Junior Years Abroad by Luisa Lopez, Essay Example

The poem “Junior Years Abroad” by Luisa Lopez is a reflection of experiences and memories. It consists of stanzas, and they are often broken up by statements that summarize the conclusion of the previous stanza. It is a free poem and rhymes are scattered around the poem; in an irregular manner. Another reason why the poem has been identified as a free verse is that it includes several line breaks in the middle of sentences. This provides the poem with a conversational tone throughout the stanzas, while the statements are providing an indication of a new theme. Every new stanza is a new reflection of a different theme of the experience: the first one reflects on “The summer before we agreed”, the second is when she is there: “foreign blanket”, next, she states that “At first I tried”, then the theme of the “new boy” appears, followed by the Paris scene: “In Paris I concede”, then finally the action to  “move away”. The poem follows a linear narrative of the events, with every first line of the stanzas highlighting the station of the journey (physical and emotional).

The structure and the visible “unstructuredness” of the poem creates an emotional and reflective atmosphere. The author cuts in her own memories two times, in the end of the stanzas, indicating her state of mind: fear, when she uses the word: “dangerous” to close the last lines.

The stanzas use past tense, while the dividing standalone lines reflect the current thoughts of the writer about the experience and concluding her emotions related to the “junior year abroad“. She states that “we were amateurs”, “together alone”, and “Why should he give me up?”.

Lopez, L. “Junior Year Abroad”. n.d. Web.