Passion in Ai's poetry

A detailed Summary of Passion in Ai's poetry

Ai uses both sexes as speakers in her poems. In Twenty-year

Marriage there is a female speaker who is speaking to her

husband through her body movements. It is a man conveying

thoughts to the mother of his dead child in Abortion. Both poems

are very moving and believable. They present themselves as

spoken by a particular character who has let the reader into

their souls. The wife of twenty years, and the poor male speak

with a blunt passion. There is an intensity that makes them

plausible as characters. Ai creates speakers who invite a reader

deep into their thoughts. Both Twenty-Year Marriage and Abortion

feature speakers who are strikingly real. Kevin Everod Quashie

writes of Ai; "She investigates and interrogates power

relationships in social situations. She is a consummate artist

in her ability to represent the timbre and contour of so many

different and unlikely voices" (15) Ai can describe a certain

feeling, smell, vision, or sound so clearly that the reader can

imagine what speaker of the poem is going through. The fire and

passion that people feel is visible in the voice of Ai's poems.

The female speaker's voice seems patient and giving in

but also of the other character. Through her words, Ai is able

killed. Although it was half of the speakers he didn't feel it

Sexual desire, belonging, love and acceptance from her husband is

may be symbolic of sight. This imagery implies that he may not

pretend that he doesn't owe her a thing and that maybe they'll be

have an abortion. The realization that the baby would not be

be old, perhaps as old as their marriage together. She gives the

The male voice in Abortion has a much different tone than

the wife in Twenty-Year Marriage. His voice is one of surrender.

It is emotional pain that is driving her actions. He goes on to

reader can hear her passionately whispering it to her husband.

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they've spent together. He may not have been treating her in a

the woman so well it seems as if she is coming alive and speaking

Approximate Word count = 832
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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