Weighing the Dog Poetry Analysis

In the poem Weighing the Dog, the speaker uses the act of weighing his dog as a metaphor for his own break up with a past significant other. Throughout the poem, a shift in tone occurs, making the reader clear of the metaphor that is created throughout the poem. The speaker emphasizes his tone through the use of different literary devices, and makes clear the purpose of the poem.

At the beginning of the poem, the speaker describes the process of weighing his dog. He uses language such as, "awkward," (1) "bewildering," (1) and "balancing" (3) to describe the strange and uncomfortable nature of weighing the dog. Although the scene of weighing a dog has a deeper meaning than simply finding the weight of a pet, the speaker's language makes clear the uncomfortable tone at the beginning of the poem. As the poem progresses, it becomes clear that the speaker's description of weighing his dog is a metaphor for his own break up. The speaker felt uncomfortable in his relationship, which is made clear by the inclusion of detail, "all those awkward and bewildering months" (14). The physical act of weighing the dog comes before the subtraction of the speakers weight, suggesting that the opening lines of the poem represent the awkward relationship of the speaker with a significant other before a break up. In addition to describing the uncomfortable nature of weighing his dog, the speaker's awkward tone at the beginning of the poem is meant to describe the uncomfortable nature of his romantic relationship.

As the poem progresses and it becomes clear that the speaker's description of weighing his dog is a reference to a past romantic relationship, a transition in tone occurs. The speaker explains his new found clarity when he says, "I never figured out what you amounted to / until I subtracted myself from our combination" (11-12). The speaker's realization gives the poem a tone of clarity and acceptance, but the accepting tone becomes especially regretful when the speaker says, "Now we are both lost in strange and distant neighborhoods" (15). Although the speaker felt awkward in his relationship, separation allowed him to realize the worth of his significant other. His realization gave him a sense of appreciation for his old relationship, which allows the speaker to recognize the contrast between what he has now, and what he had during his relationship. It becomes clear that the speaker feels regretful for breaking up with his significant other, and that he feels even more awkward now than he did when he was in a relationship. Although the break up was caused by his awkward feelings, ending the relationship did not help because the speaker is now "lost in strange and distant neighborhoods" (15).

Sound & Sense Chapter 11-13 Notes

Chapter 11: Musical Devices
-Musical quality in poetry is achieved by the arrangement of sound and accents
-Repetition is good
-People like repetition because it provides familiarity
-Appeal in poetry is not always about what the poem says, and rather how it sounds
-Changing words in a poem alters the sound, either adding to or detracting from the quality of the poem
-Assonance: repetition of vowel sounds
-Consonance: repetition of final consonant sounds
-Rhyming:
-Masculine: rhyme sound only involves one syllable
-Feminine: rhyme sound involves multiple syllables
-Internal: one or more rhyming words within a line
-End: when rhyming words are at the ends of lines
-Approximate: words with any kind of similar sound

Chapter 12: Rhythm and Meter
-Rhythm: wavelike recurrence of motion or sound
-Accented/Stressed: the part of a word given more emphasis
-Rhetorical Stresses: emphasis on sections of phrases to clarify meaning
-End-stopped line: end of a line corresponds with a natural speech pause
-Run-on line: Line moves to the next line without pause
-Caesuras: Pauses that occur within lines
-Meter: identifying characteristic of rhythmic languages that "we can tap our feet to"
-Foot: one accented syllable with one or two unaccented syllable
-Iambic: unstressed, stressed, unstressed, stressed
-Trochaic: stressed, unstressed, stressed, unstressed
-Anapestic: unstressed, unstressed, stressed, unstressed, unstressed, stressed
-Dactylic: stressed, unstressed, unstressed, stressed, unstressed, unstressed
-Spondaic: stressed, stressed
-Stanza: group of lines with the same metric pattern throughout the poem
-Metric Variations
-Substitution: replacing regular foot with another one
-Extrametrical Syllables: syllables added to the beginning or end of lines
-Truncation: omission of an unaccented syllable at beginning or end of lines
-Expected rhythm v. Heard rhythm
-Grammatical & Rhetorical Pauses

Chapter 13: Sound and Meaning

-Poetry meant to convey meaning or experience through sounds
-Onomatopoeia: words that sound like what they mean
-Phonetic Intensives: words which sounds are somehow connected to their meaning
-Letters have hard and soft sounds
-Euphony & Cacophony to create nicely sounding combinations of words
-Synesthesia:  stimulation of two or more senses at the same time