Analysis Of Amanda Jernigan's Poem Exclosure

In Amanda Jernigan’s poem “Exclosure”, the speaker delivers the message that writing is a process of capturing and protecting the composition from being exposed to critiques or misinterpretations. The speaker is alarmed at the thought of her poem growing out of control and no longer in her discipline, therefore she creates a sanctuary to deny the poem exposure and vulnerability to an audience. The speaker is aware that each time a poem is read, it takes on new interpretations and meanings and it begins to change and develop with all the different perceptions. The speaker is obviously concerned about how her composition can transform because of the new interpretations, therefore she wants to keep it unexposed from such conditions. The speaker …show more content…
Therefore she is made aware that she has to create some sort of shelter and states, “to write about I would enclose” (2). The speaker wants to restrict her writing by putting the composition into an enclosure where it will be protected. She knows that she wants her writing to be kept safe, and she does this by creating an area surrounded by “chicken wire” (3). This wire is a thin wire netting surrounding an area with tight mesh, to keep chickens or other livestock safe from lurking predators. Chickens in particular are vulnerable animals because they cannot fly nor move fast, allowing for them to be an easy prey. The speaker uses the chickens as a metaphor to explain her writing, since she also believes that her writing is vulnerable and prey to things that could harm it. To ensure the security of her writing she also creates the enclosure with a “driven post” (3), a large post that is placed deep into the ground to help create a strong support for the fence. The speaker wants to ensure that she has a strong support for her enclosure so that her poem will not be exposed to predators, such as misinterpretations and critiques. However, despite the protective fence that was created to hold her work of literature in, the speaker reminds herself that “words are a wont to browse” (4). The speaker admits her fear of losing her writing because she knows that words tend to wander when read and analysed by other people. Thus meaning that she may not be able to keep her poem captive under the chicken wire fence and so she must “revise/ one’s subject” (6-7). The revision process may allow for the speaker to regain control over her work, and keep it confined within the protective