Fifth Grade Autobiography

“Fifth Grade Autobiography” is written in free verse, meaning the poem contains no prescribed form or meter. As in most free verse poems, there is no observable rhyme scheme in the poem. The poet’s choice to focus on the language and the visual details of the poem, rather than on the regulation of line length, is also characteristic of free verse. As a result, line lengths vary throughout the poem, from nine syllables to the poem’s briefest line, Line 16’s four syllables.

The poet incorporates natural pauses at the end of phrases beginning with the first lines: “I was four in this photograph fishing / with my grandparents at a lake in Michigan” (Lines 1-2). Typical phrasing would break Line 1 after “photograph,” but Dove keeps “fishing” on the first line to create more momentum at the beginning of the poem. Readers experience the first two lines of the poem without a pause due to the lack of punctuation at the end of line 1, which leads the reader directly into Line 2. The lack of punctuation that sets free verse apart from other poetic forms enhances the impressionistic quality of the poem and the childhood