Of Marriage In Wartime Analysis

The first thing that stood out for me was the way he walked to the podium. There was much joy to his face with no nerves. He carried himself in a way that resembled an average college kid (not the ones at Cornell that tend to be more uptight and stressed). I am not talking about immaturity, rather in way that expressed his free nature. It was quite ironic as the poems in his book as well the other poems he gave during this presentation had a tendency to be or feel gloomy. I believe that his poetry allows him to free himself of his childhood pain while living in the Ukraine.
Although he was understandable, his Russian accent was difficult to filter though sometimes. I am just glad they had the readings in a pamphlet so I could follow along. As I looked up into the crowd, I could see I was not the only one having a difficult time understanding him and staring at the pamphlet yet all, including myself, still enjoying his reading. Even Ilya himself, noticed people are having a hard time as he frequently asked the crowd if we were able to follow along; and I believe without the pamphlets, we wouldn’t have been able.
This leads me to my next comment on his reading style. Although he stated at the end of his reading that he has no define reading style, it is evident that he has an …show more content…
Besides the general theme of marriage (given the title), the line “the taken, in honor of the deaf boy Petya.” This made me pause as I have heard of the deaf boy Petya. I then referred back to That Map of Bone and Opened Valves, where I see him mention earlier being kind my a soldier. In Of Marriage in Wartime, it shows the effect on him of seeing the boy’s murder, even though he still goes about his life (with it being limited due to the war). However, we see no sadness or remorse over the murder rather he is honoring the boy’s life. This shows the significance of how Kaminsky feels we should look at someone’s life, with