Tattoo Poem Summary

The function of imagery in Ted Kooser’s “Tattoo” Ted Kooser’s poem “Tattoo” can be interpreted in a multitude of ways. One way to interpret this poem is that the tattoo is used as imagery to explain how old men are constantly trying to re live his youth; the way he did when he was young. It is apparent in this poem, but this is not the main issue the speaker is addressing. The issue the speaker describes is how time changes a person. Another way this poem can be read is that tattoos can tell a personal story. Many people conform judgments on a person, based on tattoos. Some of those people who have tattoos are images representing something meaningful, while others are drunken mistakes. Tattoos can be seen as a symbol of manhood; with …show more content…
When the speaker says, “where vanity punched him hard / and the ache lingered on”, he is exposing the man’s flaws. The old man’s flaws are hubris. Young men have a lot of confidence and take physical, mental, and emotional risks. After a certain age a person loses stability and does not take risks. Self-pride disallowed the old man to act how old men are supposed to act. Many people refuse to accept defeat from time, but that is the one force humanity can never overcome. Many want to be young forever and the speaker depicts that the old man desires this as well, he wants to be youthful. The man’s self-admiration may have caused him an emanate defeat. The old man gave himself accolades for his appearance. His ideology hit him hard. A person who values appearance more than anything will realize some day their looks will be gone. This is the perfect example of the cliché expression: looks are not everything. It may a very cliché but true. The man is now alone because he valued his looks over his other characteristics. The author explains that this man was once “as strong as a stallion, fast and ornery”(Kooser 8). This man was once the acme of human physique, but now fighting against time. Time has taken a toll on this stallion because the speaker calls the old man 's shoulder “bony” (Kooser 4). The setting is odd because we find this once great man at a yard sale. The …show more content…
The old man “rolls up his sleeves to show us who he was”(Kooser 12). He does this to show the swagger he had when he was younger but no longer obtains. Most people roll up their sleeves if they want to show off their muscles or they are going to do some strenuous physical activity. In this poem he is not doing anything except picking up a few tools and putting them down. Men that are going thru a mid-life crisis usually try to fit in with a younger crowd, and be one of them. The old man is wearing a tight black shirt (Kooser 11), because this was one way older people try to fit in with the younger crowd. There is no direct evidence to prove this man is having a mid-life crisis but he does show some of the signs. He picks up the tools because he wants to build /something. Men often show off their masculinity by performing task such as repairs. When someone is young they have a lot of energy to preform these tasks. With age people loose their independence and cannot complete the same task that they used to be able to. The tone of the poem, and especially the last two lines makes this poem seem actually sad. We have not seen the old man show emotion at all, until this point. For some reason after the man puts the tools down, there is an indication that he feels pain. The old man puts the tools back because he is not able to do any physical activity. The tools are also broken,