"Laying Sod"- Poetry Analysis

First Reading: 3
Second Reading: 6

The poem “Laying Sod” is about creating art, and the fact that it is more prominent these days. The author writes that his father and especially his father’s father would never write poetry or produce any works of art. Instead they worked out in the field and made sure the conditions were suitable for crops to grow. Then the author compares this to his writing, and says that it is actually not that different. Just as the farmers keep away the snakes from the prosperous ground, the writer enlightens people and keeps them away from being ignorant. He says he is taking the “green patches”, or stories of the past, and laying them out so everyone can see them and read them.

After writing about the poem my understanding grew greatly to a 9 or even a 10. When you write about something you are forced to analyze the piece and make connections about what is going on. Rereading the poem is also really beneficial to understanding it. On the first read your brain is trying mainly to identify what is going on at the surface level. On a second read you can start to fully what is happening and then start to look deeper. Then after reading it again and writing about it, a deep understanding of where the author is coming from and the purpose of the poem or short story can be identified. Going through all these steps is really key to analyzing any piece of writing that you might read.