Book Burning | Teen Ink

Book Burning MAG

February 1, 2021
By FutureWriter2022 SILVER, Agawam, Massachusetts
FutureWriter2022 SILVER, Agawam, Massachusetts
8 articles 0 photos 0 comments

Fahrenheit 451 –
The temperature at which paper burns.
A fact that made Montag’s heart yearn
For smoke and flame to wrap around page
And set in evening a fiery stage
So all could see books set alight
In a writhing stream of fury bright
Belched from the mouth of a dark,
Dusky snake –
Raking the skies with such pretty lies
Turned ghostly on an acrid rise
Of places and names made obsolete,
Leaving humanity’s sin to awful reek;
But in the darkness, hope gleams still,
Insisting on its desperate will
For young and old, well read and dull
To forge a new society
Where books are treated piously
And thought is free from frugal frames
To roam in fruitful lands untamed


The author's comments:

Hi, my name is Ben  and I'm a sixteen year old living in Massachusetts. I penned this poem as a freshman (I'm now a junior) late at night for a project that was due the next day (I know, sad). What I proceeded to write was entirely the product of inspiration and familiarity with the subject material.

The poem is based on the science fiction novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, which follows a fireman on his journey from destroying books at the behest of the state to fighting to preserve them. 


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