God Said, I Made A Man

BY JOSE GARCIA VILLA

A. GRAPHOLOGICAL LEVEL
In this level, there were some major punctuation marks and verse paragraphing
used by the writer to foreground some of the ideas in the poem.

a. The Use of Punctuation Marks

These are used in written or printed matter to indicate the separation of words into
sentences, clauses, and phrases—punctuation marks better to comprehend the
meaning and grammatical relation of the words.
In this poem, the following punctuation marks were used:

a1.Colon
A colon introduces an element or series of elements that illustrates or
amplifies the information that preceded the colon. In the poem, the writer uses the
colon to separate two independent clauses where the second clause is directly related
to the first clause on the second to the last stanza of the poem.

Then spoke he the man of gold:

‘I will not
Murder thee! I do but
Measure thee.

a2. Comma
A comma is used to separate words and group of words in a simple series of
three or more items. It customarily indicates a brief pause. In this poem, the writer
used comma to show a separation of ideas within the structure of sentences in some
parts of the poem below.
God said, "I made a man
But so bright he, he spun
And oh,
Him. And I said,

a3. Dash
A dash is an a bit horizontal line commonly used to indicate a range or a pause.
It is used to separate groups of words, not separate parts of words like a hyphen does.
There are three forms of dashes: em, en, and the double hyphen. In this poem, the
writer uses em dash in a slightly wider place than a hyphen, used in writing or
printing to indicate a range of connections and differentiations, and en dash in place
of a comma or colon to enhance readability emphasize the conclusion of a sentence.
 Out of clay—
‘Give thy name! '—‘Sir! Genius.'"

a4. Exclamation point

An exclamation point is used when a person wants to express a sudden outcry
or add emphasis. In this poem, the writer used exclamation points: on the third line of
the second stanza, on the fourth line of the third stanza, on the third line of the fourth
stanza, and on the fourth line of the fifth stanza to express a strong feeling.
Till he was all shining gold,
And oh,
He was lovely to behold!
But in his hands held he a bow

Aimed at me who created

Him. And I said,
‘Wouldst murder me
Who am thy Fountainhead! '

Then spoke he the man of gold:

‘I will not
Murder thee! I do but
Measure thee. Hold

Thy peace.' And this I did.

But I was curious
Of this so regal head.
‘Give thy name! '—‘Sir! Genius.'"

a5. Full stop/Period

A full stop is the British English term for this punctuation mark, known as a
period in American English. It is used to mark the end of a sentence that has a
complete statement. In the same way, the writer used full stop in the poem to signify
the end of a complete statement and statements thought to be complete.
Aimed at me who created
Him.
Murder thee! I do but
Measure thee.
Thy peace.' And this I did.

a6. Quotation Mark

This is a pair of punctuation marks used primarily to mark the beginning and
end of a passage attributed to another and repeated word for word. They are also used
to indicate meanings and to indicate the unusual or dubious status of a word. In this
poem, the writer use quotation mark primarily to mark the beginning and end of a
passage attributed to another at the first line of the first stanza and the last line of the
fifth stanza. Together with, the writer also uses Single quotation marks for quotes
within the poem.

God said, "I made a man

 Out of clay—
But so bright he, he spun
Himself to brightest Day

Till he was all shining gold,

And oh,
He was lovely to behold!
But in his hands held he a bow

Aimed at me who created

Him. And I said,
‘Wouldst murder me
Who am thy Fountainhead! '

Then spoke he the man of gold:

‘I will not
Murder thee! I do but
Measure thee. Hold

Thy peace.' And this I did.

But I was curious
Of this so regal head.
‘Give thy name! '—‘Sir! Genius.'"

b. Capitalization
Capitalization is writing a word with its first letter in uppercase and the
remaining letters in lowercase, like in writing a proper noun and the first letter of a
sentence. In this poem, the writer used capitalization correctly by capitalizing the first
letter at the beginning of each line, in many other places (printing capital letters or
initial capital), and the pronoun “I.”
God said, "I made a man
Out of clay—
But so bright he, he spun
Himself to brightest Day

Till he was all shining gold,

And oh,
He was lovely to behold!
But in his hands held he a bow

Aimed at me who created

Him. And I said,
‘Wouldst murder me
Who am thy Fountainhead! '

Then spoke he the man of gold:

‘I will not
Murder thee! I do but
Measure thee. Hold
 Thy peace.' And this I did.
But I was curious
Of this so regal head.
‘Give thy name! '—‘Sir! Genius.'"

c. Lowercase letter
Lowercase letters are used most frequently than the uppercase letters which
are reserved for special purposes, such as capitalizing proper nouns or the first letter
of a sentence. The smaller versions of each letter are developed for quick writing. To
save time and space, letters became smaller and more rounded as scribes hurried to
finish their work. In this poem, the lowercase letters are used normally by the author.

In this level, it can be interpreted that the punctuation marks and verse
paragraphing used made the poem be understood clearly by the readers. It helped the
readers to read the poem with ease. And because of the proper use of punctuation
marks and verse paragraphing it made the flow of the poem smooth and without
delay.

B. PHONOLOGICAL LEVEL
In this level, the focus was on the analyses of sound patterns, utterance of
different words and formation of systematic use of sound in language through
phonological devices such as rhyme scheme, alliteration, consonance, and assonance.
In the poem “God Said, I Made A Man” the following phonological devices are
used by the author:
a. Rhyme Element
The poem comprises of five stanzas with four lines in each. In this
poem, the rhymes repetition of similar sounding word are used to help the
poem become interesting create a pattern within the poem. The rhyming
words used in the poem are:
man, spun gold, behold
clay, day created, Fountainhead
gold, hold not, but
did, head curious, genius

b. Alliteration
It is the use of same consonant sounds at the beginning of words in a
line. In this poem, alliteration is the following:
he, he
his, hands, held, he

c. Assonance
 It is the repetition of vowel sounds inside the words in a line. In this
poem, assonance is the following:
God,said,made,man
But,Bright, spun
Himself, Brightest, Day
Till, was,shining,goal
was,lovely,behold
But,his,hands, held, bow
Spoke, man, gold
Murder, thee, but
Measure, thee, hold
Peace, this, did
But, was, curious
This, regal, head
Give, name, Sir, Genius

d. Consonance
It is the repetition of consonant sounds occurs within or at the end of
words in a line. In this poem, consonance is the following:
But, bright
Till, all, gold
Lovely, behold
Hands,held
at, created
And,said
Wouldst, murder
Was, curious

In this level, it can be interpreted that the writer used the sound devices
greatly that made the poem more aesthetic and meaningful. The repetition of
consonant and vowel sounds in the lines of the poem and the observable end
rhymes helped the readers to gain more interest in the poem and read the poem
with enjoyment.

C. MORPHOLOGICAL LEVEL
In this level of stylistic analysis, the focus was the formation of words, as
Mark and Krishen (2005) define morphology as the mental system which is used in
the formation of words and it deals with the inner structure of words. Morphological
devices used in this poem are affixes and compounding. It consisted of free
morphemes and bound morphemes.
a. Affixes
 It is the formation of new words through prefixes and suffixes. In this
poem the suffixes used are the following:
Shining - shine + ing
Lovely - love +ly
Hands - hand + s
Aimed - aim + ed
Created - create + d
Brightest - bright + est
b. Compounding
The compounding used by the writer in this poem is:
Himself - Him + self
Behold - be + hold
Fountainhead - fountain + head

In this level, it can be interpreted that the words used and its formations were
used purposefully, for those were the words necessary to present the completeness of
the meaning of the poem. It was chosen by the writer for those were the words he
taught will be best in describing his poem and maintaining its beauty through sounds
by the help of words used.

D. LEXICO-SYNTAX LEVEL
It is the combination of two different terms ‘lexis’ means vocabulary and
‘syntax’ means sentence construction. The writer used the following stylistic devices
in this poem:
a. Anaphoric
In this poem, the anaphoric was observed as the writer used the “he” referring to
“the man of goal” by God in the third person point of view.
c. Metaphor
This poem of Jose Garcia Villa was metaphoric as God used him or the man to
be compared to the shining goal, Sir, Genius, in the poem.

At this level, it was interpreted that the devices used in the poem created an
impact on the readers because they gave the readers reason to think and reread the
poem. The devices in this level added meaning to the poem.

My reflection on the poem

This poem is about God's creation of humankind with nothing but clay. Then,
after many decades go by, we humankind develop ourselves as we reach our civilized
state. And nowadays, many people doubt God's existence. Based on that, the writer
used God from the third-person point of view at the beginning and speak directly to
someone or something (not explained yet), and he talks about a general "fact" that he
created humankind out of clay. After that, the writer moves God in the first person
and questions why his creation would turn against him. As I reflect on this poem, this
is very true; even in our environment, we can see many people who constantly
question or doubt God's existence. The reality is no need as the poem approves the
necessity of thinking and the way to reach God. In my own understanding, if you
doubt God's existence, it means you do not yet accept God as your savior even though
you know him well. And hopefully, that doubting mindset will lead you to reach God
in the end.