Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Wilting Flowers

Reading through the 9/11 poems, my attention was drawn to "Late, There was an Island"(A Poem Cycle) by Meena Alexander for a few reasons. Mostly, because I felt it shared a common theme with Whitman's poem: nature. Death is an interesting theme in poetry, because it is something that you experience indirectly (I'm pretty sure no one reads a poem and goes "Oh yeah that reminds me of when I died"). You experience death through the loss of something outside yourself, a friend, family member, loved one, etc. I think tying it in to nature (lilacs with Whitman and linden trees for Alexander) helps give a more concrete visual while also serving as a subtle reminder that death is a part of nature.

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