In water-heavy nights behind grandmother's porch
We knelt in the tickling grasses and whispered: Linda's face hung before us, pale as a pecan, And it grew wise as she said: 'A boy's lips are soft, As soft as baby's skin.' The air closed over her words. A firefly whirred near my ear, and in the distance I could hear streetlamps ping Into miniature suns Against a feathery sky. This is one of Rita Dove's famous poems, "Adolescence I". The poem reveals her childhood memories before the change of her life has started. This poem reflects the innocence of a child before turning into the change of the century: becoming a teenager. As Dove presents, innocence is something that is best kept in people all around, so they can see the world differently. The speaker of the poem may be unclear, but it can be inferred that the speaker is a child. The child is playing with her friend or sister when the grandmother, Linda, shows up. At this time, Linda says, "A boy's lips are soft, As soft as a baby's skin," which is the start of introducing a lesson about relationships. However, the girls are not talking about relationships; they are basically playing and whispering to each other. Linda adds the comment in order to show the child's innocence, because the speaker may not want to know about boys or how a boy's lips are. This is the start of letting the speaker wonder about becoming a teenager or adolescence. The way Dove presents the poem shows the innocent mind of children. The way she says "tickling grasses and whispered" and "A firefly whirred near my ear" shows that its a friendly attitude. It is as though the author is trying to relive the happy memory before learning about being an adolescent. The friendly tone adds to the innocence of children, saying that children are always playful and their view of the world is different from the way the "streetlights ping" and turn "into miniature suns". This however changes with Linda's comment about boys, which eventually makes her wonder about adolescence. Dove uses the topic of innocence to conclude the theme that people should have innocence in their life, because they will never know to view the world from a child's view. Dove wants to audience to find a sense of innocence in their life in order to still be a child at heart.
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