Introduction to the Study of literature

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Introduction to the Study of Literature

Rite of Passage is a poem written by the multi-awarded poetry writer Sharon Olds about a boy 's birthday party . By incorporating several literary elements , she was able to turn a simple and common theme into a more interesting one

In the first stanza of her poem , she writes As the guests arrive at our son 's party (line 1 . From this line , one can assume that this poem is based on personal experience and she

is referring to her son 's actual birthday party in the past . Thus , through this literary form Olds retells that occasion in a more creative manner

Most verses in her poem are in a form of enjambment where the idea or thought in a certain line are interrupted and cut to be continued in the succeeding line

Hands in pockets , they stand around

jostling , jockeying for place , small fights

breaking out and calming . One says to another

How old are you ? - Six . - I 'm seven . - So (lines 5-8

Olds ' Rite of Passage is an embodiment of an irony , which is described as a conflict that exceeds the most ordinary and obvious connotation of words or actions . The irony of the poem is that the characters mentioned in her poem are little boys acting like brave grown-ups and pretending to be real men when they are actually playing a child 's game . Even if the little boys imagine themselves...