Poetry Group
Question:
ponderthis
Student
Community / Jr. College
In Linda Pasten's Poem, "Ethics" how does the author use diction and figures of speech to contribute to the theme of ethics and the moral values?
Answers:
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lit24 Teacher
DoctorateeNotes Editor
Posted by lit24 on Sunday April 12, 2009 at 8:36 AMBesides being a memoir and a reflection on art, this poem is the story of its title, "Ethics" in the life of one woman. It not only tells a story about the passage from youth to old age, but also about a maturing morality that perceives the unity among all things and takes responsibility for the "real." To put it in the language of the poem, it is about making the passage from "half-hearted" and "half imagined" to an ethical landscape that has features that are "almost one."
The two important and central figures of speech are the metonyms"Rembrandt" and "an old woman" which represent priceless art treasures and an 'aged person who has outlived her utility.' Both these metonyms symbolize two dominant but diametrically opposed ideas of universal humanity-the aesthetic versus the mere utilitarian.
The poem is structured on the contrast between youth and old age. When young she answered half-heartedly, but now when she is old herself she realizes that everything in this world-priceless art treasures, the season of autumn and humanity in general "are almost one" that is, they are all transient and will cease to exist at some point in the future.
The adjective "real" has been foregrounded to emphasize the contrast between the hypothetical question posed by the teacher and the harsh reality of day to day life: "real museum" and "real Rembrandt."
The diction of the poem is charmingly simple and elegant and the tone is casual and informal, striking a sympathetic chord in the hearts and minds of all its readers.
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