Amy Dillon

ENG 484-301

Turcotte

7/10/15

Gut Reaction to “Toad”

Dear Diane Seuss Poem,

As I read you, the poem, I felt like I was amazed at how the content didn’t seem to make sense, but at the same time there was so much underlined meaning in everything.  It seems like, if one considers you, the poem, a prose poem, or a narrative, in a way there are a bunch of subplots, and even characters, and symbols/themes.  One subplot I found was how the toad’s death led to other components of you, the poem, like the character of the grandfather, that led to themes like religion and God.  I couldn’t stop thinking how the direction of the narrative didn’t wind around into nothing, but went from one direction to another, leading from one thing to another.  The diction of you, the poem, was great, the vocabulary wasn’t hard to understand but I found it very contemporary and intriguing.  The way Seuss explained, and got to, what I felt like she wanted to say, was very direct, and I felt like there was a lot of energy and mystery behind you, the poem.  In general, I think you, the poem, left a lot to be interpreted by the reader, but still, Seuss wrote in an objective manner so that as a reader, I understood Seuss’ style well, as you, this poem, are a good example of how Seuss writes.