Brendan Constantine
The Opposites Game
for Patricia Maisch
This day my students and I play the Opposites Game
with a line from Emily Dickinson. My life had stood
a loaded gun, it goes and I write it on the board,
pausing so they can call out the antonyms –
My Your
Life Death
Had stood ? Will sit
A Many
Loaded Empty
Gun ?
Gun.
For a moment, very much like the one between
lightning and it’s sound, the children just stare at me,
and then it comes, a flurry, a hail storm of answers –
Flower, says one. No, Book, says another. That’s stupid,
cries a third, the opposite of a gun is a pillow. Or maybe
a hug, but not a book, no way is it a book. With this,
the others gather their thoughts
and suddenly it’s a shouting match. No one can agree,
for every student there’s a final answer. It’s a song,
a prayer, I mean a promise, like a wedding ring, and
later a baby. Or what’s that person who delivers babies?
A midwife? Yes, a midwife. No, that’s wrong. You’re so
wrong you’ll never be right again. It’s a whisper, a star,
it’s saying I love you into your hand and then touching
someone’s ear. Are you crazy? Are you the president
of Stupid-land? You should be, When’s the election?
It’s a teddy bear, a sword, a perfect, perfect peach.
Go back to the first one, it’s a flower, a white rose.
When the bell rings, I reach for an eraser but a girl
snatches it from my hand. Nothing’s decided, she says,
We’re not done here. I leave all the answers
on the board. The next day some of them have
stopped talking to each other, they’ve taken sides.
There’s a Flower club. And a Kitten club. And two boys
calling themselves The Snowballs. The rest have stuck
with the original game, which was to try to write
something like poetry.
It’s a diamond, it’s a dance,
the opposite of a gun is a museum in France.
It’s the moon, it’s a mirror,
it’s the sound of a bell and the hearer.
The arguing starts again, more shouting, and finally
a new club. For the first time I dare to push them.
Maybe all of you are right, I say.
Well, maybe. Maybe it’s everything we said. Maybe it’s
everything we didn’t say. It’s words and the spaces for words.
They’re looking at each other now. It’s everything in this room
and outside this room and down the street and in the sky.
It’s everyone on campus and at the mall, and all the people
waiting at the hospital. And at the post office. And, yeah,
it’s a flower, too. All the flowers. The whole garden.
The opposite of a gun is wherever you point it.
Don’t write that on the board, they say. Just say poem.
Your death will sit through many empty poems.
DENOTATION: It is the literal or dictionary meaning of a word
(Meanings taken from https://www.dictionary.com)
CONNOTATION: It is the implied meaning that goes beyond the literal meaning of a word, it connects emotions and feelings.
Connotation of Gun is: war, violence, attack, death, to hurt, or pain. Although it could be used as symbol of defense, but mostly has this negative connotation opposing life with violence.
A book represents, enlightenment, knowledge and meditation
A flower represents, life and beauty.
SPEAKER
The speaker is the voice the author uses to deliver his/her message, in this case, a poem. Not necessarily is the poet who is speaking through him/herself. There are two different speakers: The author (Poet) or The speaker (Personna) in terms of a separated narrator or character delivering the poem.
Sometimes the poem could include an ¨I ¨, however that is not a solid indicator that the author is speaking through himself.
In the poem The Opposites game the first stanza starts:
This day my students and I play the Opposites game.
Brendan Constantine may refer to his own experience as a teacher or to his friend Patricia Maisch who experienced and witnessed a shoot-out in Arizona, where 6 people were killed and 11 more injured.
Patricia stood up and restrained the gunman`s hand as he was going to reach an ammunition clip. That helped to stop the attack along with two other men who tackled the attacker.
Mrs Maisch is currently an activist against gun violence
Please watch the following video. You can visualize more in the deep the tone and attitude delivered from Brendan Constantine
TONE
The tone or mood is the attitude that the speaker takes toward a subject, a character, or the reader.
The attitude the speaker reflects in his poem is heartening inviting to reflection. Involving children as the characters who reflect on the existence of a gun. Children represent innocence, dreams and aspirations. It shows how children are right in the view of peace in a world with no guns. All their answer seems to be correct. They seem to fit in with any connotation that a gun might signify. The antonym of a gun is not just one word, but it means a infinite number of moments , opportunities and many things to be done.
The author mood is encouraging when he declares in the 11,12 and 13 stanzas that the opposite of a gun is everything above or at any space they see or not see. Any thing they just said or did not say.
IRONY
A way of speaking in which the writer or speaker creates a discrepancy, or gap, between what is said and what is meant.
There are 3 kinds of iranoy:
1—Verbal Irony: all what is said is pretty nearly the opposite of what is meant, ( ¨Lovely day out ¨ ) when the weather actually is miserable and whithin verbal Irony you can find Sarcasm which is more direct, harsh, and cutting.
Is there sarcasm in the poem?
Yes there is . Stanza 6 , 4th line and stanza 7 , 1st line
Are you crazy? Are you the president of stupid-land? You should be, When`s the election?
2- Dramatic Irony: It is represented as when you as the audience realize implications of words or acts that the characters do not perceive.
Is there Dramatic Irony in the poem?
In plain sight there is not presence of it, unless we could infer in the case we could role play the poem an see the moment when the class finishes the day, and come back the next day arguing the topic of the opposite of a gun. One part of the students came across with more new answers , others figured out a new poem. We did not see that section and the author did not know, but saw when the poem was done.
It’s a diamond, it’s a dance,
the opposite of a gun is a museum in France.
It’s the moon, it’s a mirror,
it’s the sound of a bell and the hearer.
3– Situational Irony: It happens when an outcome turns out to be very different from what was expected or hoped for.
Is there situational Irony in the poem?
Yes there is. It seems to be purposely inflected. The activity is just a game to come across the antonyms. A game for identification of sintaxis , but it turned out to something else. The students ended up in an argument of constraint and freedom from the use of weapons. The game went beyond of analysis
Please watch the following clip
Poetry 