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A Thematic Analysis Of Richard Blanco's Poem 'Shaving'

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Poetry
The Poem “Shaving” by Richard Blanco shows how the event of shaving causes the speaker to think about the finer details of his life, and the short but now meaningful memories he has of his father, as well as the the impact that miniscule and unseen processes have on the world. The first stanza of the poem demonstrates to the reader the thought process of the narrator whilst he shaves. The first 5 lines set a precedent for the underlying narrative of a “silent labor” that blossoms into something substantial. This epiphany of a slow, continuous effort having a substantial outcome is supported by other examples of this phenomena stated in lines 4-9; examples of this being “ocean steam rising to form clouds”(line 4), or “the fall of fresh …show more content…

The phrase “remember him in a masquerade of foam” shows how the memory of the father is not seen clearly by the speaker, but the main idea of the thought is still present in his mind. This is similar to the “creations of silent labor” seen in the first stanza. This troubles the narrator, that despite how influential his father’s life was, it went unnoticed and underappreciated. In the next few lines, the narrator divulges that his father had never taught him how to shave. This is an important bonding experience between a father and his son where the father must acknowledge his son as a man, progressing their relationship in a very different direction as before. The absence of this moment of bonding further estranged the father from being any more than a silent force. Just before this, the speaker calls the shaved whiskers, “dead pieces of the self from the face that never taught me how to shave.” The use of the word “dead” creates a feeling of betrayal from the son towards his father, spiteful at how distant his father was from him. The memories he had of his father just “swirling down the drain”, not fighting against the current, struggling to hold on to those recollections, merely watching them slip by not to be recalled again. The last

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The conflicting interests of the mother and the father result in a situation where one must make a sacrifice in order to preserve the connection in the family. The flat depressed tone of the poem reflects the mother’s unhappiness and frustration about having to constantly

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In the poem “Shaving” by Richard Blanco, the narrator relates how certain acts of shaving in the morning remind him of his late father. In the poem, the narrator seems to have a complex relationship with his father as he states that his father “...never taught me how to shave. (Line 16-17)”, this interpretation could mean that the narrator and his father did not have the finest relationship, but the narrator still remembers his father’s presence as he shaves in the morning like him. In the poem “Shaving” by Richard Blanco, the author uses literary devices such as simile and selection of detail to convey and compare the shaving ritual to the complex relationship between the narrator and his father.

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Like many things, life itself is a cycle: there are the ups and downs, the unexpected and mundane elements that fill each and every day. This idea is clearly represented in the poem “Shaving”, written by Richard Blanco in 1998, where the speaker uses various literary techniques to first symbolize the growth of his beard with awe-inspiring natural phenomena, then dedicate the act of shaving to mourn the untimely loss of his father, and finally compare the ritual of shaving to the cyclical nature of life, revealing the underlying theme that life could be beautiful at times, but also tragic, so it is important to savor the moments with your loved ones. In the first stanza of the poem, the speaker uses literary techniques to symbolize the growth

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It emphasizes the guiltiness and shame that the narrator is feeling now as he knows deep down that he has become heartless and uncompassionate enough to have no more care for family, letting his father die without any notice. It shows how

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to still keep established pace and tone, which is that calm, disassociated mood. At this point the father, the reader might think, is a construction of the husband’s mind, because the husband had focused on “the idea of never seeing him again. . . .” which struck him the most out of this chance meeting, rather than on the present moment of seeing him (Forn 345). However surreal this may be in real life, the narrator manages to keep the same weight through the pacing in the story to give this story a certain realism through the husband’s

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In Richard Blanco’s “Shaving”, the speaker’s complex relationship is portrayed through several literary devices and techniques. Blanco’s use of imagery, metaphors, shifts in tone, and symbolism create a paradox for the reader by clearing up the base aspects of the poem yet complexifying the underlying meaning; leaving it completely up to the reader’s interpretation. In “Shaving”, the extensive use of figurative language highlights the speaker’s trouble with his identity, with his varying views on shaving being representative of how he feels about himself. First, Richard Blanco uses intense and symbolic imagery to broaden the possibility of interpretation. Blanco describes the shaving cream as “hugging” the speaker like a “new lover”, evoking a sense of comfort and intimacy yet also suggesting the possibility of betrayal.

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