Summary Of War Widow By Chris Abani

In the poem War Widow by Chris Abani the majority of the poem spends time talking about being alone and unhappy just like a war widow would. For instance one of the lines in Abani’s poem says “the breath of those you’ve loved; long dead”(Abani 1). This shows that the author may not have lost someone to war, but has maybe lost someone close to him and has the emptiness in him like a war widow. Abani visits topics like these throughout the poem which does explain the title of the poem being War Widow. One poetic device that is prevalent throughout the entirety of poem is mood. Mood can be described as the general feeling or atmosphere that a piece of writing creates within the reader. One general mood in the poem is depression. With the title of the poem being War Widow it is very easy to see that depression is one general mood in the writing. Another line in the poem says “The telephone never rings. Still you pick it up, smile into the static”(Abani l). This could mean that this person is alone and has no one left to talk to or it can also mean that someone he loved was taken away from him and he has been deeply affected by the loss. These lines have depression in the background of the context. This poem is very deep in the

Tone can be described as the speaker or narrator’s attitude toward the subject. In order to make any novel or poem work tone needs to be added from the speaker to add depth to it and to give the reader a sense of what the speaker is feeling. The speaker’s tone towards this subject is very unhappy and sad. He talks in the poem about never forgetting the joy that he had long ago, but then waking up a certain morning and getting a letter. Getting a letter and feeling your mood just go from happy to unhappy usually means that someone has died typically in the armed forces. But it could also mean that he has lost someone just in general and that a letter was sent to him explaining the sudden