Jerusalem

“Jerusalem” uses parallel structures to draw attention to certain lines. Parallel structure refers to lines of poetry that mimic one another. For example, the line “[h]air would never grow there” (Line 7) mimics the lines “[t]here’s a place in my brain / where hate won’t grow” (Lines 32-33). Without saying it directly, this parallel structure suggests the speaker is mimicking her father’s behavior and beliefs. He has a spot in his head where he was wounded, yet he forgives the friend who accidentally hurt him. Years later, his daughter learns to have a spot where hate will not grow, paralleling her father’s choice to forgive others and to regard the tender place as a reminder to be empathetic rather than seek vengeance.

The speaker uses parallel structure again in the following lines: “A child’s poem says, / ‘I don’t like wars, / they end up with monuments’” (Lines 22-24), which contrast with “Why are we so monumentally slow?” (Line 27). The play of words is clever, turning the public, permanent honor of a war monument into commentary that borders on critique. The construction suggests that pursuing war, as well as the actions taken by soldiers who “stalk a pharmacy: / big guns, little pills” (Lines 28-29), are misguided and foolish.