poem analysis 2

The poem I chose to analyze is Nate Marshall’s “Lebron James.”  I think that one particular literally element that stands out, in the poem, is the idea of the implied listener, “is there a ‘you’ to whom the poem is addressed?” (literary elements, 82).  I think, in this case, there certainly is, and it stands out in the first stanza, as Marshall proclaims:

                        and I am writing this for all those spectators who are watching

                        not by choice, but by hatred of those bastards in uniform. (Eleveld, 205-

                        206)

It seems as if Marshall is speaking to an audience of other kids about his age who are just trying to figure out what they want to do, or who they want to be.  He draws a strong comparison between himself and Lebron James, even going so far as to call himself Lebron James, all to make the statement that you should go out and do the best at what you do. That’s what people should be idolizing these sports heroes as, he argues, a model for the hard work and success that you could have at anything, whatever it is. He is basically saying, that these lost kids that is implied he is speaking towards, can use his self-analogy as a way to improve their view their on their own lives, that come up shy to Shaq in athletic prowess, by going out and laboring to have success in whatever it is that is theirs. 

            This literary style, the idea of the implied listener, works well, here, because Marshall alludes to his audience several times, but never truly unveils to whom he is speaking.  It could encompass a broad spectrum of people, because I don’t think that he is just talking specifically to only kids who can’t make the cut at tryouts, but it is perhaps implied that he would think the same thing of a young girl and  a celebrity actress, for instance.