Sunrise Impression poem– Heather Towe

I see the orange colored sun
Rising in the sky.

I see its beams of light
Shining down from so high.

I see light reflections
Glimmering upon the water.

I see blurred boats, distant,
Approaching closer and closer.

I see subtle waves
Formed from the boats in motion.

I see soft shapes of the shore
Across the vast ocean.

I see colors of pastel hues
Created by the sunrise.

I see many beautiful things,
A pleasant sight to my eyes.

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I chose to write a poem about Claude Monet’s Sunrise. I wrote the poem in the point of view from one of the people on the boats in the painting. I wrote my poem from their perspective about everything they would see from standing in their position on the water. I thought it would be interesting to actually put myself into the painting and try to imagine how it would feel to see the scene in real life from one of the boats. Some of the essential details that I wanted to capture was the bright sun rising, standing out from the cool tones of the surrounding sky and water. The fact that everything in the painting is soft and there aren’t harsh figures is another important detail I wanted to include. For that, I wrote about the sight of the boats and the slight outlines of figures on the distant shore. I thought the variety of pastel colors, depicting a sunrise, were also important details of the work. I tried to capture the calm, relaxed, and serene feeling that the painting gives off with my description. I replicated the original visual details in my poem by simply describing them, but from the perspective of someone on one of the boats. I believe my poem brings in a new interpretation of the painting because of the point of view I chose to write it in. With my poem, I wanted the audience to see the painting from within, rather than from the outside looking in.