In the Shreve High football stadium, I think of Polacks nursing long beers in Tiltonsville, And gray faces of Negroes in blast furnace at Benwood, And the ruptured night watchman of Wheeling Steel, All the proud fathers are ashamed to go home. Their women cluck like starved pullets, Their sons grow suicidally beautiful At the beginning of October, And gallop terribly against each others bodies. THE SPEAKER IS THE NARRATOR OF THE POEM. IN THE FIRST LINE OF THE FIRST STANZA PLACES THE SPEAKER AT THE HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBAL GAME. FROM THE TITLE AND TONE OF THE POE, THE SPEAKER MAY KNOW MORE ABOUT AREA AND LIFE OF THE TOWN, WHICH GIVES AN IMPRESSION THAT THE SPEAKER MAY BE FROM ANY IF THESE TOWNS (TINTONSVILLE, BENWOOD, MARTINS FERRY)DURING THIS TIME AT STADIUM THE SPEAKER WATCHING REFLECTING, OBSERVING AND COMPARING THE FOOTBALL TIME PERIOD.IN THE FIRST STANZA THE SPEAKERS TONE IS SOMBER, RESENTFUL AND OVERALL REFLECTIVE. HE GIVES A FEELING THAT HE KNOWS THE FEELING AND MEANING OF THESE WORDS. THROUGH HIS USE OF SYMBOLISM AND IMAGERY HE DEPICTS THESE CHARACTERS.DURING THE SECOND STANZA THE SPEAKER TONE SHIFT TO A STATE OF STRUGGLE; WITH THE USE OF OXYMORON OF PROUD FATHER ASHAMED AND, AGONIZING THROUGH THE METAHOE OF WOMEN CLUCKING LIKE STARVED PULLETS.AFTER THE PAUSE OF THEREFORE THE TONE SHIFTS AGAIN TO PUSHY STATE OR WANT TO GRATIFY THE FATHERS.THE OVERALL MEANING OF THIS POEM IS REFLECTS THROUGH METAPHOR AND SYMBOLISM. THE BEGINNING OF FOOTBALL SEASON IS BEING COMPARED TO THE BEGINNING AND END OF LIFES STRUGGLES. THE TITLE OF THE POEM SYMBOLIZES THE BEGINNING AND END OF THIS SEASON. END OF SUMMER - BEGINNING OF FALL (AUTUMN). ALSO THE BEGINNING OF FOOTBALL WHICH IS SYMBOLIZED AS THE LIFE OF THE TOWN (BEGINS IN MARTINS FERRY, OHIO)THE FIRST STANZA IS FULL OF IMAGERY, SYMBOLISM AND METAPHOR. POLACKS NURSING LONG BEERS NURSIUNG IS A SYMBOLISM FOR WATCHING WHICH TRANSLATES AS THE POLACKS SIT WATCHING TIME HAS PASSED THEM BY. I THIN...
