“ I Saw You Walking Away”: Symbolism, Imagery, and Punctuation in Kooser’s “After Years.”

In his poem “After Years” Ted Kooser deals with the subject of loneliness. He specifically talks about what he feels happens when somebody walks out on life. In the poem, the speaker is wondering about big catastrophic events happening once somebody he loves leaves him. Kooser uses symbolism, imagery, and punctuation to say that someone important leaving somebody can have a detrimental effect.
Firstly, Kooser uses symbolism to express that losing a loved one can have a detrimental effect. In the first half, the speaker is expressing his sadness about the loss of a loved one. He describes “A star thirty-five times the size of our own sun exploded and