Imagery & Tone in "Who Makes the Journey" Imagery and tone are very prominent elements in the poem "Who Makes the Journey" by Cathy Song. The persistent metaphor or analogy that Song uses is with respect to the movement of history and the movement of an elderly woman. The majority of the imagery used in the poem is with respect to how the woman, who moves like the passage of history, is dressed, looks, and how she moves as an individual. The comparison between history and an old woman is not a comparison many people would make readily or easily, but Song does a strong job of keeping the readers attention over the course of the poem. The imagery and tone assist the reader in individual understanding of the poem "Who Makes the Journey" overall. Most of the language Song uses in the poem is imagery of the old woman. Therefore, a reader must be at least somewhat in tune and aware of the imagery to get any kind of understanding of the poem at all. The ways in which the imagery is composed contributes to the sense...

Therefore, to understand and ponder the imagery is also to understand and ponder the tone. While all writers choose their words with specificity and intention, this may be the most true for writers that are poets. Thus readers can infer that Song's choice of words, style, and composition are very intentional in the descriptions she includes as well as some descriptions she leaves out.
The old woman of the poem is in a hurry. In the first stanza, Song describes this woman as having left the house while the old man, her implied companion, chose to be more sensible and stay home to die. The old woman is moving quickly and with intention. This description may be contrary to common ideas of elderly women. In many cultures, people presume that the elderly move much more slowly than adults, adolescents, and children, but the woman who is the central character of "Who Makes the Journey." Even the title implies extended movement as well as curiosity into the person who is engaged in the…