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Poetic Devices In Crossing The Swamp

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A poem can depict many pictures and emotions that writing itself cannot.
Crossing
the Swamp written my Mary Oliver was able to build a strong relationship between the speaker and the swamp through a change in attitude, different poetic devices, and an overall shift in feelings.
The change in attitude throughout
Crossing the Swamp was able to give the reader a chance to see the gradual progression of the speaker’s new outlook. As the poem progresses, the character starts to see the light at the end of the depressive and challenging swamp by making his/her way to the end. A quote that captures this moment is, “I feel not wet so much as painted and glittered with the fat grassy mires, the rich and succulent …show more content…

Metaphors are being used throughout the poem to compare the difficult terrain of the swamp to our speaker’s challenge with going through life’s hardships. An example is, “Here is swamp, here is struggle, closure – pathless, seamless, peerless mud.” This quote compares the struggle of walking through muddy swamps to the struggle of finding closure. They are both seen here as pathless, seamless, and peerless.
Mary Oliver was able to shift the overall mood of the poem by showing two different sides of the speaker’s emotions. Towards the beginning of the poem, the speaker was in a doubtful and discouraged mood, which can be seen when they say, “Here is the endless wet thick cosmos.” Shortly after, however, the speaker then develops a better and more understanding relationship with the swamp, and ends the poem by saying, “Make of its life a breathing palace of leaves.”
Crossing the Swamp written my Mary Oliver was able to build a strong relationship between the speaker and the swamp through a change in attitude, different poetic devices, and an overall shift in feelings. The overall struggles that the speaker

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