Poem Analisys Essay - 707 Words

Olson 1 Les Olson Professor Borner English 1220: 8:00 TTH 16 July 2013 â€Å"Like Riding a Bicycle† Analysis The poem â€Å"Like Riding a Bicycle† by George Bilgere is a very sad and touching poem. The first stanza is very joyful, which is not true, and dramatically changes to sad and disappointing throughout the rest of the poem. The main character struggles to learn how to ride a bike with little to no help from his father. After his father leaves him drunk and careless, the boy is still unsuccessful. So the boy practices until he finally teaches himself how to ride his bike in the middle of the night. Bilgere is actually the main character in this poem. His father is a drunk when he is a child and did not care to teach him anything†¦show more content†¦Then the next stanza is actually how he learned to ride a bicycle, sad, alone, and giving up hope, â€Å"While I stayed outside in the dark, Still falling†. (462) And the last stanza isthe boy as a man joyfully riding his bike, â€Å"As I coast the Pacific shoreline O n my old bike, the gears clicking†. (462) Imagery played a big role in this poem. It helps the reader get a better understanding on how the dad actually is during the struggle of teaching the boy how to learn how to ride a bicycle. The boy describes his father in detail during the act of him somewhat teaching him to ride his bike. The boy states that â€Å"the air around us Sick with scotch, and the challenge Was keeping his own balance† (462), describing how drunk his father actually is. The author’s main idea is interesting. He starts of with the first stanza very joyful, the he describes in he next stanza what really happened. It seemed that the father hardly gave any attention to the boy as a child. The theme is symbolic for the author in this poem because he also lived through his parents getting a divorce as a child. This poem is very sad, the boy had to teach himself how to ride on his own. The setting is in the middle of night in the street and picturin g that with the little boy left there by his father is very depressing. Even though he eventually learned how to ride a bike, he had no help. Work cited Bilgere, George.