Question

What literary devices can be found in "The Last Night" by Sharon Olds? ENGLISH CLASS

The next day, I am almost afraid.

Love? It was more like dragonflies

in the sun, 100 degrees at noon,

the ends of their abdomens stuck together, I

close my eyes when I remember. I hardly

knew myself, like something twisting and

twisting out of a chrysalis,

enormous, without language, all

head, all shut eyes, and the humming

like madness, the way they writhe away,

and do not leave, back, back,

away, back. Did I know you? No kiss,

no tenderness–more like killing, death-grip

holding to life, genitals

like violent hands clasped tight

barely moving, more like being closed

in a great jaw and eaten, and the screaming

I groan to remember it, and when we started

to die, then I refuse to remember,

the way a drunkard forgets. After,

you held my hands extremely hard as my

body moved in shudders like the ferry when its

axle is loosed past engagement, you kept me

sealed exactly against you, our hairlines

wet as the arc of a gateway after

a cloudburst, you secured me in your arms till I slept–

that was love, and we woke in the morning

clasped, fragrant, buoyant, that was

the morning after love.

Answer 1

Note: This response is in UK English, please paste the response to MS Word and you should be able to spot discrepancies easily.

(Answer) This poem is a typical pyramid story. It is built up, and then slowly tapers as it ends. Such a literary device used for a story build up is known as a “climax.” The poet describes in progressive steps the events until culmination. Towards the last few lines of the poem, the poet ends the build up and gradually describes calmer events. This is known as an “anti-climax.” She begins with describing the characters as dragons and she ends with saying that the characters were buoyant the next morning.