Good Bones

Poetry Analysis Essay #1

In the poem, Good Bones by Maggie Smith, the poem has a theme of life and childhood. This idea is supported by Smith’s use of repetition, imagery, and metaphors working together to create a poem about the essence of the world. These tools function as a whole by discussing how everyone should love the world and be optimistic no matter what society's actions are, so people can make the world a better place and extend children's youth experience.

One of the first poetic devices that Smith uses in her poem to create the theme of life and childhood is the use of repetition. For example, the speaker references to the audience in lines 1 and 2 how, “ Life is short, though I keep this from my children. Life is short, but

For instance, the speaker explains in lines 13-17 how “ I am trying to see the world. Any decent realtor, walking through a real shithole, chirps on about good bones: This place could be beautiful, right? You could make this place beautiful”. In this metaphor, Smith is using a metaphor about a ‘realtor’ selling a house. Sith compared the world to a “ real shithole” and compared “good bones” to the structure of the house. Smith uses the metaphor to give the audience a feel for how the world is when you are in adulthood, and if you cut a childhood short and bring them into the world as a grown-up they will be forced to see how awful the world is, and not have the ability to enjoy their youth experience. Also, the metaphor Smith uses persuades the audience to feel empathy for children in the environment they have to live in and helps the audience understand how allowing kids to be young for as long as they are able to change the future of the world to make their life better. Smith wants to tell her children about the world but realizes that the world is a bad environment to live in, so she uses the metaphor as a tactic to explain how by letting her children grow up and not rushed to get older, they will have a normal life growing up and will have a better chance on making the future of the world better, thus explaining the theme of life and