Sharon Hashimoto Writing Styles in What I Would Ask My Husband's Dead Father

Sharon Hashimoto
This Study Guide consists of approximately 18 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of What I Would Ask My Husband's Dead Father.

Sharon Hashimoto Writing Styles in What I Would Ask My Husband's Dead Father

Sharon Hashimoto
This Study Guide consists of approximately 18 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of What I Would Ask My Husband's Dead Father.
This section contains 573 words
(approx. 2 pages at 400 words per page)
Buy the What I Would Ask My Husband's Dead Father Study Guide

The poem's language reinforces the different perspectives on death that are presented. In the first stanza, the dead man has been "sifted and smoothed" into the corners of the box that contains his ashes. The verb "smoothed" suggests the gradual erosion of pebbles and stones as water runs over them over a long period of time. It suggests that a human being is gradually being reabsorbed into the natural environment. The same impression is conveyed by the image, "a body settles." The context is how people lose height as they get older, but the image of settling suggests a building that may settle into the ground over time, sinking gradually by its own weight. It suggests a preparation for death—the body is getting closer to the earth into which it must eventually be reabsorbed. The word "settle" may also carry a secondary meaning of acceptance...

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This section contains 573 words
(approx. 2 pages at 400 words per page)
Buy the What I Would Ask My Husband's Dead Father Study Guide
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What I Would Ask My Husband's Dead Father from Gale. ©2005-2006 Thomson Gale, a part of the Thomson Corporation. All rights reserved.