This document analyzes the poem "Frail Envelope of Flesh" by Michael R. Burch. It discusses intrinsic elements like diction and irony, and extrinsic elements like the mother's love and the tragedy of war. The poem depicts a mother dying on a surgeon's table from war injuries, saying her final goodbye to her child through a last kiss. The analysis seeks to understand the deeper meanings and social commentary within the poem.

1. Mother's Love Shown in Frail
Envelope of Flesh
by Michael R. Burch
By Yanuar Ayu

2. ABSTRACT
In this paper, the authors attempted to analyze the poetry of
Michael R. Burch entitled Frail Envelope of Flesh. The purpose of
writing is to understand the deeper poetry. The theory used in close
reading. The author discovered the intrinsic elements: figure of
speech and diction and extrinsic elements of the love of a mother
and the sad result of a war. It can be concluded that the authors
sought to better understand the poem by analyzing intriksik and
extrinsic elements in the poem.

3. INTRODUCTION
Poetry is a collection of words that beautifully
written. It shows hidden meanings that have their own
emotion and mystery which feels more than what it is.

4. INTRINSIC ELEMENTS
• Diction
Diction is a choice of words the poet using to write a
poetry. In literature, diction also can be defined as style
of writing determined by the choice of words by the poet.
The choice of words that the poet uses is very important
to build an esthetics side of the poetry itself.
• III.1.2 Figurative Language: Irony
Irony, is a part of figurative language that implied that the
poet said is not match with what is in reality.

5. EXTRINSIC ELEMENTS
Mother’s Love
A mother is the most important person for any
children. Growing up without a mother can be
psychologically bad for the children.

6. BIOGRAPHY AND THE POEM
Michael R. Burch –born on February 19, 1958- is an American
computer company executive, poet, columnist, essayist and
editor who lives in Nashville, Tennessee.
His poems, essays, articles, short stories and letters have
appeared more than 2,300 times in publications such as TIME,
USA Today, The Hindu, Light Quarterly, The Lyric, Measure,
Writer's Digest—The Year's Best Writing, Unlikely
Stories and hundreds of other literary journals, websites and
blogs.

7. Frail Envelope of Flesh
Frail envelope of flesh,
lying cold on the surgeon’s table
with anguished eyes
like your mother’s eyes
and a heartbeat weak, unstable ...
Frail crucible of dust,
brief flower come to this—
your tiny hand
in your mother’s hand
for a last bewildered kiss ...
Brief mayfly of a child,
to live two artless years!
Now your mother’s lips
seal up your lips
from the Deluge of her tears ...

8. DISCUSSION

9. INTRINSIC ELEMENTS
Diction
Line 1 stanza 1
Frail envelope of flesh
The poet used the word frail is to emphasize that the body that lies on the surgeon table is fragile
and can be damaged easily. The poet also used word flesh because the poet wanted to get the
feeling of the body that doesn’t have any force. The body that doesn’t have a soul until it is just a
bunch of flesh.
Line 2 stanza 1
lying cold on the surgeon’s table
The poet used the word cold. It means that the body is near death. The poet wanted to emphasize
that the body is just lying there and cannot do anything.
Line 1 stanza 3
Brief mayfly of a child,
Mayfly is an insect that have the shortest range of life. A lifespan of an adult mayfly is just hours.
The poet used mayfly to symbolize how short the childhood is.

10. Irony
The Irony in the poem starts from stanza 1 line 3. There is a line like
your mother’s eyes. The fact that the poet used word like implies
that the body lying cold on the surgeon table is not you mother. Is
not the reader’s mother. But we can see on the line 3 stanza 3,
Now your mother’s lips, the poet reveal that the body lying on the
surgeon table is your mother. It is proven with the word now that the
poet used to symbolize reality. The irony used by the poet is to
emphasize the tone of the poem and to get the empathy from the
reader about the poem.

11. EXTRINSIC ELEMENTS
Mother's Love Shown in Frail Envelope of Flesh by Michael R. Burch
Michael R. Burch wrote this poem for all mothers that died during the war with
Israel. We can feel the empathy here through the irony shown between Line 3
stanza 1, like your mother’s eyes, and line 3 stanza 3, Now your mother’s lips.
This poem told us about the mother that is dying. That still wanted to be with
her child. But she knows that her death is coming. Line 4 stanza 2, for a last
bewildered kiss ..., shows that this is the last time she can kiss her children hands.
Besides the feeling of the mother, the poet also implied about the child. How
they could pass their childhood without their mother. They are still a children.
Stanza 1 shows that the mother is dying because of the war. She is just lying
there and waiting for her death. Stanza 2 shows that her child is there beside her.
She wants to show her love for her child and hold her children hands and kiss him
with overwhelming feelings. Stanza 3 shows the concern of the mother toward his
child. How her child grow up without her. How he can pass his childhood without his
mother’s love is the matter. However, she is dying and she cannot do anything all
that she can do is give her child the last kiss, cry and pray for the best.

12. CONCLUSION
Many victims died in the war between Palestine and Israel. Most of
them are women and children. They become the victims and lost the
precious one for them. There is no victory in a war. Each side always
lost something. Michael R. Burch was trying to get the sympathy and
empathy from people all over the world by using this poem. He
discover the suffer of each mother died leaving their children alone
in the war.
In this poem, there are diction and imagery, also social critics. The
using of diction in the poem emphasizes the social critics in the
poem. In addition, the using of irony is to strengthen the visualization
and condition described in the poem. These elements used make the
poem more interesting and meaningful.