"Red Shift"
A redshift is a scientific term used for measuring things that cannot be measured. In the poem Red Shift by Ted Berrigan, the term red shift is used to measure the anger in the speakers voice. In this poem, the speaker suggests that he is angry and frustrated that his girlfriend left him. The speaker is also trying to teach us that rejection is not a good thing and it makes people very upset. He proves his point to the readers of this poem by making his tone angrier as he is reading the poem to us. Here is how the author establishes his point.
At the beginning of the poem, the speaker explains where he is. He is describing the setting to us. When the speaker says "The streets look for Allen, Frank, or me, Allen is a movie, Frank disappearing in the air." The speaker is trying to explain how alone he is. He is looking for his friends but they are no where to be found. The speaker is also trying to set the scene for us. He says in the second line that he is in February and in the third line he tells us how it is in the middle of winter. That is how the author is telling us how he is lonely.
In the middle of the poem, the speaker was trying to tell us about the girl he was trying to pick up in 1961. He tells us how he is in "6th and Bowers in 1961." In line 19 through line 24, the speaker says "a boy, seriousl in corduroy car coat, . . . . . not that pretty girl, nineteen, who was going to have to go, careening into middle aged so." The speaker is saying to us how in 1961, he was trying to pick up a 19 year old girl and he was wearing a corduroy coat. When the speaker says, "to burn and burn more fiercely than even she could imagine." The speaker is already starting to express his anger toward having to brake up with his girlfriend.
The end of the poem is where the speaker's anger comes out the most. The speaker says "I came into your life to change it and it did so, and now nothing will ever change that, and thats that." The speaker is speaking angrily about his ex girlfriend. He is telling her how she made a big mistake by breaking up with him. Then in the last couple of sentances, the speaker once again tells the reader how lonely he is. He mentions how he is "alone and crowded." he also restates his anger by saying how "the worlds furious song flows throughhis costume."
In the poem RED SHIFT bu Ted Berrigan, the speaker is trying to explain to the reader how he is very angry about his girlfried brreaking up wit him, and he also is trying to explain to us how miserable and depressed he is. He does this by using a very angry tone. That is how the speaker proves his point to the audience.