Adolescence II (Passage X): By Rita Dove

INTRO/THESIS STATEMENT
In the poem, Adolescence-II, by Rita Dove, Dove uses the images of night to and darkness to highlight the dark and emotional times of her childhood. Dove really played with different images of darkness and shadows by consuming the entire setting in darkness. The overall atmosphere and tone of the poem was very dark and heavy, almost like the narrator was engulfed in night. Whatever the narrator was going through, it seemed to torment her.

BODY I: The use of imagery is used to highlight the torment and struggle the narrator is going through.
-"sweat prickles behind my knees, the baby-breasts are alert.": This shows that the narrator is anxious and nervous about something. Its almost like they're expecting something to happen or someone to come.
-"Night rests like a ball of fur on my tongue": Expresses the hashness and intensity of what just happened to the narrator. Having a ball of fur on your tongue cant bevery pleasant so this shows that the narrator is very uncomfortable and overwhelmed by the men who just left.
-"I sit in the bathroom, waiting.": Shows that the narrator is expecting something to happen or to meet/encounter someone.

BODY II: The image and setting of night shows the intensity of the narrator and how they feel throughout the whole poem.
-"And they rise, Glittering like pools of ink under moonlight, And vanish": This gives the visitors an almost sinister feel to them. Their prescence in throughout the whole poem is very dark and mysterious to the narrator.
-"I clutch at the ragged holes they leave behind, here at the edge of darkness.": This shows that these men left some type of impression on the narrator or hurt her in some type of way. Holes connotate that maybe they hurt her in some type of way and they've left her alone in darkness. "At the edge of darkness" could be a reference to how the narrator is feeling after encountering the 3 men. Darkness and "at the edge" kind of tell the reader that the narrator is left alone and they're maybe confused or unaware of something going on.