Poem Analysis Essay

Depression (noun) Severe despondency and dejection, typically felt over a period of time and accompanied by feelings of hopelessness and inadequacy.

Have you ever hit the point where you truly felt unwanted and worthless to everybody around you? That’s what people who suffer from depression hit almost every single day of their lives. Some just honestly hate themselves, contemplating/ attempting suicide, inflicting harm on their own bodies, and constantly telling their selves that they’re worth nothing.

About 20% of teens will experience and suffer from depression before they even reach adulthood. And what’s the scariest part about all of this? Their friends, family members, and classmates might never expect that.

My poems, songs, and prose pieces all have to do with pretending that oneself is okay when in all actually, they’re not. The first poem I have, titled the “Mask” is a perfect example of trying to convince the world that you’re fine and dandy, but when you get home and are alone, you tend to break down. The narrator in this poem explains how they are “Spectacular” and “Cheerful all the day.” But these feelings are only a mask as the title implies. And when the narrator strips himself or herself of this mask and lets their true feelings come through, it’s not something you would expect from someone who claims they’re so happy. Now comes a feeling such as “I ache and burn from my very core.” The world would never know how depressed this narrator is or who they really are without looking behind the mask of trying to be happy and give off happy feelings. 

The second poem I chose was “A Scared Little Girl”. The poem was quite graphic in word choice and describing the situation. The narrator in this poem was also keeping secrets inside of her, and she used the metaphor of those secrets being a “Scared little girl inside of her.” To show those secrets being kept. Her secret was in fact her depression and her aching to be happy.

“Welcome to my Life.” Is a song by Simple Plan that I also chose to relate to the theme. The singer uses the words “To be on the edge of breaking down, and no one understands you.” To show the feelings of loneliness, rejection, and much more. The singer wants to convey the point of view of a teenager that’s just not happy with their life anymore and falling into a state of depression.

My first prose piece is titled “The Dark Secret I Could Never Tell Anyone.” It’s about a girl name Katy who always thought she had it all, good grades, friends who cared, and a love for dancing. But she still always felt like she wasn’t good enough. So she resorted to self-harm. “For years, I lived a double life.” She says. On the outside, she was still this bubbly cheerful person. But inside, she was just a girl who truly needed help. Katy said, “Hiding my real emotions made the urges even stronger.” She didn’t truly want to go into recovery until her parents found her in the bathtub with a boiling pot of water on her legs. She finally realized in that moment how out of control she had became, which was a turning point for her. That’s when she decided to sign into a treatment facility and get back on her feet, the healthy way.

The next prose piece I have is “Depth of Depression, My story” Written by Craig T. He claims that he has often been considered an upbeat, positive individual. But as his life goes on and he smiles more and more in public, his depression is getting so much worse. That’s another example of people suffering from depression almost having two different personalities. The way the act around other people and the way they can act when they’re just left alone with there self and their mind.

It’s not a joke. These are real life stories from real people. All these articles, and stories, and poems, are all to connect to the problem of self-deprecation and the fact that it can go unknown by everyone around the person suffering. Everyone is not what he or she seems.