Mary Oliver's A Bitterness

The diction in this chapter is bitter and hopeless. " Fifty cents isn't enough to get for a good plow. That seeder cost thirty-eight dollars. Two dollars isn't enough. Can't haul it all back— Well, take it, and a bitterness with it.

Most poetry authors give their poems abstract titles with deeper meanings within them, but Oliver did not choose to do that method. As soon as a reader sees the title of her poem, they will have an idea in their head of what the poem will be about. Doing this makes it more simple and easier to read, but at the same time relay an important message that Oliver wants readers to know. The poem revolves around the idea of oxygen and the life it brings to everything, and Oliver’s way of directly giving that hint to readers is in the

In Julie Sheehan's poem we get a clear message that the tone is sarcastic. The usage of figurative language exaggerate the poem. The exaggeration in the poem makes us believe if this is real “hate” because of the hyperbolic phrases. In her piece “Hate Poem,” Julie Sheehan uses hyperbolic personification, metaphor, and simile to create a sarcastic tone to convey that passionate emotions can be easy to confuse.

In "A Sorrowful Woman" the wife is depressed with her life, so much so, "The sight of them made her so sad and sick she did not want to see them ever again"(p.1). This wife and mother has come to detest her life, the sight of her family,

Mary Oliver’s book of poems, titled American Primitive, follows several themes and contains just under 50 poems. The most prominent theme is the grief cycle, following the seasonal cycle. This cycle follows the pattern where the situation gets worse before it gets better. There is a duration where the situation declines until things are very bad, as if there is no hope - as in fall to winter. This ultimately leads to the darkest point, the dead of winter. There seems to be no light, but then hope slowly appears, blossoming into full resurrection and restoration, parallelling spring and summer. Nature and sexuality are also essential aspects of the poems. I will discuss three of my favorite poems, “Lightning”, “University Hospital,

Oliver explains how she found herself thinking of summer fields and felt like lounging on the sand before the owl’s dark wings opened over her. This symbolizes that before death, one is in temporary bliss until their time has come to an end. Oliver pictures herself free and content, staring into the cities of roses before death comes knocking on her door. This shows that death is an “immobilizing happiness” before it rips you from the world for good.

Overflowing her poem with the details of her vision, Oliver effectively transports the reader into the story being told. “My bones knock together at the pale joints, trying for a foothold, finger hold,” (line 13). The speaker in this story is struggling for what seems like endlessly, describing to the reader the exact torture that his/her body is experiencing.

In the poem “XIV,” Derek Walcott utilizes the use of inhumane imagery that is being counterpointed with the use of happy imagery to show the view of an elderly woman with his experiences with her; the speaker recalls this information by describing his experiences with her with a sense of happiness, fear and appreciation.

In my thoughts, Harwood’s poetry engages readers through its poetic treatment of loss and consolation throughout relationships as well as its exploration of universal themes about human existence and processes of life. Harwood’s poetry validates the consoling influence of childhood experiences upon adult development evident in both At Mornington and A Valediction where they both explore one sense of loss and consolidation. Harwood cleverly includes personas with their own feelings and anxieties to outlook on the present and future and the power of memories held with past relationships. Relationships link within Harwood’s poetry as throughout life she experiences suffering and includes her personal voice and life within the story of her poem.

Mark Strand’s poem, “Poor North” depicts the life of a married couple facing countless struggles during a harsh winter. It tells of a man working in an unsuccessful store while his wife sits at home, wishing for her old life back. The way the wife copes with her sadness is both intriguing and perplexing. She misses her old life, even though it is described to have not been special; however, the wife may be a person who never feels satisfied or fulfilled by the external world due to internal conflict. Despite the wife’s obvious misery, she stays by her husband’s side and they stroll in the cold together, bracing the wind. As a means of escape from life, she peers into her past in order to find hope in the present.

In Susan Wood’s poem “Eggs,” she describes what her mornings were like growing up and how they later affected her parenting. She discusses that if she had sat down with her father to work through their issues rather than argue, they could have been happier people in the end. To emphasize these points, she uses repetition and pattern to create a feeling of hostility toward her childhood. Wood’s use of diction and allusion illustrates the speaker’s attitude toward mornings and her upbringing to shed light on how harboring feelings can create animosity toward family members.

“I have the right to say what miseries I have endured since I grew up, new or old-never greater than now.” Even though this poem is relatively short, the vivid expression of grief is somewhat awe-inspiring.

Robert Frost is an iconic poet in American literature today, and is seen as one of the most well known, popular, or respected twentieth century American poets. In his lifetime, Frost received four Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry, and the Congressional Gold Medal. However, Robert Frost’s life was not always full of fame and wealth; he had a very difficult life from the very beginning. At age 11, his father died of tuberculosis; fifteen years later, his mother died of cancer. Frost committed his younger sister to a mental hospital, and many years later, committed his own daughter to a mental hospital as well. Both Robert and his wife Elinor suffered from depression throughout their lives, but considering the premature deaths of three of their children and the suicide of another, both maintained sanity very well. (1)

In the words of Anne Bradstreet, “If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.” As writers of the modern era expressed their hardships through poetry, one can only hope that they kept such advice in mind. Through captivating works, poets such as Langston Hughes, Edwin Arlington Robinson, Robert Frost, and E.E. Cummings expressed the struggles of life during the modern era. By examining what these poets have to say about dissatisfaction with life, feelings of inadequacy, and loneliness, it becomes clear that life during the modern era was full of hardships.

Poetry offers writers a means to access a vast and diverse form of personal expression, accordingly, poetry spans from the transcendent to the depraved. This full range is explored in the work of the late poet Franz Wright, who himself oscillated between spiritual redemption and self destructive instability. The only person to ever win the Pulitzer Prize in the same category as a parent, poetry was foundational in Wright’s childhood, but equally so was the emotional turmoil resulting from his intermittent, abusive relationship with his father, James Wright. Wright’s poems depict these struggles without compromise, and Wright’s confessional, often self-accusatory style lends itself to his recurring themes of hatred, death, suicide, and regret.