Comparisons And Contrasts Of “Ethics” By Linda Pastan, And “35/10″ By Sharon Olds Essay, Research Paper

Comparisons and Contrasts of “Ethics” by Linda Pastan, and “35/10”

by Sharon Olds

The poems “Ethics” and “35/10” by Linda Pastan and Sharon Olds are

surprisingly alike. Each poem tells a story with the speaker being the author. She speaks

directly to the audience. Although the number of lines differ, the appearance and length of

each line and the appearance of each poem as a whole is very similar. The tones are

similar, since both are reflective and somewhat pensive. The language and diction in both

poems are simple and understandable. The authors interest is telling her story, and that is

evident.

Sharon Olds’ poem, “35/10” is a narrative poem about a mother’s

realization that she is aging as her daughter is blooming. The mother is the speaker, which

is also the author, and she speaks directly to the audience. The tone is admiring, maternal,

pensive, reflective, and nostalgic. It is structured as an 18 line poem, each line being of

almost equal length. The fact of there being 18 lines may symbolize youth, as the age 18

is the prime of one’s youth. The movement of the poem is very fluid. It’s chronological

flow takes the audience from the beginning when the mother notices her daughter, to

where she wonder’s why they bloom as mother’s begin to wilt, to finally understanding

that it is to replace the mother. The title simply represents the ages, the mother being 35

and the daughter being 10. The diction helps emphasize the difference between the

mother and daughter. Words such as gray, silver, dry pitting, and dud represents the

mother, while silken, flower, full, and round represent the daughter. There is imagery that

helps the audience see the difference as well as the mother in the mirror. For example, in

lines 9-10, “she opens like a small pale flower on the tip of a cactus”, or “last chances to

bear a child are falling through my body, the duds among them”. This deepens the

contrast.

Linda Pastan’s poem, “Ethics” is a narrative poem as well. The author, who is the

speaker, tells the audience a story of her lesson of ethics. As a young woman, she had an

Ethics class, but in the end the lesson the teacher attempted to teach, was only learned by

the author’s own experience. The tone is reflective, pensive and appreciative. The poem

consists of 25 almost equal lines. The poem moves fluidly as the author herself changes

from the beginning to the end. It develops from her memory of the class, to years later in

a museum where she remembers her discussion of the class years before. It

chronologically tells the audience that she goes from not knowing what to do, to

understanding the real answer. The title “Ethics” shows that she didn’t understand the

true meaning of the word from her class, but through age, wisdom, and experience. The

diction consists of simple words that flow. The imagery is in the description of the

painting in the museum, she states, “The colors within the frame are darker than autumn,

darker even than winter – the browns of the earth, though earth’s most radiant elements

burn through the canvas” which allows the audience to envision the painting with her.

In conclusion, the two poems differ in the way the story is being told, but

are similar in many other ways. Both poems tell a story of coming of age, but in different

fashions. The structures, the diction, the tones, and even the movement are alike. Both

are narrative poems with the speaker being the authors.