Dec 02 2010
Sidekicks by Ronald Koertge
The poem “Sidekicks” by Ronald Koertge which is the 2nd poem on the 180 poems website. The poem is about sidekicks, and how important they are in a story.Ronald Koertge uses a very commonly known aspect of movies sidekicks. He uses different points of views and changes the image of sidekicks. We have to send the message of his poem, which makes it easy to understand but still leave the readers thinking about the poem after they have finished reading it.
In “Sidekicks” Ronald Koertge uses the sidekick as the main topic to strongly suggest the importance of sidekicks, and how heroes can be over rated compared to what the sidekicks do to save the day or to help the heroes. But at the end, heroes end up getting all the glory. At first Ronald Koertge uses “a yodel of a voice or ears big as kidneys,” as a simile to state that sidekicks are not as handsome or popular as heroes and usually ugly. But as soon as the next stanza begins, Ronald Koertge changes the perspective with the sentence “But each was brave,” which leaves us a strong image that sidekicks are braver than we often think. As Ronald Koertge expands on this topic we have a further understanding of how important sidekicks can be. Especially when he mentions “More than once a sidekick has thrown himself in front of our hero in order to receive the bullet or blow meant for that perfect face and body,” which makes the readers think about the heros and if they are actually really brave.
Ronald Koertge then starts to talk abouy how heroes are taking all the credit with the sentence “Thankfully, heroes never die in movies and leaves the sidekick alone.” After reading this readers may have a different point of perspective about heroes. Ronald Koertge is very good at doing this because he keeps on giving the readers more and more ideas about the importance of sidekicks. He also says how heroes never learn a lesson “the dependent part that can never grow up” This makes us think how selfish heroes can be and how heroes are always only thinking about them selves. In the poem “Sidekicks” Ronald Koertge uses a minor character sidekick to tell the readers the importance of sidekicks, and how selfish heroes can be.
Sidekicks
Ronald Koertge *
They were never handsome and often came with a hormone imbalance manifested by corpulence, a yodel of a voice or ears big as kidneys.
But each was brave. More than once a sidekick has thrown himself in front of our hero in order to receive the bullet or blow meant for that perfect face and body.
Thankfully, heroes never die in movies and leave the sidekick alone. He would not stand for it. Gabby or Pat, Pancho or Andy remind us of a part of ourselves,
the dependent part that can never grow up, the part that is painfully eager to please, always wants a hug and never gets enough.
Who could sit in a darkened theatre, listen to the organ music and watch the best of ourselves lowered into the ground while the rest stood up there, tears pouring off that enormous nose.
http://news.livedoor.com/article/image_detail/4227953/?img_id=717388
I think you chose a very good poem. This poem really changed my perpective of sidekicks. Before, I never really thought about how important the sidekicks were, but now I agree with the point that the hero always gets the spotlight and the sidekicks do not get enough attention. I very much agree with what you are saying, how the poet uses different points of views and changes the image of sidekicks, and how readers think about the heros and if they are actually really brave, after reading what the poet says, “More than once a sidekick has thrown himself in front of our hero in order to receive the bullet or blow meant for that perfect face and body,”
I think this poem has a deeper meaning that relates to the world of reality, how people tend to run to the “hero” and reward them, while they forget all about the sidekick who helped the “hero” to become who he is now. For example, in a soccer match, the score is a tie and you scored one goal already, but at the last minute the “hero” scores the winning goal and grabs all the attention. No one really realises that without your goal, your team would not have won the match.
Good work Henry.
I think you did a great job in general. You used a lot of quotation to discuss the theme of this poem. You didn’t really say “The Theme of this poem is…” or anything but still you gave us a idea what the theme was for this poem but still you didn’t give out everything which made me think a lot too. Another reason that I thought it was good because you had a line of thought in this blog post which a lot of people forgets to put in. But still I think you could have added more quotations to tell us what kind of poetic device did the poet used.
You have written a very interesting response to the poem, offering your own interpretation and justifications clearly, and with good reference to the poem. Your post is organised and you have selected, and integrated, references very well. Your point about whether heroes are truly brave made me think. What did you think the last line meant: “tears pouring off that enormous nose”? It suggests we should know whose nose that it. A very good analysis Henry, with an improved use of language and structure.
* You have selected a good image. I enjoyed reading your reflection.
I’m using this poem in a poem analysis paper. It’s a great poem and it changed my perspective of people and objects. (: