Linda Pastan And Sharon Olds
The poems "Ethics" and "35/10" by Linda Pastan and Sharon Olds
are
surprisingly alike. Each poem tells a story with the speaker being the
author.
She speaks directly to the audience. Although the number of lines
differ, the
appearance and length of each line and the appearance of each
poem as a whole is
very similar. The tones are similar, since both are
reflective and somewhat
pensive. The language and diction in both poems are
simple and understandable.
The authors interest is telling her story, and
that is evident. Sharon Olds’
poem, "35/10" is a narrative poem about a
mother’s realization that she is
aging as her daughter is blooming. The
mother is the speaker, which is also the
author, and she speaks directly to
the audience. The tone is admiring, maternal,
pensive, reflective, and
nostalgic. It is structured as an 18 line poem, each
line being of almost
equal length. The fact of there being 18 lines may
symbolize youth, as the
age 18 is the prime of one’s youth. The movement of
the poem is very fluid.
It’s chronological flow takes the audience from the
beginning when the mother
notices her daughter, to where she wonder’s why they
bloom as mother’s begin
to wilt, to finally understanding that it is to
replace the mother. The title
simply represents the ages, the mother being 35
and the daughter being 10.
The diction helps emphasize the difference between
the mother and daughter.
Words such as gray, silver, dry pitting, and dud
represents the mother, while
silken, flower, full, and round represent the
daughter. There is imagery that
helps the audience see the difference as well as
the mother in the mirror.
For example, in lines 9-10, "she opens like a small
pale flower on the tip of
a cactus", or "last chances to bear a child are
falling through my body, the
duds among them". This deepens the contrast.
Linda Pastan’s poem,
"Ethics" is a narrative poem as well. The author, who
is the speaker, tells
the audience a story of her lesson of ethics. As a young
woman, she had an
Ethics class, but in the end the lesson the teacher attempted
to teach, was
only learned by the author’s own experience. The tone is
reflective, pensive
and appreciative. The poem consists of 25 almost equal
lines. The poem moves
fluidly as the author herself changes from the beginning
to the end. It
develops from her memory of the class, to years later in a museum
where she
remembers her discussion of the class years before. It chronologically
tells
the audience that she goes from not knowing what to do, to understanding
the
real answer. The title "Ethics" shows that she didn’t understand the
true
meaning of the word from her class, but through age, wisdom, and
experience.
The diction consists of simple words that flow. The imagery is in
the
description of the painting in the museum, she states, "The colors within
the
frame are darker than autumn, darker even than winter - the browns of
the
earth, though earth’s most radiant elements burn through the canvas"
which
allows the audience to envision the painting with her. In conclusion,
the two
poems differ in the way the story is being told, but are similar in
many other
ways. Both poems tell a story of coming of age, but in different
fashions. The
structures, the diction, the tones, and even the movement are
alike. Both are
narrative poems with the speaker being the
authors.