Yesterday, upon the stair,
I met a man who wasn’t there
He wasn’t there again today
I wish, I wish he’d go away...
When I came home last night at three
The man was waiting there for me
But when I looked around the hall
I couldn’t see him there at all!
Go away, go away, don’t you come back any more!
Go away, go away, and please don’t slam the door
Last night I saw upon the stair
A little man who wasn’t there
He wasn’t there again today
Oh, how I wish he’d go away
Let's face it, staircases are scary as heck.
My favorite poem of all time is Antigonish by Hughes Mearns. It is not simply some boring poem written by some boring poet. Our more internet savvy readers would know that a story like this is called creepypasta. It's a scary story. Who is the man upon the stair? Is he a ghost? Is he some being from another dimension? Is he the janitor? We may never know.
Let's break this poem down, APE3 style!
"I met a man that wasn't there", I feel that this sentence sums up the entire poem. How can you meet a man that wasn't there?
"He wasn't there again today", This sentence gives me the chills. It really does. It gives the stair man a purpose, to be there. Before, he was some entity on the stair who wasn't there. Now there is a more sinister and ominous aura about him. He is waiting, watching, haunting you.
"The man was waiting there for me", Again, he is waiting for you. The man is haunting your staircase, waiting for your arrival.
"Go away, go away, don’t you come back any more!
Go away, go away, and please don’t slam the door.", This is where the speaker's character is put onto the stage. Before you get to this point in the poem, you would take it for what it is. Maybe the speaker really is being haunted by a scary ghost stair. Maybe it's a trick of the light. However, now the speaker's integrity and sanity is questioned. These two lines show erratic, even aggressive, behavior. The reader can vividly imagine the scene in his or her mind: a bearded, old man yelling at nothing in his old shack.
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