Women On The Beach

Women On a Beach By: Chuming Sun The poem I decided to analyze is Ann Michael’s “Women On a Beach”. In this poem, imagery is used in almost every line. The vivid imagery of the poem makes it really emotional and draws in the emotions of readers. The poem describes a perfect dreamy afternoon that eventually turns to night. The description of color is ubiquitous in this poem. The red shirt in contrast with pale sky is artfully described as a “stab” in the sky. The pink and brown sweaters and the white sails add to the colorful imagery and almost immediately the reader can imagine the beach-side scene. What makes the everyday unique is the way you are; the poem uses phrases such as “Light chooses” and ”the wind’s finger”, to personify and to show the tenderness of nature. The curving women’s body represents the curving shoreline. When the author said “air the colour of tangerines” it is a metaphor to represent the sunset. The last 4 sentences in the poem begin to cool down and make the poem feel really slow. Example from the text was the author describes nightfall as “Night exhales it’s long held breath” and turns a banal sunset into an exquisite scene. The last sentence of this poem the author wrote “In the moonlight, a boulder of women”, which is a strong imagery to end the poem and leaves readers room for imagination.