CRITIQUE OF THE “DEAD STARS”

Dead Stars is a poem written by the author H.O Santos which serves as a reflection to
occurrences in his personal life, untold emotions and inexpressible thoughts. The poem certainly exudes
overflowing love as well grievances of regret. The title itself is intriguing and mysterious, as it is
surprisingly not expected to come out as a love letter. Every words are sincerely chosen, at least reading
it twice is not enough yet to understand the real emotions and message it wants to convey. Deep
interpretation is needed to fully realize and appreciate the message or point of the written poem.
Behind those words are the actual emotions of the author towards the person he adored the most. The
content of every verses that are written and each words that are penned are intended to express his
untold admiration to the woman that he fail to confess with. He never once asks the woman he loved if
she did share the mutual feelings as well for him. Even his fascinations go beyond, still he fails to tell her.
Countless of doubts, questions and hesitation keep bothering in his mind, which he then regretted. He
regretted what he had done for his realization hit him hard that shutting his mouth was one of the
terrible mistake he did. Afterwards, ‘what if’s” and “what could’ve” arose in his mind if he pushes
himself at that moment to confess to his love. He also thinks of what his and her future may be if he
never denied and just let himself ask and acknowledge about what he indeed felt inside.

The title “Dead Stars” in itself is symbolistic to lost hope. When a star is at its peak it
shines the brightest, but when it dies it loses all its glow. In connection to the content, the title is pretty
puzzling but intriguing at the same time. It fits perfectly to the message conveyed behind the poem and I
think the author is very smart to associate his emotions to material things that people would
appreciate. The poem is written in lyric type and the meter runs softly. Despite having different rhyming
schemes for each stanza, the meter runs softly and the end words for each lines consistently
complement each other. The arrangement of his lines seem like a cliff hanger but also very satisfying at
the same time. The use of metaphors is also observed and widely obvious in the poem. The poem itself
makes one think of stars and the universe with its title being Dead Stars and the mention of Venus and
Mars. Although these symbols have deep meaning and a big contribution to the message conveyed in
the poem, it is very uncommon that most reader will not easily understand it. Nevertheless, the content
and message is still there, but the experience might be lacking if one cannot understand some words
completely. On the other hand, despite being somewhat new, difficult and old words like sans and woe
present on the final verse wouldn’t be easy to comprehend especially for young readers, and that would
ruin the authenticity of the experience because then readers will have to search for the meaning of the
words first. Specific clarifications regarding the used metaphors are a must for those who will read the
poem, but the emotion is still there.