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How Are Literary Devices Used In Ode To Dirt

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When something is seen frequently throughout people’s lives, it starts to lose significance, and people begin to forget the profound influence it has on their daily activities. People frequently praise the food that they eat and the place that they live in, however, they often fail to praise the main character that supports these events to occur. In the poem Ode to Dirt by Sharon Olds, he praises and apologizes to dirt for his past ignorance of never acknowledging dirt as a living equal. While Olds expresses his remorse, he also demonstrates his disappointment towards the little importance people take over dirt. To convey the complex relationship with dirt and how it has transformed over time, Olds utilizes metaphor, word choice, and personification …show more content…

At the beginning of the poem, Olds expresses his past ignorance by comparing dirt to “the background/ for the leading characters” in order to illustrate how little influence he believed dirt possessed (Olds, 2/3). However, in many cases, the backgrounds in movies or shows bring the picture together as it foreshadows future events and conveys certain emotions to the audience. Similarly, dirt also plays an important role, which Olds later connects to as if he had “loved only the stars/ and not the sky which gave them space” (Olds, 5/6). Olds illustrations and change of perspective allow the reader to view a wider picture of how people often belittle dirt without taking into consideration their dependency on …show more content…

In the poem, Olds defines dirt as “subtle, various,” and “sensitive” to illustrate the seasonal shifts that occur in different areas throughout the years (Olds, 7 and 8). By characterizing dirt with those adjectives, the author highlights the unpredictability and rapid changes that dirt can undergo in response to changes in the weather or temperature as the earth revolves and the environment shifts. Furthermore, Olds then characterizes dirt as “the skin of our terrain” to illustrate how dirt doesn’t just take a role in the cycle of the food chain but also in the way people and animals live in their environment (Olds, 8). Depending on the terrain a person lives, their bodies grow used to the temperatures as well as the cultures of that place in order to survive. Similarly, in certain animals, a change of environment allows their bodies to evolve over time to become better ‘fit’ for that certain

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