Poetry response 1

Hug O'War

from the book "Where the Sidewalk Ends" (1974)

I will not play at tug o' war.

I'd rather play at hug o' war,

Where everyone hugs

Instead of tugs,

Where everyone giggles

And rolls on the rug,

Where everyone kisses,

And everyone grins,

And everyone cuddles,

And everyone wins.

This poet is a famous writer, This poem is from his book called “Where the Sidewalk Ends”.  I remember my mom reading this book to me when i was a little kid, I loved his poems.  There is lots of Rhythm in the poem, I like the beat of the repetition, He says everyone almost every line.  There is a lot of rhyming everywhere in the poem. There are Approximate rhymes in the poem where he is rhyming at the end of every line, every word goes together like, hugs, tugs, rug and giggles and cuddles.  It seems like this poem is a free verse, all the rhyming is spread out.  There is figurative language, he says I will not play at tug o' war.

I'd rather play at hug o' war, hug of war is not real but we get what he is saying.  In this poem it seems like he is against war and he just wants peace instead of everyone fighting in war.  He says at first that he doesn’t like War then he explains why and at the end he says everyone wins.  I think this is a lyric poem.