What Is The Tone Of Chris Albani's Poetry

Chris Albani is a distinguished writer and poet who was born in Nigeria in 1961. He is mostly known for his writing about his experience growing up in the troubled African nation of Nigeria. His first novel was written at the age of 16 and was accused of plotting to overthrow the government which earned him 6 months in jail. His style of writing is fearless and rich with imagery and content as he is not afraid of any subject that other poets or writers find touchy or uninviting. He embraces the daunting and twists it into something spectacular with his imagination. Throughout his writing he uses many poetic devices to infuse his poems with feeling and meaning that entice the reader. A few he uses frequently are imagery, theme, and diction.

The tone of the poem at the beginning of is is somewhat sad and depressing because the widow is recalling her husband and how much she longs to hear his voice. The turnpoint of the tone takes place in stanza 4 when he says “ between the time you woke that morning and the time when the letter came, a tired sorrow: like an old flagellant able only to tease with a weak sting.” The tone slowly turns from anguish at the loss of her husband to just downcast. This stanza says that as time goes on the sorrow she feels becomes more bearable ; even though it still hurts her it is but “ a weak sting”. From stanza 5 on the tone goes from downcast to hopeful as she moves forward with her mourning and begins to move

The last stanza of the poem talks about riding an elevator every day always going up described as “ A small victory whittled”. The symbol of the elevator is used to portray the woman's life. Each floor the elevator stops at is every day she has to live without her beloved. The “ Small victory whittled” is her journey to survive each day and grow stronger from the “ Hard stone of death”. Another piece of symbolism in this poem is the last line of the last stanza. When Albani writes “ They used to write epics about moments like this” It symbolizes the significance of this woman's sorrow and how strong she has to be to overcome it and not be overwhelmed by her sadness. It shows that each and every day that she gets to the next floor is a victory. It also symbolizes her “epic” as the first time she can have a positive day which is a key step to moving forward in her life. One other important piece of symbolism in this poem is the letter mentioned in stanza 4 line 6. This is obviously the letter that the widow received to tell her that her husband had died at war but to her it symbolizes her sorrow. It is the start to her journey to come to where she has grown to now as an old