Sharon Olds’ poem “Late Poem to My Father” exposes the profound effect that childhood trauma can have on someone, even in adulthood. The speaker of the poem invokes sadness and pity in the reader by reflecting on the traumatic childhood of her father, and establishes a cause and effect relationship between the abuse he endured as a child and the dependence he develops on alcohol as an adult. The idea of emotional retardation caused by childhood experiences is not uncommon, especially in our modern world of prevalent substance abuse, dysfunctional families, and child abuse. However, Olds’ poem is a moving testament to this tragic loss of innocence due to the powerful imagery she weaves throughout the first half of the poem. In addition, Olds skillfully uses figurative language and deliberate line breaks throughout the poem to develop the dismal sorrow her speaker feels while reflecting on the childhood of her father. The poem opens with the speaker experiencing an epiphany while contemplating on her father’s childhood, and later in the poem we learn that this contemplation is more specifically focused on the causes of her father’s dependence on alcohol. In the first seven lines of the poem she uses descriptive details to establish a dark, foreboding image of the setting. For example, in lines two and three she describes the house with “unlit rooms” and a “hot fireplace”. She goes on to portray her father as “a boy of seven, helpless, smart,...” which reinforces his innocence in this imagery of darkness. It is interesting to note how the speaker distinguishes these details, yet in lines three and six, she refers to her father’s father only as “the man”. She intentionally refers to him in this flat way so as to convey to the reader that he is unworthy of any characterization. She also omits characterization in line six when she writes, “there were things the man did near you,” purposely emphasizing “things” with no other explanation. This leads to the assumption that some actions are too abominable to convey in words, thus leaving us with a vast array of uncomfortable possibilities to consider. The description of the “sweet apples picked at their peak...rotted and rotted,”in lines nine and ten establishes a comparison between her father’s loss of innocence, and the ripe fruit being left to waste. In line eleven she writes, “past the cellar door the creek ran and ran” which is a contrast to the apples being trapped within the cellar (like the child in the house), and the creek being on the outside, where the idea of escape exists.
It sounds like her father’s death made her angrier at the fact that she is not able to get anything from him anymore. There are several times in the poem when she switches emotions on her father. She forgives him and then is angry again. It’s hard for her because she does not know whether or not she can forgive him, considering all the pain and hardships the family was put through. She tries to justify her father’s actions by blaming his father, but is still angry because her father didn’t help the situation. At the same time, the daughter is almost as upset with her mother as she is with her father when she says “you were each other’s bad bargain, not mine” (Line 21). By the end of the poem, she is able to accept the fact that the broken relationship with her father and content relationship with her mother has to remain untouched. She is able to see that she cannot fully blame her father for being the reason why she is not emotionally content with their relationship. There’s nothing she can do about it now since both her parents are dead, but she is able to let go of it at this
2. It shows weakness in the personality that she's trying to build as a tough and masculine child, someone that her father wants and
Poe creates the raven as a symbol of melancholy showing he will never forget his love by utilizing diction providing imagery of how he was suffering. He saw a raven “perched above my chamber door” and believed that the bird was a “thing of evil”, haunting him (Poe 9, 17). The diction Poe uses while the raven is perched above the door shows us how he is held down by all his depression and starting to lose his sanity. His belief that the bird is a thing of evil proves that he wants to get rid of his grief because he believes that it is evil and is not helping him.
Firstly, the narrator gives little detail throughout the whole story. The greatest amount of detail is given in the first paragraph where the narrator describes the weather. This description sets the tone and mood of the events that follow. Giving the impression that a cold, wet, miserable evening was in
Through diction, the tone of the poem is developed as one that is downtrodden and regretful, while at the same time informative for those who hear her story. Phrases such as, “you are going to do bad things to children…,” “you are going to suffer… ,” and “her pitiful beautiful untouched body…” depict the tone of the speaker as desperate for wanting to stop her parents. Olds wrote many poems that contained a speaker who is contemplating the past of both her life and her parent’s life. In the poem “The Victims,” the speaker is again trying to find acceptance in the divorce and avoidance of her father, “When Mother divorced you, we were glad/ … She kicked you out, suddenly, and her/ kids loved it… ” (Olds 990). Through the remorseful and gloomy tone, we see that the speaker in both poems struggles with a relationship between her parents, and is also struggling to understand the pain of her
Edgar Allen Poe was one of the greatest writers of the nineteenth century. Perhaps he is best know for is ominous short stories. One of my personal favorites was called The Raven. Throughout his works Poe used coherent connections between symbols to encourage the reader to dig deep and find the real meaning of his writing. Poe's work is much like a puzzle, when u first see it its intact, but take apart and find there is much more to the story than you thought. The Raven, written in 1845, is a perfect example of Poe at his craziest. Poe's calculated use of symbolism is at his best in this story as each symbol coincides with the others. In The Raven, Poe explains a morbid fear of loneliness and the end of something through symbols. The symbols not only tell the story of the narrator in the poem, they also tell the true story of Poe's own loneliness in life and the hardships he faced. Connected together through imagery they tell a story of a dark world only Poe Knows exists.
In the poem “The Raven” Edgar Allan Poe wrote about grief, sadness, and depression. He is writing about a young girl named Lenore. She is depicted as pure, beautiful, and the very thing that the main character lives for, his beloved Lenore. When he loses her, he is sent into a spiral of depression. This leads him to believe that a black raven pecking at his door was sent by Lenore. Through out the poem “The Raven” Poe uses many things to illustrate the theme darkness, such as the words he so carefully uses, the symbols that are chosen, and the description of everything.
Trait theory views criminality as a product of abnormal biological or psychological traits. It is based on a mix between biological factors and environmental factors. Certain traits alone cannot determine criminality. We are born with certain traits and these traits along with certain environmental factors can cause criminality (Siegel, 2013). According to (Siegel, 2013), the study of sociobiology sparked interest in biological or genetic makeup as an explanation for crime and delinquency. The thought is that biological or genetic makeup controls human behavior, and if this is true, then it should also be responsible for determining whether a person chooses crime or conventional behavior. This theory is referred to as trait theory (Siegel, 2013). According to Siegel (2013), due to the fact that offenders are different, one cannot pinpoint causality to crime to just a single biological or psychological attribute. Trait theorist looks at personal traits like intelligence, personality, and chemical and genetic makeup; and environmental factors, such as family life, educational attainment, economic factors, and neighborhood conditions (Siegel, 2013). There are the Biosocial Trait theories an...
According to Grace Lynch from PBS a few of the developmental benefits of art for children are motor skills, decision making, cultural awareness, and improved academic performance. Motor skills are improved because a child who works with a paint brush or colors with a crayon is getting the strength in their fine motor muscles to eventually be able to write in the future. Most child care facilities start teaching children around the age of three how to draw certain shapes to improve their dexterity and fine motor skills. Lynch pulls in a report by Americans for the Arts stating how art classes actually prepare a child for problem solving and critical thinking required in the core classes. A child in art classes are also presented with the aspect of cultural awareness by seeing others art work and realizing that what they may see may be different than others and to accept that. Lynch pulls in another study stating how children who participate in at programs regularly are more likely to excel in academics and participate in math or science fairs as a result. Art classes have been shown to help greatly in a child’s development and improve a child’s skills being physical or
to be a child, even though he is. However, the reader is in a way
The cabin is very still save for her rocking and the flickering red flame in the fireplace. I pluck a leather-bound book from the wooden shelf and sit at my desk. The white square of window fades to black. She stays there nonetheless—rocking, rocking, eyes fixed on something somewhere in the impenetrable darkness. I light my oil lamp, layering shadows across the walls. I pull out a well of ink and my quill pen.
...parent-child relationship through the mother’s perspective. Hughes uses negative imagery, focused on light like ‘no light’ and ‘dark’, where the mother is begins by accepting the hardships of life instantly and trying to teach them. Although portrayed as a negative idea, it is also a positive as it is preparation, in contrast to Piano where Lawrence had to eventually face such hardships and due to his lack of preparation he was beaten easily. Hughes shows some methods of preparation in the poem through imperatives such as, ‘don’t turn your back’ where she is encouraging the child to always have faith and believe in himself-never giving up. Hughes follows an idea of an extended metaphor of life being a stair that is never ending in with obstacles trying to stop you, ‘splinters’, however as taught, you must keep going forward and have the will to beat the challenges.
There is also a sense of sadness to the poem, as she recounts of her
Edgar Allan Poe?s ?The Raven? is a dark reflection on lost love, death, and loss of hope. The poem examines the emotions of a young man who has lost his lover to death and who tries unsuccessfully to distract himself from his sadness through books. Books, however, prove to be of little help, as his night becomes a nightmare and his solitude is shattered by a single visitor, the raven. Through this poem, Poe uses symbolism, imagery and tone, as well as a variety of poetic elements to enforce his theme of sadness and death of the one he loves.
It has been proven that “being creative can lead to an upward spiral of positive emotions, and attitude”(Gregoir, 2016). Arts education thrives on creativity. For example, you can paint your own piece, or compose your own song. So by being engaged in the arts, you can become much more positive and happy. As well as feeling happy, by being creative a part of your brain that deals with reward is activated(Hopper, 2015). So by being creative you feel rewarded for your work, which also can make you happy. It has also been shown that art forms can lower depression(Hopper, 2015). Just by being creative with the arts, you can lessen some symptoms of depression and feel better overall. When a student or any person is involved in the arts, it is apparent that they are much more likely to live happier