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What is the theme of Good Bones by Maggie Smith?
Will 'Good Bones' transform Maggie Smith into a guru of literary self-help?
Who reads Maggie Smith's poem 'Good Bones'?
Who is Maggie Smith?
A poem by Maggie Smith that explores the tension between the beauty and the horror of life and the world. The speaker tries to sell the world to her children as having good bones, despite the evidence of violence and tragedy.
- Maggie Smith
Maggie Smith is the author of Goldenrod (Simon & Schuster,...
- First Fall
Maggie Smith is the author of Goldenrod (Simon & Schuster,...
- Poems of Anxiety and Uncertainty
Good Bones. Maggie Smith In this short Life that only lasts...
- Maggie Smith
A poem by Maggie Smith that explores the challenges and hopes of parenting in a violent and uncertain world. The poet compares life to a real estate deal and tries to sell her children the world with its good bones.
- Summary
- Structure
- Poetic Techniques
- Good Bones Analysis
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The title of the poem refers to a ‘realtor’ talking through a ‘real shithole’ and pointing out that although the house is terrible, it has a good structure and foundation, and therefore can be made into something beautiful. Smith suggests the same applies to our world. Although filled with terrible people, the earth itself is just like the house, i...
‘Good Bones’ is split by Maggie Smith into 17 lines, comprising one continuous stanza. You could call this form of poetry a monologue, with the lack of stanza division making the poem seem more like a speech than anything else. This rambling tone, with Smith referencing and coming back to past ideas, reflects the idea of a speech, with Smith talkin...
One technique that Smith uses throughout the poem is repetition. On one hand, the use of this technique allows Smith to solidify ideas within the mind of the reader, the idea that ‘Life is short’ being the primary example of this. She builds ideas of the world’s negative aspects, and the fact that life is transient into the poem, allowing the reade...
Lines 1-5
The poem begins with a statement that reflects the transience of human life, ‘Life is short’, with Smith instantly focusing the poem on the negative side of life. She reaffirms this statement with ‘though I keep this from my children.’, the final end stops emphasizing ‘children’ and bringing them to the focus of the line. This first line begins in a style that Smith continues throughout the poem, stating something negative about the world, and suggesting she will not tell her children about t...
Lines 6-13
The central idea of the poem arrives between lines five and six, ‘The world is at least fifty percent terrible, and that’s a conservative estimate’, pointing to the inherent evil of man. She suggests that if things were as simple as 50% of the world being good, and 50% being bad, that still means that 1/2 the people you meet would be evil, a staggering number. Yet, things aren’t that simple, this being a ‘conservative estimate’, Smith suggesting that it is probable that a might higher percent...
Lines 14-17
Here Smith focuses on the metaphorof a ‘realtor’ selling a house. They walk through a ‘real shithole’, here representative of the world, and talk about ‘good bones’, focusing on how nice the structure of the house is. This is a tactic to say something positive when there really isn’t anything to say. The world is terrible and broken, but hopefully, this can be mixed – maybe her children can help fix it. Smith withdraws into herself for the final two lines. She uses a rhetorical question, the...
A poem that explores the duality of the world, balancing the harsh truth with hope for its potential beauty. The poet talks to her children about the terrible things she keeps from them, and the good bones of the earth that they can make beautiful.
A poem by Maggie Smith that explores the tension between the beauty and the horror of the world, and the responsibility of parents to sell the world to their children. Read the poem, watch a video of the poet reading it, and learn about its themes and sources.
Learn about the meaning and structure of 'Good Bones', a popular poem by American poet Maggie Smith. The poem reflects on the negative aspects of life and how the speaker tries to shield her children from them.
Oct 6, 2020 · How did Maggie Smith, author of the popular poem "Good Bones", become a literary self-help guru? Read her profile and interview in Slate, where she talks about her new book, her fears, and her life in Ohio.
Oct 2, 2017 · Good Bones is a book of modern poems that explore the past, present and future, life and death, childhood and motherhood. The title poem, which went viral, expresses the hope to love the world like a mother despite its darkness and violence.
