Get out the microscope, because we’re going through this poem line-by-line.
Lines 49-52
Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright;
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout;
But there is no joy in Mudville—mighty Casey has struck out.
- At first glance, this stanza is full of happy, bright imagery and language: sunshine, bands playing, men laughing, children shouting.
- This sounds pretty good, right? But there's something about that, "Oh, somewhere" that begins the stanza that has us a little worried.
- "Oh somewhere" sounds more like a lament than an exclamation of happiness.
- Repetition plays a role in this stanza as well: "somewhere" is repeated five times in these four lines.
- The fact that "somewhere" either precedes or follows all the happy, sunny descriptions in the stanza is making us feel like, while the happiness may indeed be somewhere, it certainly isn't here in Mudville.
- By the time we get to the poem's last line, it doesn't come as too big a surprise to find out that things have ended badly for the home team; that "there is no joy in Mudville—mighty Casey has struck out."
- Bummer.