The Poet X


The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo is a novel in verse and is marketed towards young adults ages 13 and up. This is taken from the HarperCollins publishing site (2024).

Following Xiomara Batista a young girl from Harlem who writes down her poetic thoughts in a journal. As we explore her thoughts we see her frustrations, wants and dreams which stand in opposition with what her mother wants for her.

In trying to find another book to cover in doing my research is discovered that The Poet X has become required reading in some high schools for its themes especially and digging farther I found it on a list of the 100 Best YA Books of All Time from Times Magazine. I have never read a YA book done in verse and am unfamiliar with the genre outside of knowing it exists especially being aware of the Crank books in middle school. I chose this becaus of its uniqueness and came to find it was als a National Book Award Winner as well. (Times, 2024).

For this book I will be examining style and language, setting, and tone.

First in exploring the style of writing I want to look at the chapter heading, After which is one of my favorites from the book. We know the book is already styled in verse and showcases the inner thoughts of our protagonist, but I found this one really good in how uncomfortable it makes you feel for Xiomara. The poem has two stanzas, one that has this repetitive and the other that changes it up a bit. The first stanza stars every line with "It happens when I'm..." It references the horrific objectification she's subjected to by boys and men alike. It happens everywhere from her school to the train and so on. The next focuses on digging deeper. She talks about her anger, how she shouldn't be upset and then goes into detail of how they rub against her and make her feel sick. It's heartbreaking and feels real. The objectification of women and young women is a fact and this thoguth process is beautifully and hauntingly told through the poetry (Acevedo, 2018).

Next, I wanted to explore the setting of the story. The book takes place in Harlem and has a very urban setting. In the chapter I just mentioned Xiomara talks about riding the train. Majority of people in large cities don't drive but take cab or bus to get where they're going. Xiomara's family goes to church and based on her mothers strict beliefs it's a fairly religious community in Harlem. They are also people of color which add to this experience. Overall, the feeling the setting evokes is urban and the setting helps in establishing the experience of someone that lives there.

Last, I want to bring up tone. I always find tone tricky and I often get it confused with mood. Tone is the authors atitude towards the text and I think in this instance we can say The Poet X has a very serious tone. It's about a young girl finding herself and the only way she has been able to express herself is through her writing. It provides how you are supposed to feel about Xiomara situation, by literally having her life put right in front of you. We know her darkest secrets and this can be funny, it can be tragic and even haunting. the poem I mentioned for instance is haunting and real. I think The Poet X focuses on realism. It wants you to feel like this is real and really happening and I think it is successful in that regard.

Reference

Acevedo, E. (2018) The poet X. Quill Tree Books.
 
HarperCollins. (2024). The poet X. https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-poet-x-elizabeth-acevedo?variant=32206773846050

Times. (2024). The 100 best YA books of all time. https://time.com/collection/100-best-ya-books/6084704/the-poet-x/

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