Imagery brings out the unjustified hatred each man showed towards each other during war, "And staring face to face, I shot at him as he at me" (line 6-7).

The idea that a man would buy a twenty-dollar drink for a man he does not know symbolizes how the man imagines the possibility of a friendship, "You'd treat if met where any bar is, Or help to a half-a-crown" (line 19-20).

Personification is used as the man associates certain characteristics to war that show how war makes no sense, "Yes; quaint and curious war is" (line 17)!

A sad tone is developed through the story as the author takes a look at the power that war has on humans. Sadly we can see how this man turns cold-hearted as he justifies his killing with the only reason that he can come up with, "I shot him dead because- Because he was my foe. Just so: my foe or course he was" (line 10-11). It is sad to see that war can

The author stresses thankfulness through out the poem as the boy goes from hating his planned conception, to appreciating and accepting it. The author once again directly states the boy's negative opinion on the subject of his birth in order to support the thankfulness expressed in the 2nd stanza, "I hated the fact that they had planned me" (line 1). One of his friends expresses an objective view to the boy and the boy realizes how thankful he is for his mother, "-none of it was enough, for her, without me" (line 21-22). This thankful tone essentially shows how one should be thankful for what they have, since other may not be as fortunate.

"I would have liked to be conceived in heat and haste, by mistake" (line 6-8). This alliteration emphasizes how the boy hated that his birth was planned and wished that his birth took place in a harsh environment, in which he wasn't as wanted.

The imagery is interpreted to show how we hope the boat is stopping or our promises succeeding, but instead the boat passes by and we don't succeed as our promises aren't filled, "Arching our way, it never anchors" (line 14).

In Sharon Olds's, "The Planned Child" a boy who dislikes his planned conception is used to show how one should appreciate what they have, because not everyone is as fortunate. As a friend points out how the boy was a wanted child, the boy realizes how fortunate he is to have a mother that couldn't live with out him, "the world that was not enough for her without me in it" (line 18).

"As if sliding the backbone up out of his body" (line 3). The backbone is the central part of the body and a person cannot live with out it, thus this simile shows how much the planned conception bothered the boy.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Philip Larkin, Planned Child, William Shakespeare, Thomas Hardy, Surely Coming, Butler Yeats, Coming Surely, planned conception, twenty centuries stony, centuries stony sleep, significance importance, sweet silent, line 3, stony sleep, future isn't, line 1, twenty centuries, world line, centuries stony, foe course line, foe foe course, sessions sweet silent,
Approximate Word count = 2010
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)