Angie Estes strategy of Latin, French, and English quotes or translations distances the reader. Her book first appears difficult, but once the reader finds a comfort level with the language, the poetry isn't as difficult to enter. The foreign languages create a European and Romantic context for the work. In this sense, the nature of the quotes used, always in italics, sincerely speak to the subject matter and work as a whole. In a book about love, why not use romance languages. The quotes, along with epigraphs and sources quoted, create a learned atmosphere. Estes book marginalized you if you can't keep up with the discourse. Her English is already loaded, so with the addition of multiple texts and languages, we may struggle to keep up.
Kathy Fagan’s strategy in dealing with clichés follows the strategy we are often taught, to inject fresh language into and around the cliché in order to personalize the phrase. Fagan does this every couple of poems, even developing an entire poem off the phrase “a monkey on her back” (2) in "Womb To Tomb Pantoum." This use of clichés makes the diction of Fagan’s poetry very casual and familiar, but the personalization of the clichés makes the specific language pop out with originality. Fagan takes the phrase “’pretty on the inside’” (19)in reference to girls that aren’t stereotypically beautiful and lets it reference specifically “the ones” (19)in "'69." Moments like this make Fagan’s poetry comfortable to an American audience, yet intriguing. If for no other reason, I continue to read Fagan’s work just to absorb how she twists clichés and trite phrases. When you catch one in her work, you expect her to twist the language into something that feels familiar, yet ...
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