Body Clock By Eleni Sikelianos Essay

Investigation of the Mysterious Poetic Techniques of Body Clock

Sikelianos uses very unique poetic techniques to connect with her reader and attract audiences of all types. Eleni Sikelianos is a female contemporary American poet, who seems to be very appalled about where the world is today. The references she makes often describe the world negatively, by calling it a hot or dead place, and by comparing it to a hellish state. Sikelianos doesn’t hold anything back, even if it may offend some. Instead, she tries to point out the flaws of the world and people’s dedication to time, along with helping guide her audiences to a free-minded state. In Body Clock, she is most concerned with the relationship of time and the human body. With these elements

This technique makes it easier for the reader to visualize and better understand the points that Sikelianos is trying to get across. There is a reoccurring theme in Body Clock that deals with the idea of an internal clock of humans and how it is causing a destruction of the human life. Sikelianos implies that the internal clocks we all have, creates a boring less creative world. She illustrates this on page 65 by the inclusion of a pregnant woman. She includes a clock in this image with a baby in it. She then states “to which hour due, she grow/to which/attach how these hours stick to her/dark the window” (Sikelianos 65). The words Sikelianos includes under this picture, talks about time and how as time passes, the window grows DARK. The inclusion of an image and her diction after this image explains that this internal clock leads to darkness within the human body. The same idea is presented to the reader just a few pages later. On page 73, Sikelianos supplies the reader with a picture of a globe and below says “mother, baby, world, everybody’s getting whipped” (Sikelianos 73). The next line on page 74 states “Time might wrap around you in a darkened room” (Sikelianos 74). With this image being included just a few pages after the pregnant woman, Sikelianos states her opinion about time destructing mothers and babies. The reader can infer that Sikelianos is trying to imply that time is “whipping everybody” and that time is related to darkness. Sikelianos use of images and corresponding diction allows the reader to see the reoccurring theme that the human’s internal clock is “whipping” and hurting the world by the role it plays on the human