Louise Erdrich's Poem I Was Sleeping Where The Black Oaks Move

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In the poem,”I Was Sleeping Where the Black Oaks Move,” by Louise Erdrich the literary device that affects the story is personification. It helps people get a picture of what is going. The speaker is most likely a little kid in a group of kids with their Grandpa. The point of view is 1st person and the tone is sad and nervous. The setting is a house overlooking the river. I think that the theme is don't let other change who you are. The literary device that affects my story is personification. For example, the poem stated in stanza on line 4, “Wrestling everything into it, the water wrapped around trees until their life-hold was broken,”. This just means that the river, or a flood, is going through a forest and is engulfing the trees. It's …show more content…

This means the the river peeled the bark of all the trees, revealing what layed underneath. This impacts the story because it shows that some people are different than what they seem, or that people can reveal others true colors. That was my second example of personification. Finally, my last example of personification was, “ the river grew, helpless and terrible in its unfamiliar body,”. This could mean a river overflooded and its unable to control itself. This impacts the story because it shows that some people can't control themselves or that the people are changing and they aren't used to what they are yet. That was my final example of personification. The ending of my poem was about how the birds, the herons, and how they rise above the river, looking down at the group of people. The theme of the poem in my opinion is to show your true colors and not let people change you. It could lead people to think things that aren’t true. Personification is the literary device that best describes the poem because they all mean something about how people can change who you really are and make you someone you aren’t. I believe that we should try to make people not be afraid to show who they really are. You shouldn’t need to act different around other people! Just be yourself.