Marks

This poem ("Marks" by Linda Pastan) really shocked me, even though it is only twelve lines long, she still really drives the point home. She is fed up with everyone constantly judging her and she uses the grading system to show that. The language she chooses (the grading system) shows that she is treated like no more than an object or an inferior human being. Because she does this, we can feel the bitterness and the fact that her words bite at the reader. She is able to convey a message with such few words, it is amazing.

She is very effective when she writes her poem, the last two lines are the lines that really hit the reader. It's like the reader's floor has been pulled from underneath them (or atleast, that is how I felt). I think this really adds to the piece because she is so blunt and to the point. There is no beating around the bush in her poem. She punches the reader with a heavy line, and the fact that it is such a quick sentence shows she's already made up her mind on a subject that is so heavy. That makes people react, she is so cold about the fact that she is leaving, she's clearly had enough.