Ceilie's Essay #19

Ceilie Moore

Mr. Salsich 

English 9 

May 11th, 2009 

The Pain of Parting: 

An Essay on Two Poems and an Experience in My Life

What do we know of parting? Is it something that is temporary, or will the one who is leaving disappear into thin air? Are there different types of leaving, or is every farewell the same? In Naomi Shihab Nye’s poem, “Adios,” Emily Dickinson’s poem “My Life Closed Twice,” and an experience from my own life, we receive the answers to all these questions.

TS You can tell just from the name of Naomi Shihab Nye’s poem, “Adios,” that “parting” is a main theme. SD In the first stanza, Nye introduces us to the word “Adios,” which means “Goodbye” in Spanish. CM She tells us that it is “a good word[…]no matter what language you [speak.] CM By this, she means that the idea of parting from something and someone, and using the word “Goodbye” to do so, often has negative connotations (FAST), but Nye is encouraging us that it is a “good word” and to not be afraid of its meaning. SD Later on in the poem, Nye says, “Think of things that linger […] think of things that disappear.” CM Here, she is telling us that when something parts from you, there are still memories of it that stay, such as “leaves, cartons and napkins.” CM To contradict her first statement, Nye also reminds us that there are times when something parts all together and leaves no trace. SD In the second to last stanza, Nye rewords the age old saying, “You don’t know what you have until it’s gone.” CM However, Nye states it by saying, “[Think of] something that said ‘adios’ to you …/ before you knew what it meant …/ or how long it was for.” CM There are times that you never know how much you love something or long you will have something for, until it suddenly disappears from your grasp and parts from you forever. CS From just the title of this poem, you could guess it would be about the idea of parting, and inside each stanza and behind each word, the theory holds true.

TS The theme of parting is a little less obvious in Dickinson’s poem, “My Life Closed Twice” and takes some analyzing to understand. SD The first line reads, “My life closed twice before its close.” CM One would usually think of a life “clos[ing]” refers to death, but Dickinson is speaking more about the chapters of her life as opposed to life as a whole. CM These two chapters of her life probably “closed” when something significant occurred, such as a parting of an important person or object, or Dickinson herself parting from something of the same importance. SD In the second stanza, Dickinson mentions the more obvious way of parting, death. CM She says, “Parting is all we know of heaven.” CM What she means by this is that heaven is only known for being a place where you go after parting from the earth, and we don’t know much else. (Loose Sentence) CS Although the relationship between Dickinson’s poem and the theme of parting is hard to pinpoint, once you find it, the entirety of the poem makes sense.

TS In the next few months, I will have to experience the act of parting in two significant ways. (Periodic Sentence) SD First of all, I will be parting from twenty-one of my best friends and the school that has taught me, sheltered me and shaped me into the person I am today. CM I have been attending Pine Point for ten years, and in about one month, I will have to leave the only place I have ever known and venture (FAST) off to a new school. CM I will not only be parting from the school where I have been a student of for an entire decade, but also my twenty-one classmates that have been by my side, experiencing this journey in the making. SD I will also be parting from my home of Stonington, CT next fall. CM In the first week of this coming September, I will pick up my belongings and move into a dorm at my new facility of education. CM I will be living there for the next four years, making Stonington my less used, but still loved home, as opposed to my only one. CM3 Although this change will be a major one in my life, my home will always be my home, even if I am technically living eighty-five miles away from it. CS In the next few months, I will be parting from many places, but these partings can only strengthen my bond with the people and places I am leaving behind.

Parting varies within the situation. Sometimes parting is only for a short time, while other times, it lasts forever. Sometimes parting only refers to the dead, while other times, it also refers to the ones who didn’t pass, but simply left. Sometimes the memories of the one who parted “linger,” while other times, they “disappear” into thin air. Either way, parting is a part of life, and although each parting may be different, it all gives you a reason to reflect.