People Etc. Essay

Q1. How does Elma Mitchell vividly describe people?

In her poem, People Etcetera, Elma Mitchel, gives a vivid description of people physically, using imagery that is sensual but is compared to homely objects and rural imagery. This is quite unusual and gives the poem depth.

She uses quite positive words to describe people physically, as if she is celebrating human being. For example, “ lovely to touch”, “fun to notice”, “good to smell”, “delicious to taste” and “irresistible to draw” are phrases that have been used to describe people in this poem. The words “lovely”, “good”, “delicious” and “irresistible” all give off a positive vibe, although we do not know exactly why she is celebrating them.

Elma Mitchel sees value in the diversity of individuals from their faces to their bellies, all the way to their ankles. She sees their bellies as “ nice warm sloppy tilting”; their eyes flitting about like “irreverent… pigeons”. Even the way they smell is unusual and diverse, for example: “ leathery”, “heathery”, “ lambs wool”, “culinary” “skin out of the shower”. All these can tell us about their differing cultures as well as their backgrounds.

It is not a stereotypical love poem. The poet suggests that natural and homely images are more attractive. The poet finds beauty in the “geology of an elderly face” and shows ankles to be sexy. This poem is unlike classical poetry that celebrates youth and perfect beauty, this poet celebrates the minute physical details that a person might not notice or even consider attractive.

Even though this poem celebrates the attributes of physical body and does use some sensual imagery, it does not seem overtly sexual. Skin that smells of “sea salt”, wind dried “linen” or even a shower are all very seductive to the poet, in a way while still very physical, do not seem dirty or overtly sexual. The same can be said for the descriptions he makes for taste. People are described as “crisp and soft and tepid as new-made bread”, “tangy as blueberries”, “luscious as avocado” and “native as milk”. There is lightness about this imagery that leaves the reader happy about being human; it’s Mitchell’s celebration of the human body. While most of the sexual images were very subtle and flirty, a few of the descriptions were more bold with phrases like, “hand following hand”, “eye outstaring eye”, “every curve an experience of self” and “felt weight of flesh, tension of muscle”.

However, at the end of the poem there is an immense contradiction. The poet’s tone changes. This is seen through a series of questions that break the previous pattern of statements about their physical beauty. While in the previous stanzas she celebrates the physical beauty of human beings, in this stanza she wonders whether human are as beautiful and comprehendible inside.

She uses enjambment to emphasize the complexity of human nature, making the reader think that she is shocked and fearful of the answer to her questions. This makes the reader think that she knows deep down that humans have hidden their dark sides deep underneath their outer beauty. Maybe she just does not want to accept that and the burdens that might come with the weight of the knowledge she is unveiling.