Abby L

In Ada Limon’s book, Bright Dead Things, “The Problem with Travel” poem discusses the author’s thoughts and feelings she experiences while traveling. She discusses that while traveling she begins to feel grown up and a sense of independence, like she needs to grow up and not worry about little things so much. However, she is stuck with the thought of her comfort places. Through the use of simile, alliteration, and colon, Limon expresses her thoughts symbolically to provide the reader with a deeper meaning to her inner feelings about herself. 

In the poem, Limon uses simile to explain how she feels like she should “creep below the radar like an escaped canine sneaking along the fence line.” While traveling, the author feels as if she should begin to act more mature and escape from the chaos of the world like a dog that has gone missing. The use of simile shows Limon’s idea of escape from reality through a complex literary device to give the reader an alternate perspective. A colon is also used at the beginning of this sentence to show how the author feels she should “drastically change her life” while in an airport. She recognizes the problems she has with travel and lists these feelings after use of the colon. The author also uses alliteration throughout the poem such as “clutter and creep” and “beautiful beyond buying.” Limon uses this alliteration to emphasize the points in her life that she feels are cluttered and chaotic. She would find the world and her current life more enjoyable than buying things that don’t matter and finding her identity in material things. 

Later in the poem, there is a shift when she states “Then I think of you, home…” This shift occurs to tell the reader that she wants to act more mature and change her life, but she feels stuck in the comfortable situation she is in at the moment. She is reminded of her life and how small she is in the world compared to everything else. It is difficult to change when she would rather be comfortable than to explore the unknown. The title is relatable to this shift in the poem because this is where the author highlights the actual problems she has with travel. She wants to feel a sense of independence and originality, but is held back by the reminders of the people and things that bring her comfort. 

This poem most relates to Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken.” This poem discusses how the author evaluated both of the paths in his life and both of them were viewed the same. To Frost, they both represented undergrowth and a period of uncertainty, so he chose the road less traveled. He explains through imagery and shifts that the road less traveled, the path that he took, allowed him to grow as a person and “made all the difference.” He also discusses throughout the poem that the journey this one path has led him on allowed him to ponder the thoughts of returning back to the original path. This is similar to Ada Limon’s “The Problem With Travel” because in her poem, she also discusses the unknown feelings about travel and the growth within herself as she is traveling; she also debates going “home” similar to Frost’s poem because that is the comfort zone. (560)

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44272/the-road-not-taken

In the book, Bright Dead Things by Ada Limón, there were three poems I found interesting to use for analysis in my blog. “Downhearted” was a good option for analysis, but I felt it was too easy. There was minimal structure and literary devices used, and it was shorter in length. Furthermore, the poem “Accident Report in the Tall, Tall Grass” was another option, but after reading through it in its entirety, I decided it was too hard for me to analyze. It starts out simple and easy in understanding, and later gains more complexity as you continue through the poem. It is very long and the topics jump multiple times in this one poem, making it very difficult to understand the ultimate point the author is trying to make. I chose the poem “Mowing” as my “just right” poem for analysis. The author uses multiple poetic devices, such as diction and alliteration to talk about the man mowing across the street and reflecting it back on herself. She starts out with a simple image and creates a deeper meaning to show how she views herself. 

In the poem, Ada Limón uses alliteration to highlight the certain areas of emptiness and quiet within the poem. For example the text states, “disappear in the dusky nothing” and “not just to let the savage grass grow.” Use of alliteration in this way allows the reader to read in a smoother pattern and to emphasize the environment she is describing in terms of herself. She wonders what it is like to disappear into the darkness of the night and wishes she could quiet herself into a calmness, unleashing all of her wild spirits.” In addition, she uses the words “savage grass grow” to relate the mowing of the grass to her wild spirit. By saying these words, she wishes that she herself could be more silent and peaceful, like the nature around the man mowing, instead of being rambunctious and talkative, and being “savage” in that way. 

The image relates to the poem because the person is mowing their lawn.

During this time, there is also a shift in the passage from the author explaining what she sees in the environment to reflecting it back on herself on how she views her personality and character traits. The shift occurs when the author states, “I imagine what it must be like to stay hidden, disappear in the dusky nothing and stay still in the night.” Here, she goes from describing the man mowing in his “so many circles” to wondering about being hidden in the places of nature that are unseen, essentially being tucked away from sight. She later explains how she wishes she could be “silent more” and “less clumsy and loud,” which goes along with the title of the poem. The title Mowing is significant because she talks about the man mowing his 40 acres of grass and later “mows” herself down by picking out the things of herself that she does not like. She makes herself feel tinier and more insecure in this way.

(Word Count: 500)

In Clint Smith’s poem, “Passed Down,” he begins the poem by using something abstract such as “freckles” and later compares it to the concrete idea of being insecure and his inherited traits. A kenning of “the patches/of darkness” is used to describe Clint Smith’s insecurity of his freckles. Smith uses the words,”The remnants/ of colonialism in this double-helix/ of a body. When I was younger I was ashamed/” to show his “colonialism” of where he came from and how he grew up. He also uses the allusion of a “double-helix” body to represent his biology and genetic makeup. Clint Smith refers to his genetic traits as an “heirloom” that has been passed down from his mother. Through further analysis, I discovered Smith’s use of alliteration/consonance of “colony of inconsistent color” to highlight the irregular pigmentation of his skin and how he feels self-conscious about himself. He writes about his life through this poem by expressing how the freckles on his face and his skin pigmentation make him feel insecure, although they were passed down genetically from his mother. It describes Smith’s early childhood insecurities and how it altered his thought process about himself as he got older. Similarly, this poem about inherited traits and feeling insecure reminds me of a similar song called “Scars to Your Beautiful” by Alessia Cara. In the song, Cara writes “She craves, attention she praises, an image/She prays to be, sculpted by the sculptor.” In this song, she writes about her insecurities, and how herself and many others feel the need to be perfect and look perfect, when in reality, most of our “insecurities” are inherited and cannot be changed. As a result, Clint Smith uses devices such as allusion, alliteration, consonance, and other literary devices to express his feelings and personal experiences with insecurity and not liking his inherited traits/genes.