Injustices Of Society Essay, Research Paper

Both Sides Now

Both Sides Now – by Joni Mitchell. This is a poem about a girl who has once had good experiences with love but now sees men and love as things that just get in the way. The last lines in the second and third stanzas explain this: “But clouds got in my way.” and “I really don’t know clouds at all.”

She is comparing clouds and men. My initial reaction to this poem is that it is not particularly easy to understand but after you think about for a while you can figure out what it means.

This poem is of traditional form. It is a lyric poem that is divided into ten stanzas. Each stanza is four lines long. Because this is lyric poetry (it is a song) there are two different types of stanzas: verse and chorus. Because of this there are two different rhyme schemes: one for the verse and one for the stanzas. In the vers stanzas the rhyme scheme is A,A,A,B. In the chorus the rhyme scheme is A,A,B,B. There aren’t any poetic devices other than that the whole poem is one big metaphor. There is some imagery in the first stanza where she is talking about the clouds: “Rows and flows of angel hair, Ice cream castles in the air.” Mitchell tells of how she looked at clouds and thought they were beautiful but then she realized that they “Block the sun and rain and snow on everyone.” She looked at love thought it was beautiful, also. But then she got into it and it wasn’t at all what she thought it was. She is comparing clouds and their outward appearance to love and it’s outward appearance.

The speaker has some strong ideas and feelings. She now feels that love isn’t always what it’s made out to be and that it is all just an illusion. She tried to love someone and they just laughed at her. “But now its just another show, you’ll leave them laughing when you go.” I believe the poem’s purpose is to tell people to think twice before they jump into something because it may not be what they thought it was.

My reactions to the poem are that I find it very sad and negative. The speaker is basically down on everything. I don’t know if I agree with the speaker or not because I’ve never looked at clouds, love, or life from all sides. Overall, I liked how Mitchell used one big metaphor on the poem. Also, I can see her point about everything having two sides. Nothing is perfect.

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Arlee Olson

October 29, 1999