The free verse poem “Down in the Valley” written by Joshua Mehigan features the return home of a student. The speaker of the poem describes in a minimal sentence, as if to recall only the essential details, the girl's past and present experiences. The narration, although spare at first, continues throughout the poem evoking several seemingly peaceful symbolic images to accompany the dramatic atmosphere, but it still defies any attempt at a clear account of the events. In the final lines, the poem ends with two convoluted sung verses that leave the reader wondering about the girl's dark situation. This lack of elaboration does not, however, prevent the reader from grasping his murder, but creates a kind of sinister void in the atmosphere of the poem. The author presents the disturbing irony between the innocence of spring and the passing of a traumatic or violent event through the use of symbolism of the images presented, personification, alliteration, and selective rhyme pattern. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay While the beginning of the poem describes the unfortunate circumstances that allow the girl to fall victim to "the worst thing that could happen" during the On the occasion of Christmas, the fourth verse sets out to illustrate a seemingly peaceful return of spring. The irony is that this serves as a distraction or temporary release from the tragic news of the murder that the reader receives at the end of the poem. The season of spring follows the dark period of winter, often bringing a renewed sense of warmth to life. The symbolism of the plants presented seems to demonstrate this at first. Snowdrops are drooping white flowers that are the first to bloom after winter and as such often symbolize feelings of hope and rebirth, as well as innocence due to their white color. The image of young “pine trees” supports this symbolism of innocence, as well as the overall embodiment of spring. The important contrast between such pure descriptions of foliage appears in the last two lines when these symbols change with the dark turn of the poem. This could also have been suspected by the fact that the snowdrop flower, beautiful at first glance, is extremely toxic to humans, so it embodies how representations of nature are modest but mask a much more sinister reality . The final lines of the flower poem contribute to this strangeness because they remain slightly bouncy, because of the rhyme, even when they reveal a murder. They also add to the contrast by almost mockingly reminding everyone of the horrific scene, but in such a childish way. The personification of blooming spring flowers is essential to the irony of the poem. The snowdrops are described as forming a "confident choir, about to sing", which appears to sing the last two lines of the poem, as indicated by the colon punctuation. The overall impression imposed by the flowers is of a comforting nature, almost a feeling of happiness as spring approaches, but this is contrary to the true nature of their "song" which becomes a foul motivation because of the implied murder . The final and most disturbing line of the poem; “The worst thing that could happen happened here” is effective in drawing the reader's attention to the last line because of the alliteration of the consonants. The “worst thing” indicates what has become of the young girl; murder, because it is the greatest crime that one can commit. This figurative language.