- Free verse: Oliver has no set anything. She wrote in a way that pleased her even if it broke conformity
- Tone: Every single thing written has tone (even if it is just neutral). Oliver's tone is dark and extremely dreary- until the when she conveys a glimmer of hope
- Style: The collaboration of all the literary devices used by Oliver creates her style- her tonal shift paired with a subtle transition to more lively diction is a highlight
- Syntax: She varies her syntax greatly, and abruptness is a common place for her. Her lines are constantly changing in length, as well as the syllabication within them
- Stream-of-consciousness technique: She writes in a way that feels as if her audience is within her head experiencing everything with her as she does
- Hyperbole: The most obvious use of hyperbole is seen in the beginning of the poem as she compares the swamp to "the endless wet thick cosmos, the center of everything"
- "Slant" Hyperbaton/Anastrophe: Faint echoes of hyperbaton and anastrophe are heard in the line " I feel not wet so much..." as it is worded unusually and can be applied to the fragment "Here is swamp"
- Character: This vaguely applies, I believe. Although there is not much development of what the character is like the audience forms closeness and empathy
- Short Alliteration: There are many two word combos that begin to touch onto alliteration then - in ordinance with the rest of Oliver's writing in this piece- abruptly stop -->> ex) "hipholes, hummocks" and "the dark burred faintly belching bogs"
- Narrator and POV: The author uses first person POV to describe the feelings of the narrator using "my" and "I"
- Personification: Oliver personifies the "poor dry stick" saying it was given another chance and she applies the stick to being herself, which is noticed in the shift in line 28
- Setting: This is occurring in a swamp in a literal sense, the figurative is swamp=life
- Theme: It's safe to say all writers have a theme in mind when writing; Oliver's is have hope even in the darkest of times
- Genre: All works fit into a category- this one can fit into the genre of fiction with a life lesson
- Consonance: can be seen/heard with "pathless, seamless, peerless"
- Pun: The serious version. Oliver uses a play on words for "mire" in "...painted and glittered with the fat grassy mires,..." as mire has two meanings: 1) a swamp and 2) a state of difficulty or distress in which it is hard to remove oneself
- Symbol: The swamp is a symbol for life- both can be difficult to get through but have rewards; the stick is our narrator as both get a chance in the "swamp" to bud and make life
- Protagonist/Antihero: Even though we don't have a fully developed character, our narrator acts as our protagonist but has some characteristics of an antihero since she so weak and seemingly helpless through most of the piece
- Antagonist: The swamp because it's the force bringing the protagonist down
- Connotation: Swamps provoke thought of darkness and death- as was being conveyed through most of the poem- but then offered a chance of renewal at the end
- Denotation: Very important consideration when thinking of the pun with the varying definitions of mire
- Metaphor: The swamp as life again and the stick as the narrator
- Parallelism: repeating similar things (in this case nothingness) to embolden a point-->> example "pathless, seamless, peerless" and touch on a bit with " foothold, fingerhold, mindhold"
- Allegory: The symbols of the swamp as life and the stick as the narrator comes into play here as it is used to convey the theme-->> have hope even in times when it seems impossible to moved forward and prosper
- Allusion: Questionable Biblical allusion in "My bones knock together at the pale joints, trying for foothold, fingerhold, mindhold over" because it could be mimicking Jesus' walk with the cross as both have to have control over where they walk, what they hold, and what they think- if they believe they can't make it they won't so they must stay persevering
"Crossing the Swamp" by Mary Oliver
4) So What?
A) How is it relevant now?
Everyone deals with struggle in life but you should have hope. If you work hard enough you can achieve things from the challenge and maybe get a chance that wasn't possible without the difficulty.
3) Why was it said?
B) Historical Allusion? Possible Biblical allusion in "My bones knock together at the pale joints, trying for foothold, fingerhold, mindhold over" Could be mimicking Jesus' walk with the cross. It is always helpful to have a brief understanding in the Bible and various major events in history in general because they are alluded to often
A) Theme- If one has perseverance through tasks that seem challenging, he/she will be rewarded when it's accomplished and may have the chance to an addition opportunity that can be better than the first. This is depicted because even though there is so much dark and negative imagery, in the end there is a sense of hope conveyed.
C) Literary Allusion? Not that I am aware of, so no books on my matrix assisted me.
2) How was it said?
- Free verse poetry
- Rhyme- no set rhyme
- Syllabication- no set pattern of syllabication-->> once a pattern was set it was broken again
B) Entertain/Persuade/ Inform?
This was written to persuade readers to have hope even when the duty seems too difficult. As stated early, she presents dark imagery but then finishes up with the idea of rebirth coming from something thought to be so lifeless.
There is always a chance of possibility.
1) What was said
- Diction & Tone & Style (I put them together b/c they go hand in hand in my head):
- Ex 1- "foothold, fingerhold, mindhold" Oliver uses a parallelistic set up of these three words; they are more artistic than saying "I'm trying to get good footing, while holding on to what i need to, while keeping my sanity and composure" and provokes thought. This shows her writing style and gives to the tone which is dark but can grow monotonous as crossing a swamp does
- Ex 2- "painted and glittered with the fat grassy mires" The focal point of this quote is 'mires' because it has two definitions: 1) a swamp and 2) a state of difficulty or distress in which it is hard to remove oneself. She uses a serious play on words to tie in how denotations and connotations can interweave themselves and show how not only is she trudging in a swamp she is being weighed down by things she can't extricate herself from- the word is inside the word...it's inception-like
A)
- Born in Ohio
- Writings influenced from Ohio and adult home in New England
- Inspired by Thoreau and Whitman
- Nature sparked her interest and creativity
How was it said? (Cont'd)
How was it (n0t) said? (Cont'd)
B) Crossing through a swamp is tough to do but something good can come of it
- Speaker- Herself -->> 1st Person POV
- Audience- Anyone dealing with a struggle that seems to have no light at the end of the tunnel
- Reasoning- Could be struggling within her own life and wants to share her experience with others
- Lends to a sense of dark hope
- Pastoral
- Epic
- Elegy
- Canon
- Verisimilitude
- Apostrophe
- Conceit
- Couplet
- Deuteragonist
- Scansion
- Satire
- Metonymy
- Meiosis
- Hamartia
- Hubris or Hybris
- Irony
- Foil
- Foreshadowing
- Archetype
- Aside
- Cliché
- Parable
- Simile
C) Devices not used:
- Ancillary Character
- Oedipus complex
- Electra complex
- Monologue
- Soliloquy
- Onomatopoeia
- Iambic pentameter
- Epitaph
- Epigram
- Exposition
- Paraphrase
- Parody
- Paradox
- Oxymoron
- Stanza
- Anecdote
- Tragedy
- Synesthesia
- Synecdoche
- Suspension of Disbelief
- Stage directions
- Phallic
- Yonic
- Subplot
- Scene
- Prologue
- Polysyndeton
- Assonance
- Rhyme
Here is the endless (5)
wet thick (2)
cosmos, the center (5)
of everything—the nugget (8)
of dense sap, branching (5)
vines, the dark burred (4)
faintly belching (4)
bogs. Here (2)
is swamp, here (3)
is struggle, (3)
closure— (2)
pathless, seamless, (4)
peerless mud. My bones (5)
knock together at the pale (8)
joints, trying (3)
for foothold, fingerhold, (6)
mindhold over (4)
such slick crossings, deep (5)
hipholes, hummocks (4)
that sink silently (5)
into the black, slack (5)
earthsoup. I feel (4)
not wet so much as (5)
painted and glittered (6)
with the fat grassy (5)
mires, the rich (3)
and succulent marrows (6)
of earth—a poor (4)
dry stick given (4)
one more chance by the whims (6)
of swamp water—a bough (6)
that still, after all these years, (7)
could take root, (3)
sprout, branch out, bud— (4)
make of its life a breathing (7)
palace of leaves. (4)