Kevin+Halligan+I+watched+a+giant+cockroach…

__ Structure __ On its surface, deceptively simple, but actually really “tightly structured” Sonnet – identify the rhyme scheme. The first 6 lines are the typical scheme of a sonnet, be it Shakespearian or Petrarchan. Is the structure (the break from consistency to less consistent) marking a shift of some sort in the poem, be it tone, focus, subject matter, etc? Rhythm. – Is it iambic pentameter? Where are there exceptions to this? Which lines are more consistent and which less? Punctuation – enjambment – and the effect of the full stop in line 11. Why there? __Meaning/ Message__: Is the cockroach anthropomorphized? Or is it an extension of the author himself? Does the last line leave you wondering whether the focus was on the cockroach at all, or whether it is simply the author projecting himself elsewhere? Previously we have been talking about generally (and sometimes more specific) Christian ideas pervading a poem. Does the question the speaker poses “Was this due payment. . .” allude to reincarnation? Time seems to be an issue in the poem. Both in terms of the time of the events the speaker is describing, and the idea of “restlessness that worsened over time.” How is time treated in this poem?
 * Halligan – “The Cockroach” **