Speaker or Narrator, and Point of View
The speaker of the poem is never identified, but appears to be addressing the woman at the conclusion.
Form and Meter
The poem is in free verse, without punctuation, capitalization, or stanzas
Metaphors and Similes
In the opening of the poem there is one metaphor and one simile. In the metaphor, the speaker describes the woman as "a horse running alone." In the simile, the man compares her to "an impossible highway to a burning house." Later on, she also uses two metaphors when she says the man's body is "just a long shadow seeking yours" and when she tells the woman she "can't make homes out of human beings."
Alliteration and Assonance
N/A
Irony
N/A
Genre
Love poetry, feminist poetry
Setting
The poem has an undetermined setting.
Tone
Honest but comforting
Protagonist and Antagonist
The protagonist of the poem is a woman in a relationship. The antagonist of the poem is the man that wants to suppress her.
Major Conflict
The central conflict of the poem is between the woman's desire to be herself and remain free-spirited and the man's attempts to diminish her.
Climax
The climax of the poem occurs when the speaker notes that even as the woman tried to change, she could still feel the man slipping away from her.
Foreshadowing
N/A
Understatement
N/A
Allusions
N/A
Metonymy and Synecdoche
N/A
Personification
N/A
Hyperbole
"Every woman before or after you / is doused in your name." The use of the word "every" here is hyperbolic, implying that the man will always be comparing this woman to former and future romantic partners.
Onomatopoeia
N/A
