Figurative Language In Marie Howe's 'Practicing'

Lastly, Marie Howe language and use of figurative language was excellent throughout the book. In “Practicing”, Howe’s syntax and phrasing describes naïve children and they were preteens at the time. She uses the terms “girls” and “parent’s house” which shows that they are still not old enough to own their own property. The line “did on the floor in the basement of somebody’s parents’ house” also indicates their age because they are in a secluded place to do something that is not age appropriate in the eyes of the parents. Howe uses a simile to compare one of the girls’ basement to a “boat with booths and portholes”. The booths represent kissing stands so there was a lot of making out. Boats are on the water and the portholes are implying that

there are a lot of aroused girls who are wet or the exchange of saliva. In “The Copper Beech”, she describes the tree as wearing the yard like a dress and having a crooked latter.

The imagery here is deep because Howe was able to relate the tree to man-made items and gives the tree its own personification. In the poem “The Game”, Marie Howe does an excellent job of describing this game that she used to play with others. They flipped chairs and made a city from blankets and boxes. They pretended to inhabit around or in objects such as a pool table, the cupboard, or the bathroom. The lights were turned off and the group pretend it was night time even though it was, and they would sleep. Also in “A Certain Light” Howe continues to be great descriptively when elaborating on her brother’s physique. Their brother was so sick he that his muscle tissue was near to depleted. In the first two stanzas she talks about how she had to give John multiple pills and emphasized the number by spelling them out with specific names of the pills. She then said that John was bones and skin and he did not have tissue to absorb the medication. The description of how they attempted to keep John awake really set in how sick he was. The would ask him question to get him to continue to talk, but he was not very alert and showed symptoms of someone on the verge of

death. This could all could all be picked up from description of her caring for John and speaking with him. Overall, Marie Howe’s descriptions in this book were very vivid and she did a magnificent job of explaining environments.
To conclude, Marie Howe’s book “What the Living Do” consisted of great poems which did have some sort of correlation between each other and great descriptions with relevant metaphors and comparisons. This collection contains personal poems about her brother and dead father. Majority of the poems are structured in a couplet stanza form which can feel a little repetitive, but it does give Marie Howe her own distinct character. The book is put together as a story of her life as she narrates specific instances and how they occurred. The book overall is well-built and contains a lot of deep poems that are perfected with great phrases, syntax, and