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What Is The Mood Of The Poem Postcard By Margaret Atwood

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The poem “Postcard, written by Margaret Atwood is about the loss or absence of a loved one, it reveals the mass difference between reality and quintessential photographs printed specifically on postcards. Through the use of imagery, symbolism and repetition, Atwood reflects the physical and emotion distress from missing someone by using strikingly different themes such as love and pain.

The poem begins with a line that appears in letters/postcards for a loved one-“I’m thinking about you”. The short, concise sentence “I’m thinking about you” sets a content mood, it has a positive connotation, followed with “What else can I say?” This question reflects the author stating the obvious, as if thinking about him/her is a normal routine. It then …show more content…

Questions were raised to to allow the readers to create their own conclusions and reflect on the real meaning of the poem itself. “A universe that includes you can’t be all bad, but does it?” This rhetorical question makes the reader ponder on the real meaning of that sentence, an uncertain tone is applied here, it sounds as if the speaker is questioning himself/herself instead of the audience. The speaker often give hints about the time present, and how much time has passed since the speaker has lost his/her loved one. “At this distance you’re a mirage, a glossy image fixed in the posture of the last time I saw you.” The speaker is describing the postcard as a person, the person is nothing but a mere photograph taken in the past now stuck onto a postcard, so close, yet so far. The speaker uses a short, concise sentence to signal the near ending of the poem. “Wish you were here” This sentence gives off a sense of longing and distance, indirectly hinting that the person the speaker is missing is far away. It is a short sweet message where people usually end a letter with or write on postcards to express missing someone, similarly linked to the beginning of the poem where the speaker said “I’m thinking about you”. Both sentences are ways to start and end a letter or postcard. Much like the first stanza, repetition is applied to create an even stronger emotional approach where the theme love is being symbolised as waves like the ocean. “Love comes in waves like the ocean, a sickness which goes on and on, a hollow cave in the head, filling and pounding, a kicked ear.” Repetition is evident in this sentence, in the first stanza, time is being compared to sickness that comes in waves, “Time comes in waves here, a sickness, one day after the other rolling on”, imitating this quote, love is being compared to an ocean of sickness. the “A hollow cave in the head” gives off a

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