Summary Of From This Hill By Tony Hoagland

In Tony Hoagland’s, “From This Height”, wealth and power take center stage. Hoagland uses diction, metaphors, irony, and paradoxes to connect the theme and its varying details. This poem explores the different degrees of guilt and content that follow privilege. Hoagland’s diction connotes guilt and pleasure. Right off, the speaker states that “we don’t deserve pleasure” and “we don’t deserve pain”. By this, he is acknowledging that no one deserves excessively good or bad situations. As he looks deeper into the “pyramid of all the facts”, the speaker realizes the number of hardships people endured to put him where he’s at. This is also true of his wealthy, white standing in the world. The most alarming line, however, is the mention of “slaves

Wind cannot “rub” and mist cannot “wrap around”, but associating inanimate objects with animal-like characteristics creates the idea that they have the capacity of feeling emotion. However, once the speaker realizes that the emotion is a painful one, he understands that it has been felt by people as well. The other important metaphor is the comparison of the highway to an “artery”. For most, when they hear the word “artery”, their mind moves to “important” or “serious”. Those descriptions match the inner conflict explored in this poem. The more serious tone causes readers to pay closer attention to the details that may not stick out immediately. The metaphors used begin to unravel the complex truth that surrounds the speaker’s

The title, “From This Height”, is the first clue of the most prominent paradox. The “pyramid” that the wealthy sit atop of relies on the lowly position of those below. In order to be at the top, there must be people at the bottom. Although our society tries to convince us otherwise, everyone can’t be rich; in order for “rich” to exist, “poor” must exist as well. The frustration and sadness that follows this truth is accurately depicted by Hoagland. Another large paradox is the idea that for one to have it easy, one must have it hard. The speaker describes his fancy stay at a hotel and the growing feeling of guilt that follows. All of the components that contribute to his nice stay had to be crafted and prepared by ill-paid workers. Their mouths may never taste the “paté” their hands prepared. Their bodies could go without ever stepping into the hot tub they clean daily. This paradox is obviously what distresses the speaker most; humans don’t deserve pain or pleasure, but they will continue receiving both whether they deserve it or