Sharon Olds in "On the Subway" writes the poem to contrast the lives of a Caucasian woman and an African American boy. It displays how the narrator realizes the bonds they share because of their fear for each other. She starts off by describing the boy as they face each other. She says he has the casual look of a mugger while she’s wearing a fur coat making her seem like the victim. Here they contrast as him looking like a mugger puts him in the lower class. On the other hand‚ she wears a fur coat
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In society‚ there is and always has been complications between Caucasians and African-Americans. In this poem‚ Sharon Olds explores this relationship using imagery‚ repetition‚ and multiple tone shifts. In the beginning of the poem‚ the author introduces a situation that contrasts a white person with a black. Correspondingly‚ she applies imagery to emphasize this difference greatly. For example‚ the shoes he is wearing at the time are black “laced with white” and compares them to “intentional scars
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In her poem‚ "The Race"‚ author Sharon Old’s conveys meaning to her audience and poem through the use of imagery‚ parallelism‚ and tension‚ which complement the structure of her poem and add emotion that appeals to her audience. In order to convey meaning to her poem‚ Old’s utilizes imagery to allow the reader to locate themselves in the poem. Her vivid and descriptive diction add credibility to her imagery. For instance‚ she writes‚ "The jet was full‚ and people’s hair was shining‚ they were smiling
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and change the lives of many. The poem sets up a true meaning of what reality really is and can be seen and interpreted through the different perspectives by the child‚ reader and audience. The child in the poem in “Still Life in Landscape” by Sharon Olds interprets the poem as being reality and see’s for herself the dangers that exist. The child’s description of what she sees send a strong image to the reader that reality does exist and these things happen everyday. The gruesome imagery in this
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Later in “The Last Night of the World‚” the wife gets out of bed and states‚ “Wait a moment…I left the water running in the kitchen…I turned the faucet off‚” followed by a thought from the husband’s point of view‚ “Something about this was so funny that he had to laugh” (Bradbury 4). The amused characters symbolize the acceptance of their death. The anticipation of death is typically not responded to with laughter‚ however‚ this response could be represented by the feeling of carelessness or why
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The Last Night of the World is one of the numerous stories out of the theoretical dystopian anthology‚ The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury. The text depicts the transparent and placid nature human beings convey in daily life. Even whilst‚ in the case of the short story‚ being confronted with the ending of humanity‚ they are compliant with completing daily chores and housework. The narrative monitors a single day of a family of two young girls and their parents‚ who are conflicted with the dreams
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that stay afloat in their heads. Sharon Olds’ happened to be one of these poets‚ who expressed her upsetting past relationship with her father and current relationships with her children through these works of art. In Olds’ first poems‚ she
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Poetry Essay Who is the birthday party a rite of passage for‚ the birthday boy or his mother? In the poem‚ "Rite of Passage‚" by Sharon Olds‚ the speaker‚ who is a mother‚ goes into detail about her son’s birthday party celebration. Let us first begin by analyzing the title of the poem‚ "Rite of Passage‚" Encyclopedia Britannica describes a rite of passage as a ceremonial event‚ existing in all historically known societies‚ that marks the passage from one social or religious status to another
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Aubrie Smith English 1102 May 31‚ 2012 “Last Night” VS “The Embrace” Love is defined in the dictionary in many ways; just as in life‚ love does not hold one indefinite meaning‚ but an exclusive meaning to each individual. Poets throughout history have written countless poems on the topic of love. In some aspects these poems are very similar to one another but at the same time unique in their own manner. Sharon Old’s “Last Night” describes the love she encounters only for a brief moment after
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The Last Night of Ballyhoo is a perfect example of the inner workings of a prejudice person. There are two psychological elements displayed here that are more related than most people realize. The prejudice theme is obvious throughout the play. But notice that in every display of bigotry‚ there is an underlying sentiment of personal inadequacy. Ballyhoo proves that racial and other forms of prejudice are a concoction created and driven by society. Defensive projection is defined as the process of
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