"Driving to Town Late to Mail a Letter" by Robert Bly

In Driving to Town Late to Mail a Letter, Robert Bly uses a serene and content tone with the use of imagery and diction to show how winter creates a quiet and relaxed atmosphere. It provides people with more times to do what they want to do. “The main street is deserted” giving him a certain sense of “privacy” which he loves. The “swirls of snow” and “the cold iron” that he notices are the only things that he has to worry about. There is nothing to bother him. He simply just wants to “waste more time” driving around because he loves the beauty and serenity that winter provides for him. Everything becomes quiet and still during winter and he enjoys the simple beauty of it because it gives him more time. Bly shows how winter creates this kind of atmosphere with his use of imagery, tone, and diction.

Hand Shadows by Mary Cornish

In Hand Shadows, Mary Cornish uses an intimate and playful tone with the use of imagery and metaphor to show the connection and bonding between father and daughter. The father is creating animals through hand shadows in a tent. These hand shadows represent the relationship between them. The “swan would turn its perfect neck and drop it’s fingered beak toward that shadowed head to lightly preen my father's feathered hair. This is comparing her father to a swan showing that her father is a gentle and loving person. In the end of the poem her “father’s hands became two birds, linked by a thumb, they flew one following the other.” This shows the connection between the father and daughter. They are like birds one who follows in the footsteps of her father and one who leads. The fact that they are linked by a thumb represents trust and security. Mary Cornish uses these techniques well to show the priceless connection between a father and daughter.

The Meadow by Kate Knapp Johnson

In the Meadow, Kate Knapp Johnson uses imagery syntax, and diction with the use of a lost and calm tone to show how the passage of time affects a person especially when the person is waiting on someone that is important to them. She stares out the window searching for “one true thing about the soul” but she lost track and started “thinking for thought” meaning that she lost track of what she was thinking. The poems stanzas split off before it finishes sentence making it more difficult to read fluidly. This might show how time is going by faster how her thoughts are racing. After a while she realizes that “two inches of snow have fallen” she starts to talk about how she wants her lover to come back. Waiting for a loved one to return can make a person sit with only his/her thoughts to pass the time but when the person returns to the real world he/she begins to become sad again. These techniques that are used in the poem convey this message very well.