Summary Of The Blue Estuaries By Julia Alvarez

312 Words2 Pages
In Julia Alvarez’ poem, “On Not Shoplifting Louise Bogan’s The Blue Estuaries”, a story is told that someone is browsing the shelves of a bookstore and is drawn to a work by an author that she doesn’t know. Knowing that they can’t afford the book, she considers stealing it before putting it back. Throughout the poem, Alvarez uses expressive imagery and specific selection of detail to convey the book as a beautiful and understated piece of literature through the eyes of the speaker. The imagery used to describe just the appearance of the book is powerful in its impression. “The swans posed on a placid lake” is not a flashy picture and this displays the modesty of the book. Later when the words of the book were “breaking the surface” it was