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"Pigeon Woman" by May Swenson

aracters, for the poet's own fascinated horror/attraction to the travails of life and love.

2) The poem's title, "Pigeon Woman," is purely a matter of identification. The literal subject of the poem is a pigeon woman, one of those old ladies seen in parks and on city sidewalks who apparently has nothing else to do with her day but feed the cooing birds who flock to any hand with a crust of bread proffered. As noted in #1, above, the thematic subject of the poem is not the pigeon woman per se, but the observation on love she provokes in the poet; still, the use of her name as the title of the poem is apt.

3) Poet May Swenson uses almost no similes in "Pigeon Woman." Apparently she prefers the directness of metaphor.

Stone/earth metaphors are used at the very beginning and very end. The pigeons are described as:

or rusty-iron-colored, the pigeons ...

The pigeon woman herself is described in similar terms at one point:

calves of her bare legs (uglied marble).

Water is the predominant metaphor in "Pigeon Woman."

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"Pigeon Woman" by May Swenson. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 18:07, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1700890.html