Dead of September 11th Analytical free essay sample

There are many topics that are rather easy to delve in to. Throughout this essay, three of these literary techniques will be addressed and â€Å"delved into†, so to speak. These techniques are: diction, figurative language and tone. Throughout the following essay several large ideas and the theme of this poem will also be addressed, including but not limited to the universality of the poem and the absolute obliteration of falsities and of false intimacy.Tony Morrison has created a complex, captivating piece of literary art that can be viewed and be interpreted in many different ways, with each individual person who examines it emerging from the piece of literary genius with a possibly similar, but unique interpretation. The diction in this poem is very intriguing. Tony Morrison’s choices of words are both surprising and unique on several occasions throughout â€Å"The Dead of September 11†. First, the seemingly sexual diction occasionally used throughout the poem. Words like â€Å"intimacy† and â€Å"seduced† are often used in light of sexual circumstances.Obviously sex does not fit into the context of this poem. However, the fact that sex is among the most primal functions of the human being, not to mention that sex is just about as close as you can be to someone (right behind motherhood, for obvious reasons), can better fit into this poem’s meaning. Perhaps the speaker has lost someone in the 9/11 tragedy, someone that they want to be close to. Perhaps the speaker was inciting that the acts of 9/11 were primal, and those who committed them should be treated as animals, inside our memories, as the culprits have all perished, to the general public’s knowledge at the very least. Another possibility is that the speaker meant that to â€Å"speak† with the dead one has to be in a primal state, with no sense of society or of biases. As a second example, the harsh, almost physically painful words used throughout â€Å"The Dead of September 11† will be discussed. The excerpt â€Å"no words stronger than the steel that pressed you into itself† is an example of this harsh wording and diction. The line â€Å"Speaking to the broken and the dead is too difficult for a mouth full of blood† is also a good example of this diction.I believe that the speaker here is saying that talking to those whose soul is broken or those who are dead to this world cannot be done when the speaker’s mouth is filled with figurative blood and hurt. One cannot emit hurt, pain or judgement upon the broken and the perished. The words â€Å"shot of its box of flesh† also stand out as being particularly harsh. Perhaps this excerpt is suggesting that bodies are no more than boxes of flesh, merely temporary containers that can be opened and the contents released into true freedom. Even the word â€Å"shot† seems harsh.A shot is something that happens so fast, but that can do so much damage. Maybe the speaker is referring to the speed at which the 9/11 tragedy happened, how unexpected it was for not only the thousands of victims, but for all those it affected all over the world, whether indirectly or directly. Something that can do so much damage that the whole world is affected, within a few hours. Like someone being shot dead and the mourning of the family, the immediate grief, for something so fast and painless, yet that ends a life, the 9/11 tragedy affected the whole world.Imagine the 9/11 attack like a bullet that severely damaged the USA, as well as the entire world, but could not end it. Like a bullet that nearly killed a man, but did not end his life. Of course, this bullet will leave a never healing scar on the man, as 9/11 did to the world. The next technique is figurative language. The most prominent example of this in â€Å"The Dead of September 11† is a paradox; that the dead can listen. The poem, more or less in its entirety, is about speaking to the dead.This also implies that the dead can talk back, which is also a paradox. One could say that there are also several apostrophes (in relation to the dead). Of course, that depends on where the dead are, which depending on your beliefs they can be just about anywhere, or everywhere. The harsh words â€Å"no words stronger than the steel that pressed you into itself† could be considered a metaphor between the worthiness and strength of words compared to the dead and that the dead are DEAD. There are no words that have the power to bring them back.The quote â€Å"No scripture older or more elegant than the ancient atoms you have become† could possibly be referring to how all the atoms in our body are recycled and ancient and that after our death, after our soul escapes our body, our body returns to being merely ancient atoms and when the soul is gone, no words can bring them back into the body, none can â€Å"reanimate† the ancient atoms until they are recycled into new living beings. The last technique or literary device is tone. The tone portrayed through this speaker is rather confusing. There are determined, frust rated and harsh spects along with sad, useless and bittersweet emotions portrayed throughout this poem. The speaker was determined to speak to the dead, in a pure fashion, yet because of human nature, this is virtually impossible, which made the speaker frustrated. The tone was harsh because of some of the diction throughout. Yet, the tone saddened when the speaker said â€Å"and I have nothing to give you†. It made the tone come out as feeling useless and regretful. Finally, in the last bit, the tone was bittersweet as the speaker described the â€Å"unhinged release† emerging from its knell.If one tone had to be chosen, bittersweet would be the most appropriate choice. There are several big ideas within this poem. One of them is unity and universality. The listing of the different clothing from all around the world in relation with all the September dead, was referring to the extreme cultural diversity of the victims in the 9/11 tragedy. It could also be said that it was connecting and mourning for all the dead and putting them all on an equal level, including those who caused the worldwide emergency.It could also have been saying, on a related note, that once the dead are dead, they are indistinguishable, as they are all dead. Once one is dead, the earthly titles and things that a person possessed are no longer valid, as with someone’s death, they are dead and gone, their titles maintained only in memory and documents and their worldly possessions passed along to another of the living, whether directly or over time. I think that this is also a very prominent theme in this essay, one of many. Another big idea in this poem is that to speak to the dead, one must essentially revert to his or her primal ways, or even, become one of the dead. This idea really stood out in this literature because it was essentially repeated over and over. Throughout the whole poem the speaker was talking of how one must clear his or her head of all earthly peoples, biases and objects. That one must forget some of human’s most automatic functions, like catching yourself before falling down. The speaker is essentially saying that to be able to communicate fairly with the dead, one must be able to forget that he or she is human, in almost all senses of the word.This also stood out as a prominent theme in â€Å"The Dead of September 11† This poem essentially emitted a message that the dead are just that to the living. The dead are dead and the only way to speak with them is to become one of them. But, when we are dead, there is no telling the dead from the dead, or even that we are dead. Once one is dead, he is dead, and nothing more than that, only more than perished in memory. Though a rather grim and depressing message, I believe that this is what the speaker was trying to convey.