Poem "saturday Night" Written by Alden Nowlan

The poem ‟Saturday Night" written by Alden Nowlan describes the author's attitude of

disgust towards the group of boys menacing the town. The tone of derision is made clear by the

speaker to emphasize the feeling of hostility through the use of structure, word choice and

cacophonous animal imagery.

To begin with, the speaker's derisive tone towards the immature actions of the boys is

supported through Nowlan's choice of structure. Generally, the poem's structure consists of

aspects of wildness, thus exemplifying the poem's loss of a complete pattern. For instance, the

first and third stanzas remain at the margin, whereas, the second and fourth stanzas are indented.

This fully enforces the unconformity of the boy's behaviour. Likewise, this poem entails 4

stanzas, with stanza one and two consisting of four lines; the third stanza containing seven lines,

and finally, concluding with a single line in stanza four. This unruly construction of the poem

directly supports the theme of the speaker's attitude towards the tyrannical actions of the boys, as

it is specifically describing exactly what the speaker is becoming angry towards. Moreover, the

punctuation plays a role in accentuating the quick movements of the boys in the town, mirroring

some sort of rant. This implementation of punctuation reinforces the poem's theme as it imitates

the speaker's annoyed tone. While considering the factors above, the choice of structure does

support the main theme of the disgusted attitude towards the boys feral, wild, nonconformist

actions.

In addition, the root of the main theme is subtended and supported by Nowlan's use of

diction. As displayed in line 2, "with their tires like sirens" indicates' to the reader the boys truly

were rambunctious. This action of rambunctiousness was also strengthened by "their Hollywood

mufflers/ making sounds furious, derisive, vulgar-" (13-14). This choice of words props how

noisy the boys were, which aided in the growing annoyance of the speaker. It also signifies how

'flashy'