Last Night Poem Analysis

Document Type:Essay

Subject Area:English

Document 1

As the title itself suggest “Last Night”, Excursions in most cases takes place at night thus the poet chooses the word ‘night’ to include in her title. Moreover, they embrace each other tight especially in the abdomen; therefore, there is no movement. This means that one of the partners is as submissive as the other dominates; in this case, the woman is the one who is submissive during this moment. Furthermore, by extension, it is more of an erotic encounter which there is also an encounter with nature as well. The main theme of this poem is love, however, the development of this theme addresses sex as being one of the physical interactions that are empty when there is no emotion and love.

Sign up to view the full document!

Nevertheless, her language is more accessible and uses simple words. Due to the fact that her settings and characters are from the daily life in which the readers are used to; women and lovers make it easier to understand. Despite the fact that her language is accessible, her syntax is also composed of a speaking voice with direct structures. Her diction is also from the daily life experiences and activities as well, for instance, ‘drunkard’ in (line 20) and also use of bunt sexual words she talks about; ‘kisses and genitals’. Moreover, imagery has been used in this poem to enable the readers to create mental pictures as well as to authenticate the poem. The use of these figures of speech in any writing assists in bringing life to phrases and sentences that could have been mare words, more so it also brings beauty, emphasis, and clarity.

Sign up to view the full document!

Olds, therefore, draws the metaphors and symbols from the nature such as the use of dragonflies which describes the act of lovemaking without emotions and romance. Olds is comparing herself with the motion of “…twisting and twisting out of a chrysalis…” (Line 6-7). When she chooses to use chrysalis, the readers are able to come up with an imagination that she is trying to strife and escape from something that is so tight. There is also the use of direct comparison, she compares orgasm with cloudburst, furthermore, she uses simile in her poetry. Consequently, the use of dragonflies implies that the persona needs to keep her alive therefore she needs the warmth just as the dragonflies are using the sun in heating their bodies; it could be the physical heat as well as the passion of the intercourse.

Sign up to view the full document!

In (Line 23-26) “…axle is loosed past engagement, you kept me sealed exactly against you, our hairlines wet as the arc of a gateway after a cloudburst, and you secured me in your arms till I slept…” The “…cloudburst…” in these lines has been used to mean orgasm; they are closed tight even after both have finished the whole process of intercourse. Most important is that this poem gives us the real struggles of human beings. Furthermore, sounds techniques have been used to enhance the poem and create mood and tone of the poem. For instance, repetition has been used to create musicality, emphasis, and rhythm in the poem; “…do not leave, back, back, away, back…” (Line 11),”… twisting and twisting out of a chrysalis…”, ‘back’ and ‘twisting’ have been repeated to indicate emphasis, the pronoun ‘I’ has also been used repeatedly to indicate the emphasis on the persona.

Sign up to view the full document!

From $10 to earn access

Only on Studyloop

Original template

Downloadable