She dreams of living alone in Rapunzel’s tower without a care in the world.

Amanda’s final daydream in the poem involves her being Rapunzel, a fairy-tale princess.

The adult also sharply demands that Amanda pay attention when she is being spoken to.

She is forbidden from eating chocolates as they cause ‘acne’ or pimples.

The adult speaker jolts Amanda out of this daydream as well.

She cherishes the ‘silence’ and ‘freedom’ that accompany her life as a street orphan.

This time, she dreams of being an orphan in the street who makes patterns out of dust with her feet.

Now, the speaker questions Amanda about whether she has completed her homework, tidied her room, and cleaned her shoes.

Amanda’s daydream of being a ‘mermaid’ is rudely interrupted by the adult speaker.

She dreams of being a ‘mermaid’ who drifts or sails peacefully on this sea.

She dreams of a beautiful green sea of which she is the ‘sole inhabitant’, meaning, only occupant.

To escape the adult’s continuous nagging, Amanda begins daydreaming.

She is also asked to stop ‘slouching’, that is, drooping her shoulders, and to sit up straight.

The adult speaker instructs Amanda not to bite her nails or hunch her shoulders.These keep alternating through stanzas in the poem. Klein presents two contrasting perspectives and scenarios n the poem Amanda. I thought I told you to clean your shoes! – b Stop that slouching and sit up straight, – bĭid you finish your homework, Amanda? – a The rhyme scheme of the poem – aaba, ccc, aaba.

Midnight Poems by Amanda Springer