Poem Analysis: The Juggler

In the poem, The Juggler, the speaker describes a fascinating juggling act, in what seems to be a circus, that starts off with just on ball, but grows into the Juggler juggling more balls, a plate, a table, and a broom. As the speaker describes the Juggler, they use figurative language (personification and onomatopoeia) and imagery to cover every great detail about the show. The speaker’s description of the Juggler reveals the process of the speaker’s interest in the show from being detached in the beginning into being captivated by the end of the show. In the beginning of the poem, the speaker personifies the single, red ball the juggler is using. The speaker says, “A ball will bounce, but less and less. It’s not/ A light-hearted thing, resents its own resilience.” Literally, a ball cannot feel anything, but, figuratively, the speaker is saying that the ball resents its determination to continue bouncing. How the speaker personifies the ball, shows that they aren’t truly paying attention to …show more content…
Visually, from line eight to twelve, the speaker describes a detailed scene from the show. This tells us that the Juggler finally got some of the speaker’s interest when he added more red balls to his show. Through lines nineteen and twenty-four, the Juggler is at the climax of his show and, visually and audibly, the Juggler is appealing to multiple senses of his audience. The elaborate use of imagery in the lines mentioned before, tells us, that at this point of the show, the speaker is fully intrigued. Also, the way the Juggler was described from line nineteen to the end (line thirty) shows how the speaker sees the Juggler. At the end, the speaker is so impressed with the show and the Juggler that, from their descriptions, they see the Juggler almost as a godly figure or deity. Through imagery, the speaker’s descriptions are reactions ae linked to what the Juggler is doing at the