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Mary Oliver's Crossing The Swamp

663 Words3 Pages

Most people will have obstacles in their life, and many of these people say the important thing is how does one deals with them. In Mary Oliver’s poem “Crossing the Swamp” she writes about someone's experience with an obstacle. Oliver's use of vivid imagery and captivating diction reveal the speaker’s complex attitude towards the swamp. The poem paints the swamp as an almost evil entity. The author establishes a dark ominous feel. In the second line through the fourth line Oliver sets up the location of the poem, “wet thick / cosmos, the center / of everything -- the nugget” (2-4). This analogy paints the image of a black, damp abyss and creates the darker tone. Each line is indented one more space than the previous line giving it a specific …show more content…

The speaker describes the swamp as a trapping environment, “mindhold over / suck slick crossing, deep /hipholes, hummocks / that sink silently into the black, slack / earthsoup. I feel” (18-22). With the use of this strong diction the reader can imagine a fortress that is inescapable; an area where the earth itself will swallow you whole. In combination with even more alliteration the autorer fully shows the power of the swamp and the struggle of crossing it. The author, throughout the whole poem, will enjamb one line with another and then she starts a new sentence at the very end of a line. This makes the reader speed up and conveys the racing mind of the speaker and the fear of the situation. Then in the last four lines the attitude changes a little, “could take root, / sprout, branch out, bud-- / make of its life a breathing / palace of leaves” (33-36). These lines end the poem with some hope and contrasts the beginning. It shows that the speaker can indeed overcome his struggle with crossing the swamp. The unique technique of the author’s writing shows the discombobulated mind set of the speaker but still leaves some hope. The speaker struggled with the swamp. Oliver expresses this with the use of strong diction and full imagery. Powerful dark words are used, and the swamps omnipotent grasp is felt. Through the use of structure and enjambment the intensity and pace builds to the end where a hope is exposed

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