What is the author's style in Carver: A Life in Poems by Marilyn Nelson?

The point of view of Carver: A Life in Poems is varying. The point of view depends on each individual poem. For example, Susan Carver tells her perspective from the first person in "Prayer of the Ivory-Handled Knife." She gives the reader a personal, close up perspective of how much she loves George and his brother Jim. She discusses her deep feelings of being a mother. Mariah Watkins does the same thing in "Watkins Laundry and Apothecary." Watkins' first person point of view allows the reader to see how much she loves and enjoys young Carver. She also notices his talents and sees his intelligence. In other poems, the first person point of view is given by outsiders or characters without names who give an outside perspective of Carver. For example, in "Old Settlers' Reunion", the first person perspective is of a homesteader who lives near Carver. He hardly knows him but he says Carver keeps to himself, is nice and can hear his singing voice through the fields. The reader sees what an outsider can see of Carver.

Many of the other poems are told from an omniscient, third person perspective. The reader still receives a personal point of view. For instance, in "Four a.m. in the Woods", the reader gains a personal perspective of Carver's epiphany of becoming an agriculturalist. It is not told from Carver's perspective, but from a third person perspective. Yet the result is a personal glimpse into Carver's thinking. This point of view encompasses many of the poems. Only one poem, "Dawn Walk", seems to be from Carver's first person point of view because in the last line he says "Thee." But this is an exception.