Tracy K. Smith is a successful Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and author, famous for her work filled with themes of loss, humans’ role in the universe, and religious difficulties. Her poetry collection titled Life on Mars incorporates these themes along with many aspects of her personal life, from her family to her cultural background. According to Britannica.com, she was born in Massachusetts but grew up in California, with her father stationed at the Travis Air Force Base working on the Hubble Space Telescope. She received degrees from both Harvard and Columbia University in English, creative writing, and Afro-american studies. Her father and his work for the space industry is a major inspiration in her writing, especially in Life on Mars, which,
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Smith lost her father in 2008, and her 2011 poetry collection Life on Mars honors him and shows how his death affected her through themes of loss and grief. A reviewer from The New York Times said that when reading these poems, “...one can’t help being reminded of the father who spent years looking at the stars; in that light, his daughter’s book is both an extended conversation with him and an elegy”(Simic). The poem “It’s Not” portrays Smith’s struggle with not knowing where her father really is after his death. She writes, “He is only gone so far as we can tell. Though, “When I try, I see the white cloud of his hair, “In the distance like an eternity”(Smith, lines 18-20). The idea of the dead feeling so close and showing signs but also being gone forever is prevalent throughout Smith’s …show more content…
Like God, it has no face. Like lust, “It flickers on without a prick of guilt” (Smith, lines 7-9). By comparing the world to an unchangeable, unforgiving force, Smith shows how confusing understanding our purpose and power can be. Another poem of hers, titled “The Good Life,” is about her personal struggle with early adulthood and earning enough money to survive. She uses the simile “...walking to work on payday / Like a woman journeying for water / From a village without a well...”(Smith, lines 6-7) to express how essential each paycheck was to her survival during that time. Smith’s colorful language and use of devices such as these puts the reader in her shoes, whether she is writing about the world as a whole or her personal experiences. All things considered, Tracy K. Smith is a very talented writer who has greatly affected the lives of her readers. Through her beautiful work, she has shed light on the topics of death, the role of mankind, and struggling with cultural differences. The feeling of loss is hard to put into words, however her poems have that
Smith lost her father in 2008, and her 2011 poetry collection Life on Mars honors him and shows how his death affected her through themes of loss and grief. A reviewer from The New York Times said that when reading these poems, “...one can’t help being reminded of the father who spent years looking at the stars; in that light, his daughter’s book is both an extended conversation with him and an elegy”(Simic). The poem “It’s Not” portrays Smith’s struggle with not knowing where her father really is after his death. She writes, “He is only gone so far as we can tell. Though, “When I try, I see the white cloud of his hair, “In the distance like an eternity”(Smith, lines 18-20). The idea of the dead feeling so close and showing signs but also being gone forever is prevalent throughout Smith’s …show more content…
Like God, it has no face. Like lust, “It flickers on without a prick of guilt” (Smith, lines 7-9). By comparing the world to an unchangeable, unforgiving force, Smith shows how confusing understanding our purpose and power can be. Another poem of hers, titled “The Good Life,” is about her personal struggle with early adulthood and earning enough money to survive. She uses the simile “...walking to work on payday / Like a woman journeying for water / From a village without a well...”(Smith, lines 6-7) to express how essential each paycheck was to her survival during that time. Smith’s colorful language and use of devices such as these puts the reader in her shoes, whether she is writing about the world as a whole or her personal experiences. All things considered, Tracy K. Smith is a very talented writer who has greatly affected the lives of her readers. Through her beautiful work, she has shed light on the topics of death, the role of mankind, and struggling with cultural differences. The feeling of loss is hard to put into words, however her poems have that