This Moment: Structure & Language Techniques

Structure

“This Moment” is a free verse poem with an inconsistent stanza pattern. This lends the poem an organic, free-flowing nature that aligns with its exploration of the fleeting, evanescent nature of moments.
Despite the lack of strict formal structure, the poem is structured around a series of contrasts - between interior and exterior, warmth and chill - which underline the poem’s central idea.

Imagery is abundant throughout the poem and deals primarily with the domestic and the natural, aligning the two as interconnected facets of everyday life.
The poem opens with the image of the “warm interior of houses” contrasted against the “starry cold” outside. This highlights the boundary between the inside warmth of family life and the outside universe embodying the unexpected.
There is frequent use of personification, allowing the natural world to come alive and interact with the human scene. “A neighbourhood turns its back” suggests the indifference or ignorance of the wider world to the magical moment unfolding.

The use of a simile in “like a room lit by a single candle” conveys the tenderness and intimacy of the scene, contrasting with the cosmic scope of “starry cold” outside.
The “star” metaphor bridges both the interior and exterior, functioning as a symbol for the shared human experience of small, transient moments of beauty.

The use of anaphora, with repetition of “here” and “now”, underscores the immediacy of the moment, fostering a sense of urgency and impermanence.
The enjambment throughout the poem creates an ongoing sense of fluidity and movement, mirroring the fleeting nature of moments that the poem aims to capture.

The closing line’s surprising absence of punctuation leaves the statement and the poem itself open-ended, echoing Boland’s commitment to seizing the poignant moments in everyday life even if such moments are fleeting and destined to vanish.
The concluding emphasis on “A far-off song […] And not even the rain” captures the ephemeral beauty inherent in everyday moments, and implicitly calls for a deeper appreciation of such moments.