Paperboy Poem

Experiences

The poems Paperboy by Melanie McCabe and Last Night by Sharon Old both reflect on past loves in different ways. While the narrator in Paperboy had a positive experience, the narrator in Last Night had a negative one. Yet, both poems are a memory of first love experiences and share the same theme. Through the writer's imagery, word choice, and tone, the theme of love is conveyed.

In the poem Paperboy, the narrator uses imagery to convey the theme of love. An example if this is when she writes “What words did I say that made him return dusk\after dusk throughout that smokey autumn (lines 11,12). The image of a smokey autumn correlates with the theme of love and first romances. It creates an image of a hazy day. The smoke creates

an image of a smothering, choking and burning. Another example is when she writes “ my shoe\stubbing at the shafts of grass that violated\the driveway bricks (lines 4, 5, 6). The imagery of her waiting with anticipation to meet her older lover, fidgeting with anxiety and excitement. She can't help but keep herself busy while waiting. It’s creates an image of her being restless for her lover.
Some more imagery is when she writes “I have no memory of language — only of loitering, lingering far past curfew to circle\ each other as leaf-cindered air turned gray, as\ the huge shadow of the hickory, cut from sudden\ streetlight, swallowed us from view” (lines 7-12).

The images this portrays is with love, sometimes nothing needs to be said. Instead everything is pure lust driven. The only thing she remembers is her and her lover sneaking around. The image of the hazy smoke filling the air as they stood in the shadow created by the tree. It represents both of them being hidden from view, alone in their own space but just outside of their world is the light which represents reality. Once they step into the light, they leave their own little

world.
In Paperboy, word choice plays a role in the theme. An example of this is when she writes “his stack\of undelivered Evening Stars (lines 3, 4). Instead of having the newspaper he delivers me called something such as “The Sun” she chooses to choose the words evening star. This plays into the theme of love. This is a secret love affair, perhaps forbidden. They meet at night among the bright stars and share tender moments. Sneaking around, hoping to not get caught, they move like creatures do in the dead of night. While everyone is asleep, they’re full of lust and young love hormones. Another example of the way word choice is correlates to the theme is when she writes “lingering far past curfew to circle\each other as leaf-cindered air turned gray”(lines 9,10). By using the words “circle each other” it makes it seem as though they are each other's prey and waiting for the right moment to pounce.
In Paperboy, figurative language in the poem represents the theme of love.

An example of this is when Mccabe writes, “At twelve, I could only see the seventeen-year-old boy\as a gift” (lines 1,2). Since she’s very young, she see’s the older boy as a gift. To a young girl an older boy who has taken an interest in her is something she can’t imagine. He came to her out of pure luck like a chance from God. Another example of figurative language conveying the theme is the use of simile when she writes “I lodged like a splinter in his day” (line 24). This represents how she wished to add herself into his life not just when they sneak around at night but in the day as well. She’s trying to integrate herself into this boy's life to be closer with him. She wants him all throughout the day and not just at night when they slink through the

night.