Avoiding sentimentality means writing to fight cliché and elicit emotion through originality of language. In Dig Safe, Stuart Dischell presents poetry that resonates emotionally without breeching melodrama. One poem in particular, “Children of the City,” demonstrates that a careful manipulation of language helps craft a story that emulates real experiences and exposes true human nature. In addition, the use of impersonal pronouns establishes a distance from the poem that encourages a more objective and therefore less sentimental reading. Breaking down such deliberate word and imagery choices illuminates the success of the ultimate emotional transcendence.
[...] Choosing Language that Avoids Sentimentality Elicits Emotional Resonance Avoiding sentimentality means writing to fight cliché and elicit emotion through originality of language. In Dig Safe, Stuart Dischell presents poetry that resonates emotionally without breeching melodrama. One poem in particular, “Children of the demonstrates that a careful manipulation of language helps craft a story that emulates real experiences and exposes true human nature. In addition, the use of impersonal pronouns establishes a distance from the poem that encourages a more objective and therefore less sentimental reading. [...]
[...] In addition, Dischell makes a final play with his pronoun choices: After using for the duration of the poem, he switches to and He separates the couple as they no longer act as a unified entity, but two individuals. Adams- 4 do not live happily ever after. Though a poem about a young couple caught in the rain could easily be sentimental, the resonating emotions are not of love or romance: The poem starts by explaining that was the rain that sent them/ To her room” Ultimately, the rain in the crowded city [...]
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