“Crossing the Swamp” is an allegorical poem in which the crossing of a threatening and rather dismal swamp symbolizes the journey that we must all make through life. Through the use of expertly crafted structure, diction, and imagery, Mary Oliver poignantly depicts the ups and downs, the good and the bad, the trials and rewards of this human journey.
The structure of the poem itself, with the unevenness of the lines, the backward and forward movement on the page represents the uncertainty of the human journey through life. The elements of a poem include the speed of the poem, look of the poem, words in the poem, and style of the poem itself. The speaker provides us with the image of the characters footsteps itself through the structure of the poem, which indicates the struggle that he is going through by the gaps and indents throughout. The poem isn’t referred to as stanzas or paragraphs, because the poem itself is one broken stanza which includes the characters’ adventurous journey and appalled misery. The initial tone of pessimism, disgust, and struggle is emphasized by a very cumbersome flow of rhythm. Enjambment takes place. As lines grow longer in meter, they fall back to single words. This gives a sense of acceleration as it’s suddenly falling. Towards the poem’s end, single-word lines disappear
The diction employed by Mary Oliver is what drives the mood of the poem. Diction is the style of speaking or writing as dependent upon choice of words. By deploying several poetic techniques the author manages to create a firmer relationship between the swamp and the reader. the poet has obviously been quite conscious to find words which emphasize meaning and expression through imagery as well as sound device. The alliteration resulting from diction establishes tone. The repetition of the b’s and d’s is treacherous evidence of the speaker’s frustration. In the beginning of the poem, branching, burred, and belching bogs are used to describe the ugly sounds of...