212. Money by Victor Contoski (p. 280)

     The fist literary device used in this poem is personification. Money is given the human characteristics of, “nest[ing] in your pocket” and “shak[ing] hands with men.” Nesting in your pocket means that at first you will have it in your possession and it will be used to manipulate business deals with other men and also “lick the legs of women,” or make people want to be with you for your money. Finally when it says it will, “turn its head as if for a kiss and bite you gently in the hand,” it is expressing that eventually the money will leave you and you will be left with nothing and in “thirty seconds the poison will reach your heart.” By using this personification, the poet creates money as a character of sorts. It makes the money into the villain that leads you on and brings good fortune while its there, but inevitably leaves you with nothing. 

The second literary device used in this poem is hyperbole or an exaggeration. In the end of the poem it states, “there will be no pain but in thirty seconds the poison will reach your heart.” While Contoski is not suggesting that money can physically kill a person, he is expressing that money is relied upon so heavily that when misfortune inevitably comes and leads to the loss of money, it can feel like death. The hyperbole that money can actually kill a person helps to contribute to the meaning of the poem because it gives the poem a serious tone that money is too important in society. Money cannot literally kill somebody, however, it is seen as the foundation of society, and when someone loses all of their money it is seen as a loss of life. All of this contributes to Cantoski’s overall message that money is made too crucial in society and that it should not be the fundamental value of society.

I enjoyed this poem because of its use of personification of twisting money into a monster. I liked that it turned money into a character that had motives to make the societal commentary rather than telling a tale of someones misfortune. I thought that the meaning of the poem was that while money is initially a blessing that helps you to get ahead in society and brings comfort, it ultimately leaves you with nothing in the end, just like the curse of the lottery where when someone wins a lot of money but ultimately hits bad luck and loses it all ending up worse off then they started out.

265. Getting Trough by Deborah Pope (p.322)

The first literary device used in this poem is simile. The speaker is expressing the feeling they have from being abandoned by a significant other. They describe their feelings using similes such as “like a car stuck in gear” and “or a phone ringing and ringing in the house they have all moved away from.” Using these comparisons, the poem takes on the tone of abandonment and loneliness. The phone ring in a deserted house, demonstrates that the speaker feels abandoned. Also, later in the poem, after stating that she will continue to love him, it says, “my words hurtling past, like a train off its track, toward a barded up station.” This simile adds to the meaning of the poem because it represents that there is an argument going on. The speaker is describing yelling at her significant other but they are “boarded up” and reserved and not listening to what she is saying. All of these similes create a feeling of tension and pity for the speaker because they are feeling desperate trying to salvage a relationship when the other person has already moved on. 

The second literary device used in this poem is imagery. Pope’s use of language appeals to the senses through phrases like, “sound ratcheting on” and “some last speaker of a beautiful language that no one else can hear” both appeal to hearing.  They contribute to the meaning of the poem by demonstrating the hopelessness of the person. A sound ratcheting on shows that they feel like no matter what they say or do the other person will be permanently gone like a sound that never seizes. Also by saying that they are the last person who speaks a beautiful language, i.e. that they are the last person to feel true love, shows that they have not yet given up on love however, they feel like they will never find someone to share this love with again because they are the last person to feel it. There is also visual imagery through statements such as, “a chicken too stupid to tell its head is gone” and “long after the film has jumped the reel.” Both of these images also lead to the feeling of hopelessness because they represent that the person feels “stupid” for trying to stay in the relationship even though “the film has jumped the reel” or that it has already ended.

My personal interpretation of the poem is that the speaker is still in love with and past significant other. They feel desperate yet hopeless in trying to get the person back. They do not necessarily still want to be in love with the person, they just cannot help it as seen through, “my heart blundering on, a muscle spilling out what is no longer wanted.” This shows that they do not want to feel the love anymore, and they are trying to cope with their sense of abandonment, but they still feel hopelessly in love with the person. I enjoyed this poem because of the extended use of figurative language by the author and because of the simplicity of the poem.