Analysis of the Poem “To This Day” by Shane Koyczan

In the poem “To This Day” by Shane Koyczan, the poet Shane Koyczan uses Word choice and Structure to express a message. The main idea his poem is trying to get across is that when you’re a kid that is getting bullied, what others say to you could haunt you even when you are an adult. One strong example of Word Choice occurs when Shane Koyczan uses words like “Bombarded…TNT…” words like these help emphasize towards the main idea.

Shane writes, “to this day despite a loving husband, she doesn’t think she’s beautiful because of a birthmark that takes up a little less than half of her face”. In other words, what Koyczan is saying is that “she” thinks that she is ugly because she got told that when she was young, so even now that she is older she still thinks that she is not beautiful. What he means by this is since this “she” was bullied in school as she grew up, now she think that she is ugly. When they called her things like this when she was young it stuck with her until she was an adult. This connects to his/her message because when he uses the phrase “ To this day” he is linking that part of the poem, to saying that even now – when time has past- the same thoughts are in their head because of when other kids said to them when they were young.

Additionally, the poet uses structure to convey the idea that things will hurt you even after a long time after they happened, and this can be seen in the poem when Shane wrote “I earned my first nickname pork chop,” An excellent example of Structure is when Shane Koyczan writes, “ I earned my first nickname pork chop. To this day I hate pork chops.” In other words, what he is express how mean kids can be to others when they are young. This shows that what kids say to each other does get to them even if they say I don’t and act like they are fine. What he means by this is that because kids called him this in school, now as an adult, he didn’t hate pork chops. This connects to his message because it is showing the emphasis of hating pork chops, and showing the connection of the message that because you get called something when you are young, that same idea is in your head even as an adult. Overall, this poet’s use of Word choice and Structure emphasize his message that once you get called something as a kid you will never forget that idea.