Numb By Lizi Walbo Analysis

432 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Poems related with figures of speech

As conceited as it sounds, “Numb”, written by me and Lizzy Galbo, has become a favorite of mine. I don’t think that it’s necessarily the best poem ever created, but I can’t help but smile whenever I read it or even think about it despite the somewhat depressing content. I’ve always thought of poetry as a stream of thought that evokes emotion and that often creates a beautiful image with different figures of speech. Although not all the images should be taken literally, “Numb” does have a narration that describes the scene as well as the emotions of the character in the scene, all wrapped together to create haunting imagery and evoke feelings of sorrow from the reader with the assistance of figures of speech, such as personification. While some people may read the words “the rage met by love and a lick of shame” and find them striking, which they, of course, are as Arundhati Roy puts words together in an extremely moving way, I can not help but reminisce to the day when I sat in English class writing the poem with Lizzy and saying “I don’t think this makes sense here” and then proceeding to put the phrase in …show more content…

Everytime I read or think about this poem, my mood is immediately improved as I think of my partner in crime, the Elio to my Oliver, the love of my life, Lizzy Galbo. This poem has become a symbol of me and Lizzy’s ever growing friendship, as I feel like it truly flourished while working on “Numb” together. I think of the clutching-my-stomach, tears-in-my-eyes laughter during our in depth discussion of how we wanted to present the poem to the class, which included the idea to physically bring in a mahogany rocking chair as well as to creepily rock simultaneously while standing up if a rocking chair was

Show More
Related

  • Nancy Cato's Poem 'The Dead Swagman'

    646 Words  | 2 Pages

    My initial response to the poem was a deep sense of empathy. This indicated to me the way the man’s body was treated after he had passed. I felt sorry for him as the poet created the strong feeling that he had a lonely life. It told us how his body became a part of the land and how he added something to the land around him after he died.

    Read More

  • Eireann Corrigan Quotes

    1349 Words  | 3 Pages

    For instance, the novel reads, “… my right arm prickles and then numbs and my chest all of a sudden feels like it’s splintering, like inside some man is throwing his shoulder against a door again and again” (21). Corrigan’s anorexia often comes with dangerous consequences. It is evident in this excerpt that she is in a state of pain as she compares how she feels to being hit again and again by a man seemingly inside her. Although the reader is not able to experience her physical pain, they are able to understand to some extent the pain in which she is feeling. Poetic devices allow readers to recognize a character’s emotions by comparing it to a different circumstance. Likewise, the author wrote, “… I spread the local paper out on my kitchen table, looking for the movie listings and a slim column on the front page rose up: North Brunswick Man Shot and I only stopped to read it because that’s where you lived—in the sprawling neighborhood as secure and tended as a tiny national park…” (56). Corrigan’s old boyfriend, Danny, was known to be suicidal and one night decided to shoot himself in the head with a handgun. The bullet entered his head and ricocheted off his skull, narrowly missing his brain. For Corrigan, discovering this in her local paper came as quite a shock to her and she wondered how such an event could happen in a

    Read More

  • The Poet With His Face In His Hands By Mary Oliver Analysis

    991 Words  | 2 Pages

    In her poem entitled “The Poet with His Face in His Hands,” Mary Oliver utilizes the voice of her work’s speaker to dismiss and belittle those poets who focus on their own misery in their writings. Although the poem models itself a scolding, Oliver wrote the work as a poem with the purpose of delivering an argument against the usage of depressing, personal subject matters for poetry. Oliver’s intention is to dissuade her fellow poets from promoting misery and personal mistakes in their works, and she accomplishes this task through her speaker’s diction and tone, the imagery, setting, and mood created within the content of the poem itself, and the incorporation of such persuasive structures as enjambment and juxtaposition to bolster the poem’s

    Read More

  • Paul Monette's Love Alone

    1950 Words  | 4 Pages

    Loss. Grief. Mourning. Anger. Disbelief. Emotions are in abundance when a loved one passes away. People need to find a way to cope with the situations and often need to express themselves by writing their feelings down in order to get them out. This is exactly what Paul Monette does in his book of poetry title “Love Alone” in remembrance of his companion Rog. Through writing his poetry Monette describes his emotions and the events that occurred during Rog’s battle with AIDS. By Monette’s transitioning through different emotions, the reader begins to understand the pain the author is dealt. Touching upon Kubler-Ross’ five stages of death including denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance, Monette transitions to Rog’s decline in health. Using different fonts and no punctuation, the lines are interpreted by the reader using instincts to know when to begin and end a sentence. Evident in the poems “The Very Same”, “The Half-life”, and “Current Status”, Monette gives a description of loss that makes the reader tingle.

    Read More

  • I And You By Lauren Gunderson Analysis

    509 Words  | 2 Pages

    Lauren Gunderson’s I and You takes place in the seemingly trivial setting of a teenage bedroom; however, upon further speculation the simplicity of a bedroom transforms into a profound symbol of unity. I and You, is a story of two people, Anthony and Caroline, who need each other on many levels, mentally, emotionally, and physically. Initially, Anthony needs Caroline to help him with his school project, and Caroline needs Anthony to leave. As the play progresses their needs change, from selfish needs to selfless needs, and after a series of heated arguments and vulnerable conversations, it’s revealed that Caroline is under anesthesia and Anthony died earlier that day. Caroline is having a liver transplant, and Anthony is her donor. Everything that happens over the course of the play is merely a representation of their physical connection as they become one person. As I and You become I. Caroline’s bedroom represents her body;

    Read More

  • The Theme Of Morality In Unwanted By Edward Field

    1009 Words  | 3 Pages

    Poetry has a way of making us feel every range of emotion, in some cases better than other forms of entertainment. Unlike a novel, which gives a wide field of vision on any subject, poems have a more focused look mostly on the raw emotion of any one topic. Understanding poetry is an art onto itself, to be able to peel back the words and feel the emotions within them is truly its own work. Harder yet is the ability to dissect and explain these ideas to another person (in this case through an essay)and have them feel and see the poem and the topic it brings to light in the same way that you do. The poem that we will explore is powerful and thought provoking, because it brings the ugly subject of oppression to the front of your mind and forces you to engage in a conversation that you have no control over. It makes you feel hopeless and angry at the same time. In the poem Unwanted by Edward Field we are going to explore the parts of the poem but mainly we will

    Read More

  • The Norton Anthology Of The Kitchenette Building By Gwendolyn Brooks

    799 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Gwendolyn Brook’s Kitchenette Building the audience is able to see her unique writing style by taking her own life experiences and creating a poem that can s...

    Read More

  • Indian Boarding School

    1589 Words  | 4 Pages

    "Compressed emotions," that is the explanation a teacher once gave to the ongoing question, "What is poetry?" He said it was someone's deepest emotions, as if you were reading them right out of that person's mind, which in that case would not consist of any words at all. If someone tells you a story, it is usually like a shell. Rarely are all of the deepest and most personal emotions revealed effectively. A poem of that story would be like the inside of the shell. It personifies situations, and symbolizes and compares emotions with other things in life. Louise Erdrich's poem Indian Boarding School puts the emotions of a person or group of people in a setting around a railroad track. The feelings experienced are compared to things from the setting, which takes on human characteristics.

    Read More

  • Lanston hughes comparison of two poems

    825 Words  | 2 Pages

    In today’s modern view, poetry has become more than just paragraphs that rhyme at the end of each sentence. If the reader has an open mind and the ability to read in between the lines, they discover more than they have bargained for. Some poems might have stories of suffering or abuse, while others contain happy times and great joy. Regardless of what the poems contains, all poems display an expression. That very moment when the writer begins his mental journey with that pen and paper is where all feelings are let out. As poetry is continues to be written, the reader begins to see patterns within each poem. On the other hand, poems have nothing at all in common with one another. A good example of this is in two poems by a famous writer by the name of Langston Hughes. A well-known writer that still gets credit today for pomes like “ Theme for English B” and “Let American be American Again.”

    Read More

  • Langston Hughes and Gwendolyn Brooks, Sound over Sense

    1369 Words  | 3 Pages

    In his poem “The Weary Blues” Langston Hughes’ is written in free verse to mimic the patterns of natural speech and music. This poem, as the title suggests, focuses on the blues, a musical style invented for the expression of deep pain; Blues songs are typically performed by individuals to create a feeling of loneliness in the grief-stricken lyrics. Hughes’ verse creates a natural rocking to the somber tune as the musician rocks on his stool; the speaker describes the song as “melancholy”. Interestingly “melancholy” describes the ending of the poem perfectly. As the musician thumps his foot and Hughes repeats that beat the singer sleeps like a dead man. Simply by communicating through music with ...

    Read More

  • Jane Kenyon’s The Blue Bowl

    1326 Words  | 3 Pages

    Kenyon’s choice of a first person perspective serves as one of two main techniques she uses in developing the reader’s ability to relate to the poem’s emotional implications and thus further her argument regarding the futility of mankind’s search for closure through the mourning process. By choosing to write the poem in the first person, Kenyon encourages the reader to interpret the poem as a story told by the same person who fell victim to the tragedy it details, rather than as a mere account of events observed by a third party. This insertion of the character into the story allows the reader to carefully interpret the messages expressed through her use of diction in describing the events during and after the burial.

    Read More

  • Compare & Contrast 6 Poems

    1499 Words  | 3 Pages

    I will discuss the similarities by which these poems explore themes of death and violence through the language, structure and imagery used. In some of the poems I will explore the characters’ motivation for targeting their anger and need to kill towards individuals they know personally whereas others take out their frustration on innocent strangers. On the other hand, the remaining poems I will consider view death in a completely different way by exploring the raw emotions that come with losing a loved one.

    Read More

  • The Last Night That She Lived

    956 Words  | 2 Pages

    The speaker started the poem by desiring the privilege of death through the use of similes, metaphors, and several other forms of language. As the events progress, the speaker gradually changes their mind because of the many complications that death evokes. The speaker is discontent because of human nature; the searching for something better, although there is none. The use of language throughout this poem emphasized these emotions, and allowed the reader the opportunity to understand what the speaker felt.

    Read More

  • I am a rock

    1264 Words  | 3 Pages

    When reading or listening to poetry, the main objective for me is to feel moved. Happiness, longing, sadness are some of the feelings that can be achieved just by listening to others’ words. It is within these words that creates another world, or separates us from our own. Words all have a certain kind of attachment to them, so if used properly an author can stimulate a reader beyond belief.

    Read More

  • Forbidden Love: The Concept Of Forbidden Love

    1078 Words  | 3 Pages

    ..., that make it a quality piece of literature include the nature of its mostly free verse, the descriptive and visual imagery, and the slant rhymes found through the poem. With the stanza, “It hurt, putting them down, sill with the ghost of your hands on my skin,” the reader can visualize the love filled caress the speaker longs for, and how empty they feel now that their lover is gone. With the inadvertent description of the color red, “...finding treasure troves of rubies beneath,” the visual imagery is that much stronger, describing the struggles of the speaker offhandedly to the reader; in allowing their own interpretation, the reader can give their own interpretation, and could possibly finding themselves relating in a greater manner to the speaker and the poem. This leads the poem to be considered a quality piece of literature, that fits well in this anthology.

    Read More

More about Numb By Lizi Walbo Analysis

Open Document