“We lie so much/ truth has a false ring and its hard to tell,” (Williams, “Ruby Tells All” 15). This is just one of the many life lessons the speaker of the poem, “Ruby Tells All,” by Miller Williams, learns in her long life. The voice of Ruby in this confessional style poem is a wise one. Ruby shares her philosophy on life with the audience, conveying through her tone that she is resigned about what she has learned. Life is not what she thought it would be. But, Ruby also admits that despite everything unpleasant, there are good parts to life as well. In “Ruby Tells All,” the tone, language, and style give insight into who Ruby is and how she feels about life. Through Ruby’s tone, we can determine her attitude towards life. Throughout the …show more content…
poem, Ruby shares several life lessons. She has a few lessons that are positive and optimistic, but most of her realizations are about the unpleasant truths of life. When talking about these unpleasant truths, Ruby's tone is resigned, as if she knows she cannot change them and must accept them. On growing up, Ruby says, "One by one,/ butterflies turn into caterpillars / and we grow up, or more or less we do,/ and Lord do we lie then," (11-14). The imagery of the butterflies turning into caterpillars shows Ruby’s attitude towards people and how they devolve as they grow older instead of improving. This is further shown when Ruby says that as “we grow up,” people lie even more. She has little faith for humanity, and doubts that people really grow up as they get older. Ruby also talks about her relationship with a married man, who “made [her] feel the way/ a human wants to feel and fears to,” (30-31). Despite her cynicism, she does believe in love. But, she also knows the realities of love. She was happy with him, "But then he left. Everything has its time," (28). She knows nothing lasts forever. In this quote, the short sentences and the matter-of-fact tone demonstrates how Ruby takes this as fact and accepts it. Even though she knows that everything, including life, must end, she is not particularly happy about it. Even though Ruby has many negative outlooks on life, she also knows that it is not all bad. For instance, she wants to tell her daughter that “against appearances/ there is love, constancy, and kindness,” (62-63). Ruby’s hope that her daughter can have a happy life is reflected in her optimistic tone. Ruby’s language and diction provide even more insight into her background and life experiences that have led to her gained wisdom.
The ordinary language used in the poem characterizes Ruby as working class. Her common diction is apparent when she says, “I wouldn’t take crap off anybody/ if I just knew that I was getting crap/ in time not to take it,” (16-18). Ruby further affirms her working-class status when she says, “I’ve poured coffee here too many years/ for men who rolled in in Peterbilts,” (20-21). This suggests she has worked in a diner at a truck stop for a long time. Despite Ruby being of working class, she is able to make intelligent conclusions about life. Some of these conclusions are about time. Ruby repeats the phrase “Everything has its time,” twice in the poem. This repetition emphasizes that this was one of the more important lessons Ruby has learned. Ruby means that everything ends, especially life, which is why we have to take notice of what matters and what does not. Ruby provides some thoughts on what she thinks …show more content…
matters: Nothing matters enough to stay bent down about. You have to see that some things matter slightly and some don’t. Dying matters a little. So does pain. So does being old. Men do not. (46-59). Here, Ruby lists things that matter, and only one that does not. She specifically points out that men do not matter. This point is crucial to understanding Ruby and what her beliefs are. Her experiences with men are the basis of her belief that men are very limited beings who live by negatives. About the married man she was in a relationship with, she said that “Given the limitations of men, he loved [her],” (27). She does not believe that men have the same capacity as women to feel. This is also evident when she says that she has gotten into bed with some men “if they could talk and seemed to be in pain,” (23). The connotation of the word “seemed” in this line makes it appear as if Ruby does not think these men are in pain at all. It is because of these limitations that Ruby does not think that men matter or have much use. The style of this poem also tells more about who Ruby is.
The poem is written as a sort of dramatic monologue or confessional in which Ruby recounts important events in her life and how they have affected her outlook on life. The title of the poem, “Ruby Tells All,” solidifies the confessional nature of the piece. This word choice invokes the image of the speaker telling the audience some sort of secret or some valuable advice. This implies that Ruby knows more than the audience she is telling this secret to, which contributes to Ruby’s image of a wise woman who likes to help people. Ruby also demonstrates her generous nature when she says, “I never asked for anything myself;/ giving is more blessed and leaves you free,” (24-25). The poem is organized in chronological order of Ruby’s life. The first stanza is about her childhood and how her expectations of life were different than how she sees life now. While the second stanza is more of Ruby’s general beliefs, the third stanza is about Ruby’s experiences with a man and how it produced a daughter. This takes place more in the middle of her life. In the fourth stanza, Ruby speaks as if it is the present, revealing her view of time and what is important in life. The fifth and last stanza is more of a hypothetical future for Ruby. She imagines being reunited with her daughter and what she might say to her if that were to happen. This brief overview of Ruby’s life is a small window into the important life experiences that have
led to her philosophy. We see how she has developed her belief system throughout her life and we see which events in her life were particularly important to this development. Miller Williams gives insight into the speaker, Ruby, in the poem “Ruby Tells All,” with her tone, language, and the style of the poem. Throughout Ruby’s long life, she has learned many lessons about life in which she tells the audience of the poem. For the most part, Ruby can be described as a cynic when it comes to her outlook on life. She does not have much faith in people or men especially. Ruby halfheartedly accepts that life isn’t exactly what she thought it would be. Despite her working-class background, Ruby has an extremely insightful view of life that has been developed through a lifetime of experiences. By telling her story, she gives her audience advice that may help them navigate their own life.
“Do you know she is going to die, Jewel?” Darl said. “It takes two people to make you, and one people to die.” I said to Dewey Dell: “You want her to die so you can get to town: is that it?” She wouldn’t say what we both knew. “The reason you will not say it is, when you say it, even to yourself, you will know it is true: is that it? But you know it is true now.
The narrator’s insecurities unfold when it takes him almost five pages just to demonstrate how close the friendship is between his wife and Robert. It is as though he is justifying his irrational behavior or perhaps questioning if his wife could be secretly in love with Robert. The narrator assumes this because his wife only writes poems if something really important happens to her. He recalls that his wife never forgot that instant when Robert "touched his fingers to every part of her face...
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
Allison has had a bitter past full of moments which have scarred her personality. She uses these and writes about the world that few are willing to admit exists. Many find refuge behind their gregarious nature and take comfort in religion or other bodies. However, that does not change the facts of what the world is and how it got there. Allison exposes her audience to these facts, and in the process, she shares her own view.
She gets to the point and proves that in our current world we tend to say more than we should, when just a couple of words can do the same. In her writing, it is evident that the little sentences and words are what make the poem overall that perfect dream she wishes she were part of.
The poem starts out with the daughter 's visit to her father and demand for money; an old memory is haunting the daughter. feeding off her anger. The daughter calls the father "a ghost [who] stood in [her] dreams," indicating that he is dead and she is now reliving an unpleasant childhood memory as she stands in front of his
During the process of growing up, we are taught to believe that life is relatively colorful and rich; however, if this view is right, how can we explain why literature illustrates the negative and painful feeling of life? Thus, sorrow is inescapable; as it increase one cannot hide it. From the moment we are born into the world, people suffer from different kinds of sorrow. Even though we believe there are so many happy things around us, these things are heartbreaking. The poems “Tips from My Father” by Carol Ann Davis, “Not Waving but Drowning” by Stevie Smith, and “The Fish” by Elizabeth Bishop convey the sorrow about growing up, about sorrowful pretending, and even about life itself.
These lines demonstrate the stage of adulthood and the daily challenges that a person is faced with. The allusions in the poem enrich the meaning of the poem and force the reader to become more familiar with all of the meaning hidden behind the words. For example, she uses words such as innocence, imprisonment and captive to capture the feelings experienced in each of the stages. The form of the poem is open because there are no specific instances where the lines are similar. The words in each stanza are divided into each of the three growth stages or personal experiences.
In the poem “Ballad of Birmingham” by Dudley Randall, a mother attempted to protect her daughter by sending her to church. However, in the end, the child has her entire life stolen from her. The dramatic situation in the poem is portrayed and developed through Randall’s use of descriptive imagery, dialogue, irony, and a tonal shift.
Throughout the poem there is only one narrator, a man or woman. The narrator is of high importance to the one being spoken too, so possibly a girlfriend or boyfriend. This narrator alludes to the idea that dreams and reality can be one in the same. The narrator says, “You are not wrong, who deem/That my days have been a dream;” (Line 4-5). The narrator explains that the moments spent with her have felt almost, if not, a perfect dream. The narrator also says, in the closing lines of the first stanza, “All that we see or seem/Is but a dream within a dream.” (Line 10-11). The narrator concludes like dreams, reality is not controlled; reality is what you make it, or what you see. Moreover, in the second stanza the narrator
Ferguson, Margaret W., Salter, Mary J., and Stallworthy, Jon. The Norton Anthology of Poetry. fifth ed. N.p.: W.W. Norton, 2005. 2120-2121. 2 Print.
Veronica Roth’s book demonstrates, in a few key ways, how great literature must include life lessons. The story teaches readers to never give up and to push on even in hard and rough times of struggle. Beatrice prior (Tris), the protagonist in the book, leaves her home to live with the danger seeking “Dauntless”. During the evil plot set by the antagonist, Beatrice’s mother gets fatally wounded by a gun shot. Tris watches this horrible moment unfold right next to her as her mother lifelessly crumbles to the ground. Beatrice loves her mother very much and doesn’t want to leave her body there, but knows she has to uncover the strength to move onwards. Not only was Beatrice brave after witnessing the death of her mother but her mother was also brave. Beatrice’s mother was also brave, having to die like that for her people, sacrificing herself for her daughter and family. Beatrice shows how she feels about her mother’s braver when she says,” My mother’s death was brave. I remember how calm she was, how determined. It isn’t just that she died for me; it is brave that she did it without announcing it, wi...
This creates the image of just how ashamed she is of her heritage, she associates the ivory color of the soap with pureness and believes that once the soap is in her system it will purify her from all the wrong she believes is in her body. The title of the poem is also an important choice of diction “White Lies” are seen as small lies that don’t really matter, but as the poem ends it is shown just how these small lies have turned into a very negative part of her life and have affected what she truly believes about herself. The message of this poem is about how all types of lies can affect your life. White lies are seen as harmless but as time goes on and they keep being told over and over again they began to be believed as the
"Tell All the Truth but Tell It Slant." Poetry for Students. Ed. Sara Constantakis. Vol. 42. Detroit: Gale, 2013. 238-263. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 25 Apr. 2014.
The voices of the day come back to hunt her, to torment her through the pain and suffering that she endures everyday a new lie is spread, more vicious than the one before. The lies of her haters, the lies of the one that she used to love, she covers her ears but the voices still slip in spilling over slicing way through her head clear to her heart. There is no end to the pain, the torment, the hate, the darkness that eats away at her soul. She screams but like always there is no answer. Through the pain, the torment, the hate; through it all there is a voice, her voice the