Punctuation In James Dickey's Last Night By Sharon Olds

119 Words1 Pages
However, the two different tones could not be accomplished without their structure. For example, some lines have certain types of punctuation for a reason. In the poem “Last Night” by Sharon Olds, there are few periods and more commas because multiple lines are supposed to be together. The commas allow the reader to pause, but tells them that those thoughts belong together. However, it is written in one giant stanza and it has very few periods which makes it a fast read. James Dickey uses a different approach by using punctuation almost after every line and by separating it into various stanzas. This gives the poem its slow paced rhythm and allows the reader to feel every detail presented.