Fatherhood is a topic often covered in poetry. Poet Simon J. Ortiz uses both foil and subtle personification in his take on the subject, Speaking (page 318, #259). Ortiz refers to crickets and cicadas twice in this poem. At first, the narrator speaks them using human language, and there is no response. Later in the poem, the narrator describes his young son, speaking using small noises instead of words. In that instance, there is a response; the leaves tremble. This use of foil- father and son -helps to emphasize the meaning of the poem as a whole; that nature answers not to our words, but to sound and action. The personification of the leaves as requiting the child's noises is a way of the poet communicating the wisdom of childhood that is often lost in adulthood. The simple language in this poem furthers the point of it; sometimes the most basic communication is the most poignant and precise.
Wallace Stevens depicts the gritty deaths of war in his poem The Death of a Soldier (page 334, #281), utilizing technical diction and short sentence structure. In no way does Stevens glorify the passing of the soldier he is discussing. Instead of long, rambling odes, he writes in small fragments, such as "The Soldier falls." With this, the author removes any sense or romanticism from war, which is pure murder, according to the author. Instead of describing death with any pomp or celebration, the author uses technical terms. For instance, he begins the poem with the words "Life contracts..." as if it were nothing special that a young man had died.
