Analyzing Themes In Alice Walker's Poem At Thirty-Nine

Poetry Commentary - End of Unit Assessment

Losing an important person, for example a father, is not something you get over; it is something that stays with you your entire life. “Poem at Thirty-Nine” written by Alice Walker describes these feelings from the view of a forlorn 39 year old woman, pondering about the loss of her father. She talks about the things she regrets, and the wonderful relationship they had. Through this, she tries to convey the message that remembrance can be positive and negative. She helps the reader understand the feelings of the woman, that could likely be her, by the use of significant structure, creative language, literary devices and a heartbreaking theme.

Firstly, Walkers structure supports her thoughts and what she wants to tell the reader. In her verses she uses a lot of short lines, cut off by enjambments, a line without a punctuation mark at the end, to make the poem seem like a train of thought “He cooked like a person/dancing/in a yoga meditation” (Line 27-29). This part of the fourth verse

These themes are very common because a lot of people struggle with these issues. A lot of people deal with loss the same way as the daughter did. They regret the bad things they did to the person they lost, but are happy about the great memories they still have. It is very clearly shown that the daughter regrets certain things she has done to her father: “though many of my truths/must have grieved him/before the end”, but it also shown that she is grateful about the happy memories and that she misses the good times with him: “How I miss my father!/He cooked like a person/dancing/in a yoga meditation”. Through this the theme is clearly identifiable. A clear theme can easily be linked to the message, remembrance can be positive and negative, and helps the reader understand the emotions of the