How Does Sharon Olds Use Ethos In On The Subway

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In “On the Subway,” Sharon Olds compares and contrasts two individuals and their characteristics by using poetic devices, such as, imagery, appeal to pathos and strong diction. Sharon starts by using imagery to give details about each person in the poem. She states, “His feet are huge… he has the casual cold look of a mugger” in an effort to describe the male individual. She describes the other character by stating ”I am wearing dark fur,” suggesting that it’s a female.
Furthermore, Sharon appeals to pathos to add emotion to the piece because after all the poem is emotional. She accomplishes this by including race and poverty to her writing. The male character is black and the female character is white. This is easy to figure out because she