The Effectiveness of “Winter Stars” By Larry Levis
The poem “Winter Stars” by Larry Levis starts out depicting a story that a boy is remembering from his child hood. Levis vividly depicts the boy’s father “breaking a man’s hand” (Levis) on a piece of farming equipment because the man named “Rubén Vásquez” (Levis) attempted to kill him with a well described knife. His father then proceeds, with no empathy, to grab some lunch and listen to some music. The boy then contemplated the meaning of life and wondered “why anybody would risk there life” (Levis). Levis then illustrates the boy gazing into the night sky through the trees as he drifts back and forth from reality. The third paragraph, where the meat of the story lies, Levis has the boy starting …show more content…
One of the main messages that make “Winter Stars” so effective is Levis’ message that he is trying to portray to the reader; that message is forgiveness. Levis depiction of his regret of not making up with his father is one of the two main points of this poem. He illustrates this message in quotes like: “I stand out on the street, & do not go in” and “That what went unsaid between us became empty, And pure, like starlight, & that it persisted” (Levis). It took Levis’ father dying on his death bed to finial realise that he should make up with his father before it is too late “Cold enough to reconcile Even a father, even a son.” (Levis). The message is quite simple; make up with your loved ones, you never know when they are going to …show more content…
The first reason they may say is that “Winter Stars” if full of irony in quotes such as: “Horizontally, & with surprising grace” or “If you can think of the mind as a place continually Visited, a whole city placed behind” (Levis). Talking about how graceful a man swings a knife trying to kill your father is not very effective considering the point behind the story. Yes, those quotes are quite ironic however, they don’t make the poem effective. The irony, if anything makes the poem less effective. When you’re talking about a disease like Alzheimer’s, irony is the last thing one would want to read
The poem “Winter Stars” by Larry Levis starts out depicting a story that a boy is remembering from his child hood. Levis vividly depicts the boy’s father “breaking a man’s hand” (Levis) on a piece of farming equipment because the man named “Rubén Vásquez” (Levis) attempted to kill him with a well described knife. His father then proceeds, with no empathy, to grab some lunch and listen to some music. The boy then contemplated the meaning of life and wondered “why anybody would risk there life” (Levis). Levis then illustrates the boy gazing into the night sky through the trees as he drifts back and forth from reality. The third paragraph, where the meat of the story lies, Levis has the boy starting …show more content…
One of the main messages that make “Winter Stars” so effective is Levis’ message that he is trying to portray to the reader; that message is forgiveness. Levis depiction of his regret of not making up with his father is one of the two main points of this poem. He illustrates this message in quotes like: “I stand out on the street, & do not go in” and “That what went unsaid between us became empty, And pure, like starlight, & that it persisted” (Levis). It took Levis’ father dying on his death bed to finial realise that he should make up with his father before it is too late “Cold enough to reconcile Even a father, even a son.” (Levis). The message is quite simple; make up with your loved ones, you never know when they are going to …show more content…
The first reason they may say is that “Winter Stars” if full of irony in quotes such as: “Horizontally, & with surprising grace” or “If you can think of the mind as a place continually Visited, a whole city placed behind” (Levis). Talking about how graceful a man swings a knife trying to kill your father is not very effective considering the point behind the story. Yes, those quotes are quite ironic however, they don’t make the poem effective. The irony, if anything makes the poem less effective. When you’re talking about a disease like Alzheimer’s, irony is the last thing one would want to read