Close class and open class word analysis of the poem “. . April and Silence” by Thomas Transtromer

. . April and Silence

-Thomas Transtromer

Spring lies forsaken.
The velvet-dark ditch
crawls by my side
without reflections.
The only thing that shines
are yellow flowers.
I am cradled in my shadow
like a fiddle
in its black case.
The only thing I want to say
glimmers out of reach
like the silver
at the pawnbroker’s.

General analysis of the poem

The starting of the poem certainly suggests that the happiness of spring is no more to the narrator. The narrator thinks himself closed up in a carry case. His life is suffocating and everything seems untouchable and unattainable. Life has become yellowish and all things glimmers away and goes out of reach.

Close class and open class word analysis of the poem

Open class words are those which carry the majority of meaning in a language, as opposed to closed class (grammatical) words such as determiners (e.g. this, that, the) and prepositions (e.g. in, at, on). Closed class words act like sentence 'glue' and link together open class words in meaningful arrangements (sentences). Table 1 shows how the open class words are distributed throughout the poem, and whether they are nouns, verbs, adjectives or adverbs.

NOUNS	MAIN VERBS	ADJECTIVES	ADVERBS
spring	lies	forsaken
ditch	crawls	velvet-dark
slide	shine	yellow
reflections	want	cradled
things(x2)	glimmers	black
flowers
shadow
fiddle
case
silver
pawnbroker

We can see that the noun starts with spring and ends with pawnbroker. The strong contrast suggests the unhappy condition of the narrators life, because spring is a season of joy but for the narrator the time is as untouchable as a thing as in a pawnbroker. The nouns suggest a clear suffocation when there is ‘shadow’ instead of clear light. The metal silver is there which means purity, but it is stuck at the pawnbroker. The analogy between ‘silver’ and ‘pawnbroker’ is the suggestion of opposition. The other nouns ‘shadow’, ‘reflection’ also suggests the abstract state of life rather than clear life circle. There id a ‘fiddle’ but instead of playing it is locked.

The verbs are again states condition of suffocation, say the verbs ‘lies’, ‘crawls’, ‘want’ suggests necessity and bad condition of the narrator in spring season. The verb ‘glimmers’ is the contrast to the other verbs. May be the narrator wanted something light even if he is in a suffocating situation.

The adjectives shown here are clearly associated with unpleasant time or condition, say adjectives like ‘forsaken’, ‘velvet-dark’, ‘yellow’, ‘cradled’, ‘black’ are clearly adjectives of sorrowful condition where yellow can have suggestion of disease, cradle can have of lack of energy and black can have of end.

Threr are no adverb(s) to intensify the action. In light with the other word it suggests that the narrator is so dull in condition that he forgets even to say his words decoratively.

It is clear that the word choice is nearly similar to the meaning intended.