Tattoo by Ted Kooser Essay Example
Tattoo by Ted Kooser Essay Example

Tattoo by Ted Kooser Essay Example

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  • Pages: 3 (738 words)
  • Published: March 3, 2017
  • Type: Article
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The poem "Tattoo" by Ted Kooser dramatizes how things of your youth are carried with you although so much else changes with your age. These are dramatized through the comparison of what the tattoo meant at one time and how after years, the old man is just as any other old man. The tone of the poem in the very beginning is straight forward by showing how things in the past linger on, when it comes to the middle it changes over to a strong youth, and the end of the poem is just sort of mellow, as if it is nothing but an ordinary day.

The speaker talks about the tattoo on the old man who’s at a yard sale on a chilly morning, contrasting his youth and his age to show the mark that the tattoo symbolized in his younger ye

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ars. The poem shows a theme of how although things change, the past will always be a part of us; such as how a tattoo will stay with you forever. The speaker observed what the tattoo once meant and figuring what kind of person the man once was by his tattoo. By his tattoo of a dripping dagger held in the fist of a shuddering heart, the speaker says that he looks like someone you had to reckon with.

This makes sense because the word fist symbolizes much more than just a hand; it symbolizes something more angry and tough and same with a dripping dagger that also symbolizes that he wouldn't need to think twice before taking vengeance. The speaker talks about the tattoo first and after the description of the tattoo, there is

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a period which suggests period between youth and age. After that description there are only commas for punctuation. The tattoo is discussed in the past tense 'What was once meant to be a statement' showing that this tattoo signified what the man was in his youth.

He compares who the man was in his youth to being 'as strong as a stallion, fast and ornery,' and then addresses how he is now; 'he is only another old man... his heart gone soft and blue with stories'. It is said that that tattoo is "now just a bruise... where vanity once punched him in the arm. " The words punched and bruise portrays that the tattoo was a stamp he deserved more than it was his choice. When the speaker mentions that the old man is 'soft and blue with stories' it connects to the tattoo because a tattoo is something permanent yet fades with age, such a stories.

Stories are a part of your youth that you remember, they will always be there and there is no getting rid of them, although they also fade in time. The speaker links strong adjectives when talking about his past, such as 'fast and ornery' or 'strong as a stallion. However, once talking about the present the old man is described as 'only another old man' and that 'his heart gone soft and blue with stories'. This underlines that there is nothing special that makes him stick out.

The fact that he walks through the tables his sleeves are rolled up, even though it was previously stated that it was a chilly morning asserts that it is the only thing that

shows who he once was. The old man is picking up broken tools which also connects with who he is; something once strong and helpful is now just old and not needed. In this poem, there are only several subtle patterns. In some cases some weak adjectives are linked with strong ones, like the connection of 'strong' and 'stallion' and also 'fast' and 'ornery'.

There are also some weak situations with rhyme, with the end of a verse finishing with 'statement' pulls together with 't-shirt' and also the end statement of 'ornery' fits with 'stories'. As for the end statements, they first one starts off with punctuation, and then for five lines there is none on the end, then a comma, and then three lines without any punctuation at the end, and the punctuation, none, punctuation for two lines. So as time goes on there are more pauses before starting a new line. This also relates to how strong and tough he was in the past but as time goes on he must take more pauses for he is tired and old.

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