Courageous Lines

1. Choose several lines from Anne Sexton's poem "Courage" explain them in detail. Examine the lines for meaning, figurative language and appeal



"When they called you crybaby

or poor or fatty or crazy

and made you into an alien,

you drank their acid

and concealed it."



These few lines show everything someone has to put up with in life. These lines mean that when you get teased, picked on, and hurt beyond belief; you don't do anything about it and hide the pain and hurt they throw at you.



"Next, my kinsman, you powdered your sorrow,

you gave it a back rub

and then you covered it with a blanket

and after it had slept a while

it woke to the wings of the roses

and was transformed."



People believe that if you cover the hurt and sorrow you feel and treat it to become well, it will recover and hopefully rid of all the pain within the sorrow.





All these lines show that you are going to need courage to stand up to the people or things that throw the unexpected tasks of giving you the responsibility to take care of them and heal them to become a better person.