“The Facebook Sonnet” poem by Sherman Alexie examines the advantages and disadvantages of social media and the ways it impacts in-person relations. While Facebook enables individuals to associate with young and old acquaintances, it does so in exchange for traditional social commitment. Individuals may promptly interact digitally with a single touch of a button. Alexie strives to maintain that while a person may be as dominant as they desire on social networks, the person-to-person connection amounts more in life. Individuals must recognize everything they possess and dwell in the present for genuine relationships to flourish.
“The Facebook Sonnet” is a poetic form; however, it rhymes differently than many classic poems. “High school” and “cruel”, for example, are similar words but lack identical sounds. Alexie’s slant rhymes demonstrate that he does not value Facebook adequately to create the words’ rhyme. Through Alexie’s degraded words in the poem, he has repeatedly shown how this social networking website harms society. When it comes to social media, Alexie thinks Facebook is a poor method to connect with people since it encourages them to retreat behind their computers.
The literary devices, enjambment and caesura, are widely employed to describe how poems utilize pauses. Both of these options are better than halting after a line. Caesura may be used sparingly to offer a pause between words. It maintains a seamless flow and is relaxing to read. Furthermore, caesura creates a significant break to give a statement a dramatic effect. The reader is encouraged to continue reading via the enjambment technique. When an enjambed line is viewed as an entire segment, it creates meaning. The Facebook Sonnet uses the enjambment and caesura approaches to break a complete thought into more than one line.