The form of the poems themselves also create images. The tree reinforces the sentiment and adds more punch. Without the tree, this poem is too general and intangible. In order to continue growing, people must be willing to shed the dead pieces, so they can grow new, vibrant leaves. Here the tree reinforces the changing seasons of life. Kaur must dive into each character’s inner life to bring their feelings and sensations to the reader to keep the poems revolving around emotions. At the same time, each point of view is very close to the characters. She chooses the point of view that best conveys the emotion and situation of that piece. Even though two chapters of the collection are dedicated to the hurting and the breaking, the text has a positive overall tone.īecause Milk and Honey is a collection of poems, not a traditional prose text, Kaur is able to switch from second to third to first person point of view with each new poem. She is offering her condolences and advice while lifting the reader up and letting them know they are worthy of a better love than she has experienced. Second person point of view works in Milk and Honey because the reader gets the sense Kaur is speaking directly to them. By saying “you” Kaur elicits the longing for a lost love, stubborn refusal to move on, and despair of a break up in the reader. The poem about the coffee cup would not hit the reader as hard if Kaur had used “I” or “she” because then the longing would belong to someone else, not the reader. While she uses first and third person points of view too, the second person poems pull the reader in, transforming them into the body experiencing the sensations and emotions Kaur focuses on. One of the techniques Kaur uses to evoke an emotional response from her readers is the use of second person point of view. She makes the intangible tangible in the cup of black coffee. By coupling the emotion with a familiar item, Kaur gives the reader a taste, smell, heat, and image to associate with the emotions she invokes. They feel love, agonizing want, loneliness, stubbornness, and fear – all wrapped in a handful of poignant phrases. The reader sees Kaur’s longing in the lines where the speaker refuses to let go.

Kaur’s poems have the ability to gut her readers because she allows the full force of her emotions into each poem. Because poetry is designed to share what the writer was feeling in a specific moment, it is often autobiographical. Whether the feeling is happy, sad, thrilling, or calming, the sensation is one readers desire. When readers return to a text again and again, it’s because that text makes them feel something. Poets are masters of evoking emotion in as few words as possible.

Milk and honey by Rupi Kaur