18 pages • 36 minutes read
Juan Felipe HerreraA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
The lack of traditional form in “Social Distancing” is immediately apparent due to the physical arrangement of the lines on the page; additionally, despite some parallel phrasing between lines, the poem defies formal readings through its structure. There is no one discernible way to correctly read the poem; instead, it is up to the reader(s) to decide how to enter into the text. In this way, the form has a special influence on the meaning of the poem: By altering how the reader experiences the text, Herrera seems to be suggesting that readers can engage in another way of thinking about their own world and interactions. If part of Herrera’s intent is to convince readers that they should be social distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic, this requires helping resistant people to think about physical isolation in a different way.