In "Ode to Dirt " Sharon Olds ases viid imagen, metaphor and personification to convey the speaker's evolving attitude toward dirt, from revulsion to appreciation, as she explores the complex and often overlooked role that dirt plays in sustaining life and connecting us to the natural world. Sharon Olds states specific language in the poem "Ode to Dirt" to express revulsion. In lines 2,3, and 4, Sharon Olds states," I thought that you were only the background for the leading thoracters- the plants and animals and human animals. " This quote proves revulsion due to Sharon Olds thinking that dirt was not as important as the plants and animals. This information proves that Sharon Olds was never paying attention to dirt.
In the poem, “ Ode to Dirt,” Sharon Olds uses figurative language and specific word choice to detail her acceptance and apparent repentance of dirt. The author's attitude towards dirt evolves throughout the poem, words such as “slighted” that entail apologetic feelings soon change to words of awe and amazement. This creates an interesting poem based around dirt, the speaker makes an irrelevant object into an interesting subject. To start the poem, the speaker sets the stage with an apologetic tone, referring to how insignificant they previously perceived dirt to be, “ It's as if I had loved only the stars and not the sky that gave them space.” She realizes dirt's importance in the grand scheme of things, and begins to realize its grand importance.
Readers have to read the whole selection to get to it and in the end it leaves them with a challenge. Good Old Dirt by David Montgomery appeals to most readers. He sets up this selection to relate to both a reader’s pathos and logos. As well as calls the reader to take action and trys to get them involved.
Throughout the poem Ode To Dirt the poet, Mrs. Sharon Olds, use of figurative language and choice words allow for clear transitions between the tones such as apologetic (lines 1-7), regretful (lines 8-17), and acknowledging (lines 17-21). To begin the ode Mrs. Olds's immediate response is to apologize to dirt. This stems from the neglect that she has come to realize she has displayed toward dirt throughout her years causing her to feel as though she owes the dirt an apology for not realizing its true worth. This is displayed clearly through the personification stating, “Dear dirt, I am sorry I slighted you,/ I thought that you were only the background/ for the leading characters-the plants/ and animals and human animals.
(11-12), as in they would not starve themselves just to get to where they are. They would work hard and use everything in their power to get what they want. Finally, in the stanza five, she addresses, that real woman who works hard, and it shows in their hands. They wouldn't have
Ode to Dirt Analysis Sharon Olds’s “Ode to Dirt” is dedicated to nature's beautiful and awe-inspiring power, specifically the dirt. “Ode to Dirt,” first published in 2016 as part of Sharon Olds’s poetry collection, Odes, follows the poetic style of an ode in praising the dirt. I chose to analyze “Ode to Dirt” because its title was reminiscent of a classical piece I enjoyed: “Ode to Joy.” Sharon Olds's poem stood out because of its unusual subject matter for its celebratory tone; “Ode to Dirt” celebrates something often overlooked and underappreciated. Another thing that drew my attention was the conversational nature of the poem; Sharon Olds directs the poem to dirt and writes it from a first-person point of view.
In the poem "Ode to Dirt" by Sharon Olds, the speakers complex attitude toward dirt evolves from one of disgust to one of admiration and even approval. Olds uses a variety of word choices and figurative language to convey this growth. At the beginning of the poem, the speaker describes dirt as "mud / and dust / and dirt / clods / that stick to your shoes. " The use of these simple, plain words conveys a sense of disgust and disrespect for dirt. The speaker goes on to describe how, as a child, they were forced to clean the dirt off their shoes and wash their hands "as if God / and the germs would be angry with us."
In the late 1890's, growing up in America's first incorporated Black community meant growing up sheltered from the harsh reality of the rest of America. For Zora Neale Hurston, it also meant growing up with a fiery personality as a Black woman. At that time in America, African Americans faced horrifying racial injustice including the Jim Crow Laws, violence, and poverty, with Black woman being even more oppressed. The Black female experience growing up in Eatonville, Florida is illustrated in Zora Neale Hurston's "Dust Tracks on the Road" by employing the use of diction, hyperbole, and details. Hurston utilizes powerful diction in order to describe her home life growing up.
Due to this she became hopeless, which is reflected in the line “stars at night turned deep to dust”. The second verse of the song touches
Olds referred to the dirt as "Dear Dirt", revealing that dirt is treated like a person. Dirt is personified as a deity as Olds says "Oh dirt help us find ways to serve your life" this quote serves to emphasize how Olds is trying to change the meaning of dirt but by doing it in such an extreme way makes us to think that instead of trying to change the figurative meaning of dirt, Olds is praising dirt as if it were a god and this is confirmed when he refers to dirt in this way in the poem "you who have given birth to us and you have fed, and who in the end will take us and spin with us, and wobble and orbit”, it is as if Olds is repeating a mantra to express the beliefs you have around dirt and thus declare your devotion to this supposed
Even though she thought she is mature, she gets the sense that she is yet imature since it is her first time exploring sexuality. Meanwhile, the theme of poem is portrayed by an adult having a conflict with another person. “How can it be that you’re so vain And how can it be that I am such a pain”(line 10-11). The speaker blames “you” about making her feel despair.
End rhyme is shown in the second and fourth lines of every stanza in this poem. He made the two rhyming words of every stanza be related to one another. One example is “from the bottom of her purse / ignoring Mama ’s curse” (10, 12). He uses the words “purse” and “curse” to show that if this little kid steals money from his mom’s purse, then he will suffer consequences.
In the first verse he states, it isn’t easy for a mother to raise a man, but, she was always committed, and she was a poor single mother on welfare so he was wondering how she did it. He also states that there’s no way he can pay her back but he wants her to understand that she is appreciated. What this means is that even though she was a single mother on welfare she was still committed to raising him and his siblings no matter how difficult the times were and even though nothing he could do could amount to what she has done for him, the least he could do is show her that she is deeply appreciated by him and his step sister. In the third verse of the song he states that when he was sick as a little kid his mom did so much things to keep him in a good mood and that all his childhood memories are full of the sweet things that his mom did for him. What he is trying to get across to his mom is that he feels lucky to have a mother that did so much sweet things for him and tried to make him happy when he was sick even though she was going through hard times to and he wants to show that he appreciates what she did for him as a
Through another list, she offers her observant insight of what’s true success. Going into detail, “the way the wild wrens sang though they hadn’t a penny in the bank,” (ln 10). Using personification, she inserts the liveliness of the forest while acknowledging how the wrens were able be happy without money. The school system trains young adults to think the opposite, that you in fact need money to obtain happiness. Conversely to stanza 2, stanza 4 starts with repetition of the phrase “the way the” showing observation and insight of her surroundings, nevertheless time implying that the reader knows what she’s talking about because it was beyond words.
The poem begins with the speaker looking at a photograph of herself on a beach where the “sun cuts the rippling Gulf in flashes with each tidal rush” (Trethewey l. 5-7). The beach is an area where two separate elements meet, earth and water, which can represent the separation of the different races that is described during the time that her grandmother was alive and it can also represent the two races that are able to live in harmony in the present day. The clothing that the two women wear not only represent how people dressed during the different time periods, but in both the photographs of the speaker and her grandmother, they are seen standing in a superman-like pose with their hands on “flowered hips” (Trethewey l. 3,16). The flowers on the “bright bikini” (Trethewey l. 4) are used to represent the death of segregation, similar to how one would put flowers on a loved one’s grave, and on the “cotton meal sack dress” (Trethewey l. 17) it is used to symbolize love and peace in a troubled society.
