The poem shows symbols of dashes and lines to show the good or bad deeds in life.In the period of about 10 minutes it has the power to make you stop and re-evaluate your entire life, what you hold important, what your priorities are, what you have done and haven't done, what you would like to do, and what the dash is all about. Symbolism: Symbolism is using symbols to signify ideas and qualities, giving them symbolic meanings that are different from the literal meanings.Simile: It means to compare things directly using as or like, such as “Like we’ve never loved before.”.Linda Ellis has used the metaphor of dash that has been compared to gaps in life. Metaphor: It is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between objects that are different in nature.Linda Ellis has used imagery in this poem, such as “If we could just slow down enough”, “And more often wear a smile” and “The cars…the house…the cash.”

Imagery: Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses.

Enjambment: It is defined as a thought in verse that does not come to an end at a line break rather, it rolls over to the next line.

Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /th/ in “So, think about this long and hard” and the sound of /s/ in “Was the dash between those years.”.

Alliteration: Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line in quick succession, such as the sound of /m/ in “mattered most.”.

Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /a/ in “But he said what mattered most of all” and the sound of /o/ in “And spoke the following date with tears.”.

Some of the major literary devices used in this poem are as follows.

Linda Ellis has used various literary devices to enhance the intended impact of her poem. Analysis of Literary Devices Used in The Dash Therefore, its impact is everlasting and not that of the wealth that a person has earned in his life. However, when a person serves humanity and treats others with tolerance, justice, and love, everybody seems to shower praise when the person dies. Nobody knows what he has done for humanity or others. This is life and what stays after death for others is just a matter of a dash. His friends and relatives see his wealth, while others see how he has lived.

Major Themes in “The Dash”: Life, death, and the impacts of service of humanity are three major thematic strands of “Dash.” First, Linda Ellis beautifully recounts that when a person dies, his bio comprises only his date of birth and his date of death.

However, she has posed a rhetorical question about how you would feel when your good deeds were rehashed before the public. She comes to the point later in the poem to derive a lesson that if we stop and think before doing a deed how people will respond after our death, then we shall treat all the people differently to fill our dash with good deeds and our funeral prayers with good references for our bios. What matters most is the money and the bank balance that the person has amassed, which are insignificant when compared to the good deeds that could have filled his dashes. She is of the view that they represented when the friend was alive on this earth doing different deeds which matter little to others. However, the poet ruminates that both of these events are filled with gaps she calls dashes.

“The Dash” As a Representative of the Service of Mankind: Written in the first person, the poem recounts the death of a person whose friend reads his biography from his birth date to death date with tears in his eyes.The beauty of the poem lies in linking punctuation with human feelings and life. The poem beautifully sums up the missing information in one’s biography when read or narrated on the death of a person to highlight the importance of serving humanity to fill those gaps signified through dashes. Popularity of “The Dash”: The poem “The Dash” by Linda Ellis, an American poet with Irish lineage on the maternal side, appeared in 2004.Would you be proud of the things they sayĪbout how you spent YOUR dash? Summary of The Dash He noted that first came the date of birth He referred to the dates on the tombstone

Poem dash between birth death dates