The Faithful Wife by Barbara L. Greenberg

716 Words2 Pages

The Faithful Wife by Barbara L. Greenberg

“The Faithful Wife”, written by Barbara L. Greenberg, uses first-person narration to depict the style, language, and theme of the poem. By using first-person narration, Barbara Greenberg was able to portray events and ideas very persuasively to the reader. In addition, this first-person narrator creates dramatic irony concerning the title in reference to the body of the poem.

The reader from the start is aware of the point of view that the poem is being told in. The first sentence is “But if I”, which shows the narrator is in first person. By using first-person the readers are able to have the confidence that the events being told are believable because they come from a first hand character and not a third person unreliable character who could misdirect the reader. The narrator presents a theme using her imaginary lover with the excerpt “But if I were to have a lover, it would be someone who could take nothing from you.” This would be much more difficult and not remotely have the same effect if it was done in any other perspective. The reader gains trust and can connect better when the writing is in first person. Emotion is expressed with more energy and force with this perspective and is evident with the concluding sentence, “with my other body, the one that you have never asked to see.” Third-person perspective wouldn’t compare in having the same effect with that last strong sentence. As the reader, we are not sure...

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