Mary Oliver

In the poem “Crossing the Swamp” by Mary Oliver, who creates a metaphorical idea of the difficulties faced when crossing a swamp to the difficulties of making it through life. Using vivid imagery, enjambment, alliteration, and metaphor in the open form, Oliver depicts her rejuvenating experience of struggling with life while coming out victorious.

The Bandwagon Effect The bandwagon effect has affected our world in both positive and negative ways. Because of the bandwagon effect, humans in our society started replacing plastic straws with paper straws, and as more and more people started influencing the idea of wasting less plastic in our world to help save sea life, grocery stores were even pressured into changing their plastic bags to reusable bags that they could purchase for 5 cents. While the bandwagon effect can be used for good and to help our society, it's typically used for the wrong reasons. As the bandwagon effect starts to infiltrate more and more people's lives, it starts to symbolize both the loss of individuality and the suppression of dissenting opinions, as it leads people

Robert Frost’s poem “Out, Out –“ is about a boy who has his arm sawed off during work and asks his sister not to let the doctor amputate his arm, he then realizes he’s lost too much blood and then dies while doctors try to save him. After his death everyone else continues on with their work and lives. Frost uses a lot of end-stopped lines, enjambment, repetition and personification among others in his lines of poetry.

Life consists of troubles and joys, ends and restarts. Mary Oliver’s “Crossing the Swamp” paints the speaker’s complex life through the characterization of a swamp. The poem shows that the swamp is a metaphor for the speaker’s life; its thick mud represents her hardships, while its growing branches symbolize her hopefulness. Through the volta in her poem, Oliver develops the speaker’s relationship with the swamp as a endless battle to a hopeful rebirth.

All I have ever wanted was to learn. To educate myself and to be educated, to understand the world through enlightened eyes and to strive for excellence. Many others alongside me feel the same; we, as the youths of Little Rock, Arkansas, plead for more, to learn as we did before. Our pleas for help have been castAll I have ever wanted was to learn. To educate myself and to be educated, to understand the world through enlightened eyes and to strive for excellence. Many others alongside me feel the same; we, as the youths of Little Rock, Arkansas, plead for more, to learn as we did before. Our pleas for help have been cast aside, but at what cost?

Ackerman states regarding the incomplete line that “there is something productive in non-knowledge, in interruption, or even in error as an epistemology in itself” (137). The incomplete line leaves more room for imagination and creativity to manifest itself at the end of the line because each individual can complete the line in a different manner, a manner that can show individuality. There is a very low chance of two people completing the line in the same exact way, and that way, various possibilities to complete the same incomplete line, emerge. Because of the diversity of the possibilities, the poem becomes deeper. By opening the door for possibilities, the incomplete line helps the reader connect to their creative individuality by installing

In the poem, “Wild Geese” by Mary Oliver, the poem is open for interpretation by the reader evoking reflection on their life and experiences. I believe the meaning of the poem is the combination of personal life relevant from the past, present, and events which may happen in the future. The poem demonstrates the demonstrate the simplicity of life through personification of animals and humans being similar in their needs due to the environment, the use of imagery to demonstrate excitement of accomplishment, and relates to the environment in which the author uses imagery and personification to bring out the best in yourself through your imagination similar to the way the author accomplished with the poem.

The “Wild Geese,” by Mary Oliver acknowledges the burden people feel to be perfect. Its intention is to help ease the pressure of day-to-day life. The poem begins by stating, “You do not have to be good,” immediately allowing the reader to let go. Throughout the poem she uses “you” to communicate her ideas, which fosters an intimate connection between the reader and the poem. Mary Oliver sympathizes with the reader by saying, “Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine,” (Oliver 5).

Douglas Burton-Christie states, “she seeks instead to understand how and where the natural world takes root within us, how we are challenged and even transformed in the process of wakening to nature's soulful presence” (1996). Burton-Christie analyzes Oliver’s poem as nature being apart of humans and events like winter happen instinctively. The poem ends by describing the firewood. “And at evening especially, / the piled firewood shifts a little, / longing to be on its way” (Oliver). This suggest that humans eventually return to the natural

In the sources that Mary Collins provided, the most compelling to me was the research of

In her poem “that I did always love” Emily Dickenson created a tone of reassurance, the poem was written to assure the reader of the truth of her love. She employed the use of diction and syntax in establishing the tone. The syntax moves from repetition to a sentence containing a comparison of love and life finally to a rhetorical question and an illusion. In the beginning the speaker creates a rhythmic feeling by alternating between beginning each line with either that or I. this repetition highlights the contrast with in the stanza, the subjects of line 4 and 2 contrast as well as lines 1 and 3.

The lines are enjambed with phrases stopping in the middle of new lines and lines spilling into other lines. The lines do not pause to acknowledge the end of sentences like people seldom pause their daily lives to acknowledge the suffering of those around them. Auden also uses bad syntax in the last line of the poem, "had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on.” Auden may have chosen to write in this free form to demonstrate that people are so indifferent to what is going on around them that it does not make any difference what form the poem is written in, as it will only be overlooked and not given any attention. The form of the poem allows the reader to consider the ways in which suffering is masked by the frenzy of everyday life and that even the acknowledged suffering of others does not seem to be of any concern to anybody but the sufferer.

Oliver's comforting tone and beautiful nature descriptions offer solace, while Dickman's intense tone and vivid metaphors hit hard. Through their words, Oliver and Dickman help us understand the many layers of sorrow and grief,

The fact that enjambment is used throughout the poem such as in the lines, “like a colour slide or press an ear against its hive” portrays a lack of structure and therefore emphasizes the initial enjoyment one feels when reading a poem before the chore of analyzing it begins. This is also emphasized through the fact that the poem is a free verse poem.

The poems "Moments" by Mary Oliver and "Instants" by Jorge Luis Borges share a common theme: that being excessively cautious or afraid may cause you to miss out on things that make you fulfilled. In "Moments," the author starts the poem with personification, "moments that cry out to be fulfilled." The author describes moments from "Instants" as "more risk..." "more relaxed..." and "make more mistakes. " These simple moments metaphorically cry out and beg to be pleased. The author of "Moments" also claims that "headlong might save a life," meaning that moments that make you free might show you the life you want.