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.
"Crossing the Swamp," a poem by Mary Oliver, confesses a struggle through "pathless, seamless, peerless mud" to a triumphant solitary victory in a "breathing palace of leaves. " Oliver's affair with the "black, slack earthsoup" is demonstrated as she faces her long coming combat against herself. Throughout this free verse poem, the wild spirit of the author is sensed in this flexible writing style. While Oliver's indecisiveness is obvious throughout the text, it is physically obvious in the shape of the poem itself.
Public health plays a significant role in protecting and improving the health of the general population. Cameron Page’s article “They Paved Paradise And Put Up A Parking Lot” emphasizes the role the general public plays in defining public health in the United States. The title of the article addresses the importance of city parks and open spaces. The title highlights a need to protect urban green space, a so called “paradise”, from being paved into parking lots and constructed into city buildings. Page reflects on his public health role when a patient loses a place to exercise and their health sharply deteriorates.
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.
Sharon Olds is a poet who is known for writing a poem called, "Ode to Dirt" in which admires nature. Although Olds used to despise dirt by calling it "the background for leading characters", she later apologizes and admires dirt. In, "Ode to Dirt" Sharon Olds elaborates on her praise of dirt by using certain words, similes, and personification. Olds tributes dirt by using certain vocabulary in the ode. To illustrate, Olds uses words such as, "slight" and "intricate" to indicate how her views have changed of dirt.
The idea that the dirt deserves an apology is unexpected for the audience and sets up the idea that expectations need to be challenged. Another piece of “Ode to Dirt” I focused on was similar. Sharon Olds(2016, 5-7) writes: “It’s as if I had loved only the stars / and not the sky which gave them space / in which to shine.” The simile highlights the idea that, although dirt is in the background, it is still an influential and necessary part of life. The theme of “Ode to Dirt” is that we must appreciate nature.
Home Is Where The Hurt Is Is home really where the heart is? When one knows the history of their hometown, can they truly still uphold the same level of respect and admiration? The speaker in “South” by Natasha Trethewey battles this obscurity as they return to their home, Mississippi. As the speaker returns home, physical features of the state triggers reminiscence. Though these attributes are what makes home so special to the speaker, simultaneously it causes the poet to realize the meaning behind it all.
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.
Poetry provides a place for authors to express their emotions in many ways. It allows authors to use literary devices to display emotion more deeply. It provides a way to display a message in many different ways, even the poem's structure can be part of it. The poem, “Vegetable Love in Texas”, by Carol Coffe Reposais about a lady and her tomatoes. She talks about how much she loves them and praises them.
Think about what dirt is, unimportant debris. No! dirt is the foundation of all life, but its importance is overlooked. Sharon Olds, author of the poem "Ode to Dirt", tells of her point of view on dirt and how it has changed after realizing it, comparing it with other importances in nature. In "Ode to Dirt" Olds uses metaphors, personification, and word choices to change the general opinion about what dirt is. Olds uses metaphors to transcend the literal meaning of dirt and also to try to increase the value placed on dirt.
“Sweat” by Zora Neale Hurtson exemplifies the amount of disrespect and domestic abuse a woman can handle. It also demonstrated how some males view women in a distasteful and unsatisfied way. Gender and sexuality can initiate most of the specific tactics of domestic violence that can dehumanize an individual, especially women. Zora Neale Hurtson’s character, Delia Jones, demonstrates how women can transition from being inferior to becoming superior in a domestic relationship. The story opened with Delia washing clothes for white people on Sunday, and Sykes verbally abused her for dishonoring God because she was washing clothes that belong to white people on the Sabbath day.
Native Americans’ customs and religion relies on oral transmission rather than written texts. This allows for fluidity, as the customs can change and evolve over time along side with new technology and innovations. When Europeans first came to the Americas, they force the Natives to convert to a from of Christianity, thus, creating the long struggle as Native Americans battles with their beliefs and this new world religion. In modern times, the struggles still continue and Native Americans are still fighting to protect their customs. One such ritual that many Native Americans participates in is the sweat lodges.
The agony the writer is feeling about his son 's death, as well as the hint of optimism through planting the tree is powerfully depicted through the devices of diction and imagery throughout the poem. In the first stanza the speaker describes the setting when planting the Sequoia; “Rain blacked the horizon, but cold winds kept it over the Pacific, / And the sky above us stayed the dull gray.” The speaker uses a lexicon of words such as “blackened”, “cold” and “dull gray” which all introduce a harsh and sorrowful tone to the poem. Pathetic fallacy is also used through the imagery of nature;
Contrasting images are used between the beginning and end of the poem. At first, the speaker is described as standing on a “wide strip of the Mississippi beach,” (Trethewey l. 2) while her grandmother is standing on a “narrow plot of sand.” It symbolizes the freedom the speaker now compared to the confinement and limited opportunities her grandmother experienced. Natasha Trethewey uses mood, symbolism, and
