"Workday" and "Did I Miss Anything?"

The poem "Workday" by Linda Hogan is centralized around a universal theme. This theme is no matter what culture one is, embrace it and keep the connection between you and your fellow members of that particular culture.  This theme can be seen throughout the poem as the author seems to have a sense of detachment from her native culture.  She even remarks on how her professors know more about the Native American culture than she does.  A literary element that can be seen used throughout the poem is allegory. The author writes in the form of a narrative to describe her usual day.  She writes in a sequence from the beginning of the day until the end of the day.  Another element that is seen throughout the poem is imagery.  Hogan uses visual imagery as she describes at the end of the poem about the men coming home from a day's work.  The stanza that stuck out was, "The perfect legs even with their spider veins...the thighs with their cravings, the pelvis an small back with its soft down..." (224-225). Using this element creates a picture in my head of how the men appeared after work.  The third literary element that is depicted throughout the poem is the structure of the poem.  Toward the end of the poem, when the author is describing the men walking down the street, she uses a unique way of how the structure is laid out. For example, on one line is only a few words versus the other lines having more.  Hogan separates this so the poem is more drastic and the readers can understand the intensity shining through from the author.

The poem "Did I Miss Anything" by Tom Wayman has a theme that can be described as if one will be late or unable to make it to an event, be proactive and ask what did you miss.  A literary element that was used by Wayman is the speakers tone and voice.  Throughout the whole poem, the author conveys a tone that is sarcastic to make the poem humorous and entertaining.  For instance, the author states, "A few minutes after we began last time a shaft of light descended and an angel or other heavenly being appeared" (226).  Another element used would be figurative language, specifically hyperbole.  A hyperbole means exaggeration. This was definitely seen in the poem.  On page 226, the author writes, "I gave an exam worth 40% of the grade for this term and assigned some reading due today on which I'm about to hand out a quiz worth 50%." Finally,  the author diction. Wayman interchangeably used the words "nothing" and "everything" in the poem.  This was used to emphasize the author's feeling toward the theme of the poem.