Analysis Of Len Roberts First Kiss

Using an unexpected kiss under a sudden thunderstorm, Len Roberts’ “First Kiss,” depicts a young boy’s vague sense of loss, and his awareness, of his own adolescent storm approaching.
Throughout the poem, three major shifts are evident in order to illustrate the young boy’s transition from childhood into adolescence, and his ignorance of the change. The poem begins with a thunderstorm coming over a sandlot which is described as, “that blue-black cloud came over the sandlot with drops of rain as big as marbles,” (1-3) The metaphor of the adolescent storm is displayed in the blue-black cloud, as it is looming over the boy, which creates the mood of urgency and unrest. In addition to the “blue-black cloud” the raindrops are also a metaphor for the boy’s fleeting childhood as they are described as marbles which are a children’s toy, and just as the raindrops are falling, so is his innocence. The first shift can be found when the narrator finally describes the first kiss and it is mentioned as an afterthought, “we leaned, then clutched the other’s shivering body and I had my first kiss.” (5-7) The way the kiss is described illustrates that the kiss is a surprise and was not preconceived, which stands for the sudden transition into …show more content…
Subsequently, another shift in the text is made close after the previous, which is