Resolve an Inner Struggle or Dilemma

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The two titles that I chose to compare for this essay are: The Victims by Sharon Olds, and Ode to pork by Kevin Young. These two poems particularly struck me in the way they use tone and delivery to create a rhythm and flow to their words.
These two poems create a feeling of hanging on to the past too much or not letting themselves feel a part of their emotional truth. The characters in the poem share repressed emotions about the topic that they are speaking about. In Ode to Pork, the speaker is sharing feelings of being stuck and unprogressive with his relationship to Pork. He is showing an inner dilemma, and his choice of words reveal an inner liking to it, but an external divestment. The Victims context is seen on its title, as it creates a theme of not being able to let go of the past, or accept an inner feeling, then it slowly allows for a wider perspective of the events of the speaker’s life, almost an understanding.
In Kevin Young’s poem, we can see that he is speaking about pork, which he obviously likes, but has an inner feeling of guilt for partaking in its consumption. The author introduces the poem through a confession, and a description of his relationship with pork. He reveals then that he knows that there are consequences with the excessive consumption and subscription to pork, but he still expresses his love and passion for the meat. In the poem, it is written : “Without you, I’d be umpteen pounds lighter, and a lot less alive.” This reveals that there is a dilemma in the speaker, and yet he admits that pork is a reason for his “happiness.” Another line in Kevin Young’s poem is “Your heaven is the only one worth wanting – you keep me all night cursing your four letter name, the next, begging for you again.” Reveals his inner turmoil and confirms his allegiance to his guilty pleasure. In a way, the flow of Kevin Young’s poem brings the reader through the emotions of the speaker, the wording of the poem reveal contradiction and guilty pleasure. It feels like the speaker is slowly transformed from cursing it and praising it, and how he cannot beat its temptation. In the end, the speaker succumbs to his desire and admits that pork is his heaven. The choice of words represents repulsion and attraction at the same time.
In Sharon Old’s The Victims, the title creates the context of the poem, wherein the speaker is feeling victimized. The speaker is speaking about the feeling of victimization when something is taken away from them. It almost sounds like the speaker is waking up to a truth that can be taken only from the matured perspective. The speaker was...