Relationship Analysis in Mary Oliver's "Crossing the Swamp" Alexandria Smith 11th Grade

The poem “Crossing the Swamp” by Mary Oliver features a relationship that, at first glance, seems relatively simple. However, through further analysis, there is a deeper connection and relationship between speaker and swamp. The speaker in this poem represents a person, seemingly one who is down on their luck. The swamp represents hard times. The relationship between the two is symbiotic, but it also is strained. Throughout the poem, the speaker's relationship with the swamp develops. The author uses literary devices including changing tone, developing imagery, and an extended metaphor to convey a theme of how the world can be a horrible place, and times can be hard, but through a changed perspective, you can “cross the swamp” and learn how to grow from the times that aren’t so good.

Crossing the Swamp implements tone heavily throughout the poem. As the poem begins, the tone is clearly very negative, with Oliver implementing words such as “wet” and “thick”. Her opening words in the poem describe it as endless, which the speaker brought back later in the poem, further describing it as “pathless, seamless mud” and “trying to find foothold, fingerhold, mindhold over such slick crossings”. Referring back to the aforementioned theme...