Leap And The Names

562 Words3 Pages
When asked, many individuals remember exactly what they were doing when they received the news of September 11th, 2001. How did the people who were actually experiencing this tragic event in New York City respond? Written at different times after September 11th, 2001, the poems “Leap” and “The Names” each seem to have a different point of view. Brian Doyle’s poem “Leap” portrays the viewpoint of a bystander who watched the tragic event unfold. Billy Collin’s outlook produced the poem, “The Names” as he was an individual who noticed the aftermath that had been engraved in New York City. Both authors produce a different point of view that creates a different image for the reader. It is their individual perspectives that enable their reader to imagine the same event through someone else’s experiences. Doyle’s poem, “Leap” portrays that Doyle was an individual that experienced the attack also. However, Doyle’s point of view was taken as a bystander who watched the countless number of victims jump to their deaths. Doyle creates a vivid picture as he explains: “Many people jumped. Perhaps hundreds, No one knows. They/ struck the pavement with such force that there was a pink mist in/ the air”. Although Doyle watched this happen, he explains to his viewers how names and faces had no value behind them. He was unable to indentify anyone he saw, but could explain the bond that these individuals obtained as hey ended their lives together: “I try to whisper prayers for the sudden dead and the harrowed families of the dead/ and the screaming souls of the murderers but keep coming back to his hand and her/ hand nestled in each other”. Doyle’s point of view concludes that regardless if individuals know one another, in the event of something so horrifying, they will unite to gains a sense of security. Billy Collins illustrates another point of view in his poem, “The Names”.
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