Close reading analysis of literary texts

¶ … Unfair

Robert Francis was an American poet whose work is reminiscent of Robert Francis, his mentor. Francis' writing has often compared to other writers such as Frost, Emily Dickinson, and Henry David Thoreau. Although Francis's work has frequently been neglected and is "often excluded from major anthologies of American poetry," those that have read his work have praised him and his writing. In "Fair and Unfair," Francis comments on balance in nature and in society. Like Frost, Francis contends nature has the ability to provide guidance if only man is smart enough to observe it. In "Fair and Unfair," Francis is able to find balance through what is written and how it is written.

The poem is told from a first person, omniscient perspective and the narrator appears to be addressing the general public; it appears as though the narrator seeks to bring attention to how nature has become disregarded as society and civilization grow and develop. As narrator, Francis appears to want to inform the reader of the imbalance between fair and unfair in the world. By commenting, "Had we the wit," Francis contends people cannot see the imbalance because they are not wise and thus they cannot bring balance to the world. In a way, Francis is asserting his enlightenment about the role of nature on the formation of society and wishes to preach what he has observed or learned in order to allow others to become as enlightened about nature as he is.

Francis's poem begins through the juxtaposition of nature and society. In this first stanza, the tone is sorrowful as Francis points out the imbalance between nature and society. Francis writes, "The beautiful is fair. The just is fair," thus establishing that beauty, or nature, and what is just, or society, each are considered to unbiased. However, the presence of beauty and justice is unbalance and often hard to discern; Francis contends beauty is "commonplace…[and] everywhere," whereas justice is "rare…[and] scarcely anywhere."

As Francis continues with his analysis of fairness, he comments on man's inability to figure out how to find balance between nature and society. In the second stanza, the tone slightly shifts and is reservedly hopeful. Francis writes, "Had we the wit/To use the surplus for the deficit/We'd make a fairer world of it." Francis comments on how man is not able to use the surplus of fairness in nature to supplement the "deficit," the fairness that is lacking in society. By juxtaposing the concept of surplus and deficit, Francis allows the reader to comprehend that he is commenting on imbalance and how it can be rectified. While Francis argues that balance could potentially be achieved, he also counters with the argument that man is not prepared to or does not know how to find this balance.

In "Fair and Unfair," Francis attempts to create balance through the poem's structure and form. The poem is written in a modified terza rima format. Unlike the more traditional terza rima rhyme format of ABA-BCB-CDC (etc.), "Fair and Unfair" follows an AAA-BBB rhyme scheme in which the last word of each line in the first stanza rhymes -- fair, rare, and anywhere -- and the last word of the second stanza rhymes -- wit, deficit, and it. While there is an imbalance created if the stanzas are looked at separately, balance is restored through the inclusion of the second stanza. For instance, imbalance is created through the odd number of lines present in each stanza, however, balance is restored or created when both stanzas are put together; each stanza depends on the other.

Moreover, through the two stanzas, the poem's form is literally balanced: two stanzas with a total of six lines. The first stanza serves to point out the problem, whereas the second serves to point out a possible solution; without a problem there can be no solution and vice versa. In "Fair and Unfair," a caesura occurs between the stanzas as the focus of the poem shifts from stating the imbalance of fairness in the world to a lament of being unable to create any change and restore any semblance of balance.

Francis's use of assonance also helps to bring attention to the subject that he is lamenting: fairness. In the poem, all but one of the six lines contains a word that is either the word "fair" or a word that rhymes with it. For instance, the first stanza uses the word "fair" twice in the first line, the word "rare" in the second, and "everywhere" and "anywhere" in the third line. In the second stanza, the first line contains the words "fair" and "unfair" and "fairer" in the third line. The continuous use of the word "fair" or words that sound similar to it, brings attention to the unfairness Francis is trying to make the reader aware of.

Francis also uses anaphora, the repetition of a word or phrase, to demonstrate that there is imbalance between man and nature. Francis writes, "one is commonplace and one is rare/One everywhere, on scarcely anywhere." The use of the word "one" is used to discriminate fairness in nature and fairness in society. By singling out where each kind of fairness can be found, Francis further emphasizes how unfairly fairness is distributed. Additionally, the word "fairer" is repeated in the last line as "We'd make fairer of it." The repetition of "fairer" allows Francis to communicate that he does not believe the world is completely devoid of fairness, but rather that there needs to be more fairness in it.

The imagery utilized by Francis helps to create concrete images that are not obscured by metaphors, allusions, or similes. Francis's direct style of writing allows him to translate "the wisdom of nature into a means of achieving human contentment" without introducing concepts that may be considered to be something that could potentially go over the readers' head or level of comprehension ("Robert Francis").

In "Fair and Unfair," Francis does not use many literary devices in order to maintain the simplicity of the poem's message. Francis does not want to convolute the message and wants the poem to be simple enough so that everyone can understand his lament. As Francis contends, man does not have enough wit to recognize the imbalance of fairness between nature and society, thus he must keep the wording in his poem simple enough to be understood by the witless.