The formal analysis of a literary work allows the reader to better understand the author’s message. The connection between form and content produces a desirable effect and generates meaning. In the poem, “Letter Beginning with Two Lines by Czeslaw Milosz,” Mathew Olzmann raises the issue of killing children and expresses his regrets about it through the use of specific literary devices and a reference to a work by Czeslaw Milosz.
The poem starts with the first lines from “Dedication,” addressing students who died. It is evident that this work is a homage to a Polish-American poet Czeslaw Milosz. Olzmann expresses honor and respect to the writer by mentioning him in the title and beginning his verse with the citation from “Dedication.” Milosz wrote his poem in the memory of those who died during the occupation of Warsaw by the Germans. The work gives us the impression that the author feels guilty because he survived and could not save the lives of other people. The use of imperative sentences and the pronoun ‘you’ in the first lines sets a friendly and conversational tone for the poem (Milosz, lines 1-3). Olzmann’s verse is written in the first person, which also creates an atmosphere of intimate talk with the reader. Both works tell the reader about real experience and reveal the poets’ emotions.
Similarly to Milosz, Olzmann seems to be ashamed because he could not rescue a child. As a teacher, he feels responsible for his students and considers it to be his moral duty to be near and protect them. In his work, he laments that innocent children die and he cannot help them. The juxtaposition of two contrary actions provides the author with the means to share his ideas with the reader: “I had one student/who opened the door and died” (Olzmann, lines 17-18). The writer makes the readers reflect on how terrible is the connection between a simple action of leaving the house and being murdered by a thirteen years old shooter. By combining life and death in one single line, Olzmann enhances the effect and suggests that a child’s life is fragile.
The contrast is a powerful literature device which gives the feeling of surprise and directs the reader’s attention to certain moments of the work. The poem contains many examples of contrast, such as in the first section. Here, the author expresses the idea that kids should feel safe and protected and should not require body armor or bodyguard when they go to school. The notion that students may need “Kevlar backpacks” or “snipers to watch their backs” seems Olzmann to be ridiculous, and one can find a comparison of unlike things: “snipers to watch their backs as they eat at McDonald’s” (Olzmann 1). In this sentence, snipers are incompatible with other elements of the situation, and their mention along with children and McDonald’s leads to a contrast. This allows the reader to create a vivid picture in their minds and realize the absurdity of the situation.
One can notice a close connection between the “Dedication” and the “Letter”, which is manifested not only in the commonality of content but also in the form. For instance, they both are free-verse poems, which means that they do not have rhyme. Free verses go beyond the traditional notion of poetry and can be written without regular rhythm, meter, and rhyme. Despite the absence of these features, the free verse is used as a means for providing artistic expression. The poems at hand are free from rhyme limitations but feature other literary devices that help the authors to convey their ideas. Moreover, the lack of a rigid pattern throughout the works gives the feeling that the poets are talking directly to the audience.
The use of personification in the poem is also worth mentioning as it plays an important role in communicating the author’s ideas. The purpose of this literary device is to enhance the meaning of work and add vividness. In his poem, Olzmann gives human characteristics to a bullet that “doesn’t care about ‘aim” and “doesn’t distinguish between the innocent and the innocent” (Olzmann, lines 27-30). A gun is also presented in the work as if it were a living thing (Olzmann, lines 51-54). The author absolves the responsibility for murder from the bullet and the gun, explaining that it is not their fault as they do not have minds to make decisions. It is stressed that the culprits of murders are always people because they choose whether to kill a person or not, and a gun is only a tool for doing it.
Other literary devices that help to convey the meaning of the work include rhetorical questions, repetition, simile, and metaphor. Olzmann uses rhetorical questions in line 80 in order to stress his point and make the reader think about the issue. He asks himself and the reader: “What should we do?”, implying that it is already late to do something when a person is dead. In these words, we can hear a desperate voice of the author, who is mourning over the student’s grave. With the help of the rhetorical questions, the poet invites us to ponder on the situation and suggests that people should prevent murders because their outcome is irrevocable. Furthermore, this question is repeated in line 83, which attaches further importance to it and allocates even greater attention to this moment of the poem.
The use of simile in line 82 is also notable. Here, Olzmann compares the earth that covers the coffin with the door: “The earth will close like a door above you” (Olzmann, line 82). This comparison makes reference to the circumstances in which the student was killed: he “opened the door and died” (Olzmann, line 18). The door was an indirect cause of the death, and its mention in the description of the burial process seems to be deliberate. The door is used in the poem as a metaphor of death. In lines 68-69, the author draws the parallel between the world and the doors which open to lead us to “a meadow, or a eulogy” (Olzmann, line 72). The last part of the poem is built on another rhetorical analogy – the metaphor. The attributes and rituals of a funeral are juxtaposed here to abstract notions, such as rhetoric and legislation. Olzmann writes: “you will be mourned, then buried in rhetoric” and “there will be monument of legislation,” putting together different things to achieve contrast (lines 73-77). This device allows the reader to look at the burial process from another angle and provides a better understanding of the writer’s ideas and feelings.
In conclusion, the poem by Olzmann can be analyzed from the perspectives of form and content and their correlation with each other. The “Letter” is a dedication to the author’s students whom he could not save. In this respect, it is similar to the “Dedication” by Czeslaw Milosz, where the poet addresses those who died during the years of occupation. The two works have much in common, and “Dedication” promotes a better understanding of Olzmann’s poem. In the “Letter,” the author conveys his ideas and reveals emotions through the use of various literary devices.
Works Cited
Milosz, Czesław. “Dedication.” The Collected Poems: 1931-1987, The Ecco Press, 1988.
Olzmann, Mathew. “Letter Beginning with Two Lines by Czesław Miłosz.” 2016. Academy of American Poets, Web.