Mary Oliver

645 Words2 Pages

Mary Oliver’s poem, “The Black Walnut Tree” published in 1979, uses a tree as a metaphor to convey the prevailing impact of history and ancestry. Lucille Clifton’s poem, “at the cemetery, walnut grove plantation, south carolina, 1989” published in 1991 is about the history of enslavement in America, and the importance of recognizing those affected today. This essay will dissect the differences in respect to how the authors write about history, revealed through their selective use of punctuation, and which lines are emphasized in the poem. The different ways the authors approach writing about history reveal key differences in how the author’s perceive our interactions with history: Mary Oliver approaches writing about history in her poem using uniform structure and conclusive punctuation, conveying …show more content…

The words jump out at the reader, bringing activity, conveying that history is not at rest, and requires attention now. The author’s use of punctuation at the end of the poem is different: Oliver's punctuation finalizes history, whereas Clifton’s lack of punctuation keeps history ongoing. The last lines of Oliver's poem, “and, month after month, the whip- / crack of the mortgage.” (Oliver 34-35) are wrapped up with the use of a period. By using a period at the end of the poem, Oliver illustrates that the burden of the tree, and its symbolic meaning, the speaker’s origins and their connection to their family, is unchanging. The period at the end of the poem finalizes the conflict between the family, cementing their fate. This shows that Mary composes “The Black Walnut Tree” with the notion that history is finalized, unchanging. In contrast, Clifton ends her poem without the use of any punctuation; the last two lines, “hear lies / hear” have the effect of echoing after the reader’s eyes have left the

Open Document