Point of View

This poem is written in the first-person point of view using the pronoun “I”. Although the poem has a clear narrative plot, it takes a very internal approach and examines how the speaker was affected by the trauma of this experience. Each event within the story is driven by the speaker’s needs and the actions they take to fulfill this need. The poem is told in the past tense as the first-person narrator looks back on how they’ve been shaped by this trauma and the curiosity that led to it, using language like “I always wondered” (Line 1) and “I hoped” (Line 18). In this way the speaker draws the reader into their immediate consciousness and shows them how the external plot was driven by an interior need to be loved.

Language and Meaning

The word choices in the poem are largely straightforward and accessible...