Analyzing Sharon Olds 'Ode To Dirt'

735 Words2 Pages

Ode To Dirt Poetry Analysis Essay Final. Typically, when someone accidentally hurts another person’s feelings unintentionally, they feel horrible when they realize what they’ve done. In the same way, we see this very path of events happening or being described in the poem Ode To Dirt by Sharon Olds. In the poem, it is evident that Olds goes through a change of heart in her opinion about dirt. Throughout the poem, Olds uses both personification and metaphors to depict the initial way she felt about dirt, the shift in realization about the ways of her original thinking, and her new perspective of dirt and its values. To begin, in the very introduction of the poem, it’s shown that Olds disrespected dirt in her own ignorance when saying, “Dear dirt, I am sorry I slighted you”. With the use of this introduction, it is made obvious that Olds is addressing a mistake …show more content…

Furthermore, the use of a metaphor presents itself when Olds says, “I thought that you were only the background for the leading characters- the plants and animals and human animals.” This metaphor is an example of how Olds used to value the importance of dirt as it is indicated that she previously thought of dirt as a very unimportant component of life compared to animals and humans. It can be seen that Olds primarily despised, disrespected, and thought lowly of dirt, but also, this can be seen as a point of realization as Olds describes what she thought of dirt after putting forth her apology. Second, as Olds continues on through the poem, she eventually hits a point of conviction and her attitude towards dirt completely shifts. Lines nine through eleven demonstrate this shift when Olds says, “When I understood I had never honored you as a living

Open Document