Analysis of Adolescence by Larry Levis

Analysis of"Adolescence" by Larry Levis Larry Levis’s poem “Adolescence” is a rambling yet descriptive poem about looking back on his own teen-age years. In his mind, these years were a missed opportunity. He reminisces of his youth when at age 15 he encountered a girl whom he did not love. She passed away from spinal meningitis and he regrets not bestowing his love before she passed away. Maybe nothing would have happened had he …

…be done to make it a page-turner. However, manipulating the text the way Levis chose communicates the emotion of the poem in a way far superior to any brief story. Its seemingly random line breaks and awkward random straggling adds a sense of a story straight from the heart. Consequently, a poem was the best choice as it can be written in anyway the author chooses, and molded to create a work of art, “Adolescence.”