A Sad Child Poem Analysis

In the poem “A Sad Child,” Margaret Attwood, the author, uses diction, organization and figurative language to get the theme to the reader. By using these literary elements, the reader is more able to understand the poem, and because of that, is more able to understand the theme, that you should not just focus on your own sadness, because everyone is sad, but you should also learn to cope with being sad. Margaret Attwood uses diction to bring out the theme in her poem “A Sad Child.” In the first stanza of the poem, she uses words like “sad,” “psychic,” “chemical,” “shrink,” “pill,” “eyeless doll,” and “sleep” (Attwood, lines 1-5). These words are all words with negative connotation, and are also words that describe ways that people can deal …show more content…
In the first two stanzas, she creates two lists; one of positive ways to handle sadness, and one of more negative ways to handle sadness. These help to put across the part of the theme, saying that you should learn to deal with your sadness. In the third stanza, she creates an example of a child at a lawn party, “...flushed with the sun...,” with “...a mouth sulky with sugar...” (Attwood, lines 15&16) She then goes on to say that child went into the bathroom and said to the mirror that “...I am not the favorite child.” (Attwood, line 20). In using this example, Attwood shows how even people in good situations can be sad too. Because this poem is written as if to a child, the example chosen involves a child, making it easier anyone who is or was a child to sympathize with the child in the example. In the fourth and fifth stanza, the author reveals the last part of her theme, that we are all sad, and that our own sadness is not more or less important than anyone else 's. She lists off several examples of situations in which this applies especially. These examples all involve the end of a life. In the end, everyone is equal, and no one 's sadness was more important. Attwood 's poem “A Sad Child” convey it 's theme in part through it 's organization. In the beginning, she uses one part of the theme, then the second part in the middle, and concludes by tying everything together with the final part of the theme. This helps the reader to better understand the theme because in separating each part and using examples before moving on to the next part of the theme, ensuring a a more in-depth