Point of View

“For the Love of Ivy” is told through a first-person epistolary voice; the main character addresses a subject off the page through a handwritten letter. Although the poem opens with a “you” pronoun, suggesting a second-person voice, the following stanzas quickly reveal that the narrator is speaking from their own first-person experience. The poem shifts between the present moment and the past, in which the speaker recounts some of the formative experiences that made her who she is. Apart from the subtitle, which establishes the poem’s purpose and world, the subject to whom the voice is directed is never named. This allows the reader to experience the narrative as if the speaker was talking to them.

Language and Meaning

This poem leans heavily into botanical vernacular, which it uses to create an atmosphere specific to the titular character. These word choices, which come from...