In the
poem, “My Ex-Husband”, the speaker portrays an overall paradox as she states
how fed up and disgusted she is with her ex-husband, while simultaneously
admitting her true feelings. Spera repeatedly talks about letting go of her
“shady” ex, however the more she shares her dislikes, the more obvious it
becomes that she’s not over him. Her negative comments begin when Spera says,
“snapshots don’t show what’s beneath the skin,”—which really addresses the
poems overall message and tone.
The word
snapshots relates the imagery of her “ex-husband pictured on the shelf;” She
goes on to admit it was “a shame to waste [the frame] on him.” Using an
allegory of their lost marriage the words “snapshots,” “frame” and “pictured”
captures the feeling that the speaker is stuck in the past. Furthermore, Spera
says, “there he grins almost lovable,” half-admitting that she still somewhat
has a yearning for this man.
Changing the
subject, Spera tells her date that anywhere they go is fine, except for “any
place[s] with checkered tables—this hints at the idea that “checkered tables”
may remind her of her ex, thus ruining the date.
From a new
critical point of view it’s apparent that the speaker feels both over and not
over her ex-husband, creating an overall contradiction.
You did a great job going into detail about tones and each word. Mabe add a solution to the paradox.
ReplyDeleteI wrote about this poem as well. She conveys such true hate for her ex-husband but yet she is clearly still truly in love with him. I think she notices that has made a mistake but the divorce is already done and she has to force herself to think that what she did was right, and that she has to move on with her life now. She obviously talks about him in good ways and bad ways. I agree with you.
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