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Summary Of The Poem 'Ode To Dirt' By Sharon Olds

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Maya Enns C. Stewart Per. 3 11 April 2024 Title Every day people take things for granted. Our parents, our freedoms, our wealth, our time, and even the little things like a crackling fireplace or a shared smile. A comfortable seat or bed is provided. No one notices the butter knife that spreads jam on your sandwich, and no one appreciates the pencil that makes doing your homework possible. Everyone craves recognition, but it's the quiet helpers that end up doing the hardest, most important jobs. In the Poem “Ode to Dirt” the author, Sharon Olds, uses a variety of figurative language and words that convey heavy emotions to evoke pity in the audience, raise questions, and broaden the subject to more relatable scenarios. This helps the readers …show more content…

The use of metaphors like “background for the leading characters” helps Olds hook her readers on a topic that everyone has felt at some point in their life. She personifies dirt into a familiar face by saying we’re “made of the same basic materials”. The readers pity this now intimate entity of dirt and Olds can now manipulate their feelings and bridge the speakers emotions into theirs. Olds’ use of symbolic language and uncommon wording raises questions that keep the reader hooked and excited to read what’s next. Being vague and leaving wiggle room for wondering helps to put the reader in the speakers shoes and make their own decisions about what the text means. They can decide how to “honor” and “serve” dirt, or who dirt is. This aids in showing the speakers an elaborate and vast view towards the character of dirt. We don’t know exactly how they feel, but our own experiences and emotions can lead us to a more personal conclusion, rather than a fact the speaker tells us. The author's vocabulary and language assists in broadening the speaker's view to all of us. Her personification of dirt makes it seem like a “living equal” and allows the audience to hone in on the “dirt” in their own

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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.

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The poem "Ode to Dirt" written by Sharon Olds conveys a remorseful attitude towards dirt as she admits her faults and neglectful actions. Olds begins her poem by apologizing to dirt for continuously overlooking and ignoring the significance of dirt for others. Throughout the poem Olds explains how she viewed dirt as unimportant and useless, then she shifts to a more cherishing and acknowledging tone as she realizes her mistakes. In "Ode to Dirt" Sharon Olds employs sorrowful and apologetic word choice and figurative language, including metaphors and personification, to illustrate the speaker's perspective on dirt from initial neglect to eventual appreciation. In a few lines of Olds poem she tells the readers about how sorry she is for insulting and neglectful behavior towards dirt.

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