The Golden Book of Resentment - Essay

Giving Resentment a Voice
"The Golden Book of Resentment" by Michael Gizzi is filled with oppressive connotations that captured my attention right off the bat. The way Gizzi personifies the feeling of resentment throughout the poem makes it feel like you are actually reading how resentment feels when resentment itself is a feeling. Gizzi's style of writing made it so I never wanted to set this poem down. After reading it a number of times, I found that each time I read the poem I would catch a part of it that I had missed the time before. "The Golden Book of Resentment" is a very intense poem that says a lot without rambling endlessly and aimlessly. Gizzi uses assonances throughout "The Golden Book of Resentment", which gives the poem a pleasant flow without actually rhyming. The assonances are used in a way that is not apparent unless you are specifically looking for them. Gizzi also uses some metaphors in his poem, but in my opinion they do not contribute as much to the overall effect of the poem. Personification, when an inanimate object is give human-like qualities, is the most evident element found throughout "The Golden Book of Resentment". Gizzi gives resentment the qualities of a devious, clever person, especially in lines ten through fifteen. In those lines, resentment is telling the polished lies to take him by the throat, and that resentment will show the world, which is thought to be this glorious place by all the "do-gooders". Resentment is surprised that its view is not distorted by all the positive thinking, which can be seen in the line "?it's a wonder I lived all this time without a watch pelted with sundrops." Throughout "The Golden Book of Resentment", Gizzi writes as though resentment is a person speaking in the first person, which really gave the poem a voice. Although the personification of resentment is the most prominent element of "The Golden Book of Resentment", Gizzi also uses assonances throughout this poem. Assonance is when a