Julia Alvarez’s poem, “Dusting,” is told from the perspective of a women looking back at herself as a child. In the poem, the speaker is addressing how her mother and her childhood self, differed. The speaker is itching to spread her thoughts through words while her mother does the exact opposite by erasing herself or keeping anonymous. In the literal sense, the main conflict between the speaker and the mother is that the speaker writes anywhere and everywhere she can, while the mother follows behind cleaning off all the marks.
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.
In her poem, “Crossing the Swamp,” Mary Oliver uses vivid diction, symbolism, and a tonal shift to illustrate the speaker’s struggle and triumph while trekking through the swamp; by demonstrating the speaker’s endeavors and eventual victory over nature, Oliver conveys the beauty of the triumph over life’s obstacles, developing the theme of the necessity of struggle to experience success. Oliver uses descriptive diction throughout her poem to vividly display the obstacles presented by the swamp to the reader, creating a dreary, almost hopeless mood that will greatly contrast the optimistic tone towards the end of the piece. While describing the thicket of swamp, Oliver uses world like “dense,” “dark,” and “belching,” equating the swamp to “slack earthsoup.” This diction develops Oliver’s dark and depressing tone, conveying the hopelessness the speaker feels at this point in his journey due to the obstacles within the swamp. As the speaker eventually overcomes these obstacles, he begins to use words like “sprout,” and “bud,” alluding to new begins and bright futures.
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.
Each stanza also makes the readers question their opinions and their understanding of the poem and the street. While analyzing Kenneth’s poem we see his use of imagery , personification, metaphorical language and repetition. With the end of each stanza repeating the words “you find this ugly, I find this lovely” the use of repetition gives the audience the sense of how the poet is displaying his message with this literary technique. The repetition also gives insight in how he see’s something that everyone calls ugly as something beautiful. The readers are also always drawn back to processing their opinions with his use
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
The attitude, or tone, of the poem is exemplified by the speaker's skillful word choice. Some of the words chosen were: louring, low, delight, and gleams. The words louring and low force the reader to empathize and visualize the speaker's distraught
He could imagine his deception of this town “nestled in a paper landscape,” (Collins 534). This image of the speaker shows the first sign of his delusional ideas of the people in his town. Collins create a connection between the speaker’s teacher teaching life and retired life in lines five and six of the poem. These connections are “ chalk dust flurrying down in winter, nights dark as a blackboard,” which compares images that the readers can picture.
In the poem "Ode to Dirt" by Sharon Olds, the author focuses on humans disregarding dirt. He praises dirt in numerous ways. Olds uses similes, metaphors, and personification in "Ode to Dirt" to convey how humans overlook dirt which is the cause of our prosperity. Olds use of similes is very clever. She states "It's as if I had loved only the stars and not the sky which gave them space" which directly compares dirt to the stars in the sky.
Nature surrounds people, it provides food, water, and shelter. Nature supports the human race. Nevertheless, nature is disregarded by society, and treated as a nuisance with no meaning. However, Sharon Olds wishes to change this with her message in her poem, “Ode to Dirt”. Olds uses the evolution of the narrator's attitude to teaching her readers to appreciate nature for all that it provides.
We often overlook the simple pleasures in life, such as waking up feeling healthy or being able to breathe clearly through both nostrils. Sharon Olds' "Ode to Dirt" effectively employs literary techniques, including metaphors and personification to demonstrate the speaker's gradual shift in perspective towards dirt. As a result, the speaker begins to appreciate the true value of dirt. Sharon Olds is able to express the speaker's attitude toward dirt through the use of metaphors. An example of this can be seen in line 2, "I thought you were only the background" (Olds, line 2).
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.
The loss of purity and innocence is a common theme in many art forms, including poetry; many of these pieces focus on where the protagonist begins and the simple, mundane state of the character/being (Golan par 2). Human ordeals are a central focus in many mediums of art. People are born innocent and are shaped into who they become through life experiences. There are often specific instances that represent the loss of innocence. Through the poem that is being evaluated, there are specific examples listed to represent the original, pure state of the people: beauty was stripped from a self-created dress by being torn and representation of the shoe of a baby still loosely holding on (Harjo 28-32).
Literacy has applied over the course of my education and my life. As an education major, I believed that literacy was an ability to learn how to read and write. Furthermore, literacy has been a part of my education. I have come to an understanding that literacy is a lot more than what it seems. It’s about expressing yourself that includes your opinions and feelings.
