Eating Alone Poem Analysis

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The Vanishing Memory of My father The poem,” Eating Alone” by Li- Young Lee is richly crafted in imagery that is used effectively to develop the theme of loneliness and memory. Lee utilized a myriad of literary devices in communicating his message such as imagery, flashbacks, and sarcasms. The interpretation of this poem is essential in unravelling the meanings of different literary devices that Lee employed in this text to develop his theme of memory and loneliness. The major issue of contention in the interpretation of this poem is the effectiveness of the literary devices used in this poem in developing the theme of memory and loneliness. Lee in his poem of,” Eating Alone” is a practice that is viewed as greed by the society, in which sharing of meals is an accepted act. The picture created of loneliness by Lee is evidenced in the first outlook of the title of the poem, where Lee employees visual
The imagery use throughout the poem has been pivotal to enriching the reader’s attention on the poet’s thematic issues of concern. Additionally, flashbacks have been used in some incidences, for example in the second stanza where the speaker in the poem recalls the memory of his father. The use of flashback is as well effective in realising the theme of memory and loneliness that Lee wanted to address in his poem, “Eating Alone.” Moreover, symbolism has been used in some aspect to denote some things that can be used symbolically to refer to certain familiar things with the speaker and different distinctive things to the readers (Dalvean 12). For example the vanishing carnal symbolises the memory of the speaker’s father that he tries to conjure to no avail. All these literary devices, imagery, flashbacks and symbolism effectively develop the theme of loneliness and memory in the