Analysis of Amends

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Amends Adrienne rich Poem amends by Adrienne Rich personifies moonlight as a female caring for other people. The mood of the poem is generally peaceful and tranquil, though at some places it turns violent. The poems starts with the mention of ‘nights like this’ and further on describes the kind of night being talked about. The words ‘cold’ and ‘white star’ further add to the atmosphere of night time. There are white stars, first one, and then another ‘exploding’ out of the apple tree. Exploding here is a hyperbole, as stars cannot actually explode out of trees; the poet effectively creates a violent mood which destroys the tranquility of the poem by using this hyperbole. I personally feel the white star coming out of the bark indicates that it is snowing; it brings to my mind an image of trees are covered by a blanket of white snow. The first mention of moonlight is ‘moonlight picking stones’; the poet personifies moonlight as human and I can imagine a small child walking along a pathway and picking up small pebbles from the ground. The meter of the poem changes here and the long line signifies the poet getting excited about the actions of the moon. The moonlight then ‘picks at greater stones’, which shows that it now moving from something small to something bigger, and the same child comes in my mind who is now, instead of playing with pebbles, trying to lift heavy boulders. The phrase ‘rises with the surf’ brings to my mind the image of moonlight bobbing up down on the sea, floating on the waves; it makes me feel quite relaxed and calm. The poet very effectively uses the technique of anaphora here by repeating the words ‘as it’ to emphasize the actions of moonlight and draw our attention to them. Again the moonlight is personified as a female, when the poet says ‘laying its cheek for moments on the sand’; the gentleness placidity of the action relates

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