How Does Mary Oliver Use Zeugmas In Crossing The Swamp

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Humankind has been facing and conquering problems, droughts, famines, and wars for instance, since the beginning of its existence. Throughout an individual’s life, obstacles arise and challenges present themselves in an attempt to inhibit the individual from moving forward. In her poem Crossing the Swamp, Mary Oliver utilizes a variety of techniques to expand on this idea, establishing a relationship between the speaker and the swamp as one of determination and realized appreciation. Oliver begins by describing the swamp in a way that displays it as unrelenting and immovable, a struggle. The author uses zeugmas such as “pathless, seamless, peerless” to demonstrate that the speaker’s difficult travel through the swamp does not disturb it.

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