The poem “The Race” by Sharon Olds and “In the Desert” by Stephen Crane are the poems chosen for the poetic analysis. The first one is a blank verse that in details describes the thoughts of the main hero, the second stands out as a perfectly concise dialogue, which encourages own independent self-analysis. They are unified with the similar topic, which depicts the importance of human soul and neglects everything material. Nevertheless, there are also a lot of differences in poetic form, linguistic and stylistic devices chosen. For sure, some of them are predetermined by the time when the poems were written and differences in tendencies: “the Race” was created in 1992, while “In the desert” belongs to 1895.
“The Race” is a bright example of the style of Sharon Olds, as in the center of her works stand complicated relationships with her family, and especially with her father. In this verse, she depicts her desperate race to catch the plane and see his last minutes. It seems like she is purifying her father from all old sins and finally finds the “heaven” and peace, having left all material luggage behind. Sharon Olds reproduced this feeling with the help of a brilliant Biblical allusion “slipped through the needle’s eye” (“Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” (ESV Matthew 19:23-26). The poet stresses that the way to deep love is difficult and on her path, she was forced to suffer.
Similar image of heart it is possible to trace in the poem “In the desert” by Stephen Crane. The author depicts a man, he calls him worse - “creature”, who is “naked and bestial”, who has so much pain in his heart that it even tastes bitter. Nevertheless, as well as the lyrical hero of the first poem, he manages to love it and accept one’s own “taste” of the soul. While in “In the Desert” Stephen Crane practically shows his hero as naked and vulnerable, in the “The Race” a reader can gradually trace the transformation that happened with the hero. She had well set plans, bought a ticket, was a woman “who always goes to the end of the line”, but everything has changed and life forced her to “say goodbye to her body, goodbye to comfort and use her heart” (Crane, Stephen p.22, 27).
Another feature in common is that in both cases poets wrote these poems from the first person. This was done intentionally, as such approach helps a reader to identify himself with a lyrical hero and adds personal attitude to the verse. A point of discrepancy between two poems is that “In the desert” is written in the form of dialogue between an observer and an observed, while “The Race” is structured as a memory. In addition to that, even the absence of equilinearity and the composition of “The Race” support author’s intention to render the atmosphere of a race, race of a thought. The sentences in this verse are complex and wordy, with many subordinate parts, which also reproduces complex thoughts and feelings of the hero. Moreover, the author ignores accepted in poetic tradition capitalization of the first letter in each line. This feature is characteristic to modern poetry, in which very often not only the tradition of capitalization is neglected, but also punctuation and form. Sharon Olds in this lyrical poem masterfully combines the story plot, emotions of a hero and even self-analysis of her feelings.
Stephen Crane in his “In the Desert”, on the contrary, proposes a realistic picture without any personal additions. The form of the verse is concise, which turns it into a rhetorical question. Each reader who “ate of one’s heart” is asked: “Is it good, friend?” and the answer should be as following, “I like it because it is my heart” (Crane, Stephen p.6-10). Unlike “The Race” there is no self-analysis in this verse, no path of the soul’s resurrection is shown, it is only the result visible.
An interesting point is the repetition of the word “bitter” in the verse “In the desert”. It creates great stylistic effect, and contrast: “It is bitter—bitter,” he answered; / “But I like it” (Crane, Stephen p.9-10). The whole verse is built on the contrast, as we see a naked, bestial creature, which at the same time accepts oneself to such extent that can love the bitterness in its heart. The same stylistic device Sharon Olds uses in “The Race”. In this verse it is used to contrast the changes that happened with the main hero: “ I ran, I who have no sense of direction / raced exactly where he'd told me”, “I who always go to the end of the line, I said / Help me” (Olds, Sharon p.22-23). In both verses, the authors contrast the material world and soul to stress that they are not related and that the only way to become free is to accept love and hate, which live inside us.
Having analyzed these two poems, it is possible to state that the topic and imagery of the verses are similar, however, due to the differences between the epochs and writing styles they are rendered with the help of unlike means. “The Race” by Sharon Olds depicts the recovery from evil thoughts and addiction to the material in the form of narrative story with the elements of self-analysis. Stephen Crane’s “In the Desert” is written as a dialogue, though the central theme is the same – a human’s heart. The poem is very concise, which triggers stronger emotions, add sharpness to the author’s ideas and makes reader think.
Works Cited
1. Crane, Stephen. In the Desert. Poetry Foundation. Web. 11 Jan. 2016.
2. Olds, Sharon. The Race. The Best American Poetry. Web. 11 Jan. 2016.
