Poems

Sandy Florian is a Latin American born of Colombian and Puerto Rican parents in New York City. She has a Ph.D. from Denver University and an MFA from Brown University. Sandy is a renowned poet; she has several collections of poems such as “The Novella Boxing the Compass of 2013”, Wonderland and waste of 2010, the tree of 2008 and Telescope of 2006. Sandy’s collection of poems reflects mostly on the society way of life. Like any other protagonist, Florian uses poetry to criticize the inappropriate lifestyle in the community. She uses every poetic muscle to shun evil and restore an accepted mode of life. “The telescope is a collection of poems, which concentrate on the natural objects and conventional structures in the society to create meaning and communicate to the audience” (Florian, 5-63).
Sandy likes narrative poetry most of her poems describe scenario and objects. For instance, Abacus, the first poem in Telescope refers to a calculating tool. The poet as usual starts by defining an abacus in a poetic way. She refers to it as frame divided sections where arithmetic operations are performed (Florian, 5)
Denotation
This stylistic device relates to providing dictionary meaning of an idea, object or subject in the poem. Sandy Florian begins most of her poems by providing a short description of the title of the poem. For example, in Telescope collection, she started by defining the title of Abacus p5, as a gadget for arithmetic calculations Balloon as an inflated structure of fine skinp6, accordion p9 as a musical instrument, and many others.

The several definitions she gives create images for the reader to predict what the poet may refer to in the ordinary world. Denotations help readers to catch up with the writer. For example for a reader not used to an atmosphere of a musical instrument may not understand what an accordion is. Denotation keeps the reader and the poet at par so that the reader would interpret information correctly. For examples, the illustration of what a gun is (Florian, 20) shows the reader that in the society illustrated in the poem, a gun is an offensive tool of war and not a defensive tool. “It is used during the day for hunting and also used to fire ten rounds in a second” (Florian, 20).
Personifications
Personification is a poetic style whereby objects are given human features. She gives the abacus ability to try to find its meaning. In accordion (Florian, 5), the poet suggests that the musical instrument has a tongue. Besides, in the poem the abacus says
“I am trying to find the value of me but am dumb to the wonders of your great numbers” (Florian, 5).
The statements gave the abacus described the ability to talk like a human being. Furthermore, the poet uses the style to suggest that like a person, the object in the poem contemplates its worth by trying to find its value. Florian uses personification to show that human beings have become objects in their functionality.
The poet could have used this style to allow people to understand that the abacus she refers to could be a human being. The statement reflects on an employee, who works diligently and sometimes forgets their function, yet they can define the functions of objects around them and more often can calculate the net worth of their employers but have no idea of their value. The word ‘dumb’ reflects that the gadget can tell his worth (supposedly), but it is ignorant of the importance of defining his worth.
The stylistic devices are necessary for exploring the theme of exploitation. When the poet gives a gadget a human attribute, she allows the reader to guess that the device and the human being are alike in their function. The styles allude to the current generation where people work tirelessly for money and have known the value of goods and assets in monetary terms, yet the same human beings cannot actualize their values.
Similarly, the employees like accountants can calculate the monetary value of their employers but have ignored to calculate their worth. The poet expounds more on the theme of exploitation when she alludes of a woman with broken fingers carrying loads through the staircase (Florian, 5). The scenario shows the exploitation of the highest order. The writer wishes to lament over the idea that injured women are still forced to do the hard labor, and as much as people try to accumulate the returns of what they do, they lose instead of gaining.
Alliteration
Alliteration refers to the consistent repetition of the first consonant letters. The effect of these styles creates rhythms and musicality. When poems are musical in nature, they are easily remembered regarding words used by the poet. For example, in the mirror (Florian, 30) the poet creates rhythms with the following words
“A ditto a double a dupe, a distinction deserving avoidance” (Florian, 30). The poet has repeated consonant (D) successively within the same line.
Irony
The irony is a device that gives a contradiction of the truth. Florian has employed the use of irony in several instances in the telescope poems. For example, in the mirror (Florian, 30) the poet began by saying that, the mirror reveals the truth about every person in the society, the likable and the unlikeable without prejudice or exaggerations. However, as honest as the mirror is the community scorns the mirror. Evident by the sentence
“You are making a clown again” (Florian, 30)
The irony in this context is the fact the mirror tries to be just to everyone and honest in the description, but the society hates it for that and calls the mirror a clown- in other words, the community suggest that the mirror is fraudulent.
In another instance, the poet uses irony in Abacus (Florian, 5) where it is stated, “You have added eight and subtracted ten” (Florian, 5)
The statement refers to the employer hypocritical behavior where he pretends to give much to the employer, yet he gains more from the employee. Adding eight and taking ten in the context mean that the company pays a small wage but overworks the employees to the point of health deterioration. Whatever the worker gets is not enough to fix his medical bill, yet he claims to earn from his job.
The poet extends the use of irony even in the poem “House” (Florian, 20). The irony in “house” is in the last two lines. The poet explains how a house is a place of solitude and a right place for every living creature. However, in the last two lines, the persona complains that the sickness that has forced her to stay in the house (Florian, 5). The irony illustrates that no matter how beautiful a place maybe, it is only healthy and advisable to an individual walks out to break the monotony created by stagnation.
The irony is employed in the poems to illustrate the theme of hypocrisy. In the mirror, the society is hypocritical because it scorns that which is honest and just. The employer in abacus is also a hypocrite for he takes more from the worker than he gets from the employee’s toil. The phrase “any number times zero equals zero” (Florian, 5) shows that the employee has no gain whatsoever from the toil.
Hyperbole
Hyperbole is an exaggeration of information. Florian uses hyperbole to emphasize on the themes in the poem so that the readers would get the message. In abacus, the poet suggests that the workers get to the field to lose even the little they have. The information is based on the sentence, which states, “the employer adds eight then subtracts ten” (Florian, 5). The sentence is merely an exaggeration because there are no practical explanations why people would work so hard for money only to end up being the one giving to the job. The point of zero multiplied by zero equal zero is also an exaggeration because it is not expected that the employee would keep coming for all those days to end up in a zero. The poet exaggerated these statements to illustrate to the readers that people are working, but they have no evidence of income to show they are working. Most likely, the expenditure exceeds the income of the workers in the poem. The exaggerations emphasized on the theme of exploitation.
Similarly, the poet has employed hyperbole in “gun” (Florian, 20) when she says, “they had guns like the birds of the air” (Florian, 20). The simile is exaggerated because the birds of the air are so many and difficult to count. The poet wishes to express that people had too much of weapons than they needed. The statement also reflects that there was no control to possession of weapons. Besides, the statements, also illustrate the state of insecurity. Ideally, weapons are supposed to be used for protection, but when people have, excess supply of arms, the gadgets may create demand for war.
The hyperbole used in “Gun” reflects on military might and power. The fact that people had “guns like the birds of the air” (Florian, 20) shows the obsession foe power. Arguably, the investments on arms were at the expense of an essential commodity. If people had too much gun, yet we know the guns are symbols of power and gadget for taking lives, the poet shares with the reader that the society was thirsty for power and killing people to get power was in the statement. The poem ridicules people’s obsession for power in the society today.
Explanation of the poem “Noun”
The poet points that a noun is a description of a person, groups, and entities. She adds that names are like qualifying adjectives, which gives the quality of the individual or thing described by the name. According to Florian, names are enough description of humans and objects. Florian believes that names are an essential definition that every person requires. The poet suggests that every subject or object. The phrase mouse, house, and elephant reflect that having a name is a basic requirement for bigger people smaller people and even where people stay needs a name. The phrase also points that even the famous and the useless objects require a noun. The poet also suggests that from the time of old scientist names (nomen) were used to identify species and organism of the same qualities.
The sentence “this is a language of habit and habitation” (Florian, 17) shows that names describe people behavior and their environment. According to Florian, a noun also identifies people’s language. The mystery of the truth is when people realize that they get names when they connect with people as in marital situation (copulative) to acquire their names.
Florian proceeds that having known that their action of marriage that makes some people lose the titles and buy the partners name, she would rather avoid that act that gives her a new name (possible divorce or avoid an intercourse). In other words, Florian is lamenting that women are forced to adopt the names of the husbands upon marriage, which reduce the definition of a married person to be derived by one superior member of the married group. Considering that while giving example Florian avoided giving an example of a woman as what nouns describe, it arguable that the poet laments over the idea that a woman has to be defined and recognized by the husband. She says, “Certain suffixes denote inferiority” (Florian, 17). Arguably, Florian refers to that title that derives the name of a woman from a man. Though not directly mentioned the suffix is certainly ‘Mrs. or Miss’. Florian reveals that naming system shows that the title that follows the suffix Mrs. is superior to whoever uses the prefix name. She blames the problem women faces over marriage on the lack of nouns.
Conclusion
The styles in the telescope are consistent with the themes in the collections of poetries. The devices complement the themes in the poems. Some the stylistic devices employed by Florian include consonance, hyperbole, paradox, imagery, symbolism, alliteration, allusion, and irony among others. The themes that the devices complemented include exploitation, solitude, power, hypocrisy and strive among others. These styles and themes reflect on the Florian character of criticizing evils in the society. For every word used, every style employed and every theme explored. Florian has used the telescope (the collection) of the poem to shun evils in the society today with the hope that things would change for the better.

Work Cited
Florian, Sandy. Telescope. Notre Dame, IN: Action, 2006. Print.