Kahlan Amnel

Curmano
Freshman English Period 5
12 March 2016
TPCASTT

Forgotten Planet
I ask my daughter to name the planets.
"Venus ...Mars ...and Plunis!" she says.
When I was six or seven my father
woke me in the middle of the night.
5 We went down to the playground and lay
on our backs on the concrete looking up
for the meteors the tv said would shower.
I don't remember any meteors. I remember
my back pressed to the planet Earth,
10 my father's bulk like gravity next to me,
the occasional rumble from his throat,
the apartment buildings dark-windowed,
the sky close enough to poke with my finger.
Now, knowledge erodes wonder.
15 The niggling voce reminds me that the sun
does shine on the dark side of the moon.
My daughter's ignorance is my bliss.
Through her eyes I spy like a voyeur.
I travel in a rocket ship to the planet Plunis.
20 On Plunis I no longer long for the past.
On Plunis there are actual surprises.
On Plunis I am happy.
Doug Dorph
Works Cited
Dorph, Doug. "Forgotten Planet." Poetry 180. Library of Congress, n.d. Web. 9 Mar. 2016.
<https://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/158.html>.

Title: Before I read the poem, I thought is was going to be about a planet that people once knew
about, but had forgotten in time.
Paraphrase: In the first stanza, the speaker asks his daughter to name the planets then remembers
a time when his dad brought him outside to see a meteor shower. In the second stanza the
speaker explains the memory and says that he doesnt remember seeing meteors, but does
remember his father next to him and the look of the sky. In the third stanza, the speaker explains
what they know now and that they like how their daughter looks at the world with wonder. In the
last stanza, the speaker says that the forgotten planet is their happy place.
Connotation:
-Stanza: The first stanza is 7 lines, the second stanza is 6 lines, the third stanza is 5 lines, and the
last stanza is 4 lines. The length of the stanzas gets shorter by one line each time. Maybe this
represents the speakers time on earth is getting shorter each day.
-Hyperbole: the sky close enough to poke with my finger (line 13). This line is exaggerated
because you cant really poke the sky with your finger, but it gives the reader a strong image in
their mind. It also makes the reader feel somehow calm and at peace.
-Simile: Through her eyes I spy like a voyeur (line 18). This line makes the reader feel a little
uncomfortable because of the phrase spy like a voyeur. It gives the reader the sense that the
speaker is watching something very closely and with great interest.
-Refrain: On Plunis (lines 20, 21, and 22). In the last three lines, the speaker repeats the
words On Plunis to emphasize all of the good things about this forgotten planet.
-Personification: Now, knowledge erodes wonder (line 14). Knowledge can not erode wonder
or anything literally. This line also has very good imagery and makes the reader feel a little sad
and gloomy because knowledge has ruined many people's wonder, just like in this poem.
Attitude: This attitude of this poem is hopeless, nostalgic,and amused. The speaker uses the
words erodes, voyeur, and ignorance to make the reader feel as though our world is hopeless.
The speaker also uses words like remember, reminds, and past to create a nostalgic attitude.
Although most of the poem seems neutral, there are parts that also seems amused, the speaker
shows this by using the words shine, bliss, and surprises.

Shifts: There are a few different shifts in this poem. The first is at the beginning in the 3rd line.
At first the poem starts happy, then changes to nostalgic when the speaker begins talking about
their past. The second shift is in line 14, where the poem goes from nostalgic to a hopeless. The
last shift is in the 19th line. The poem goes from hopeless to amused or even hopeful.
Title: The title Forgotten Planet represents a make believe planet created by the speakers
daughter. This planet is the happy place for the speaker created by his daughters imagination.
Theme: The poem Forgotten Planet by Doug Dorph explains that sometimes people must get
away from reality to be able to deal with the real world.