74th Street by Myra Cohn Livingston
The poem “74th Street” by Myra Cohn Livingston appealed to me because of the central message the author was trying to convey. I choose to illustrate it because I felt like I could connect to it from my past experiences. When I illustrated my poster I tried to express determination, and to always to pick yourself back up.
Also I decided to put concrete images on my poster to try to enhance the imagery for the reader. One concrete image I put on my poster was a young girl skating. This poem was eccentric, and carried a strong message, which is to always pick yourself up. One reason why I enjoyed reading, and illustrating this poem is because of the childish language. An example of this is, “She sticks out a foot like she’s going somewhere and falls down and smacks her hand.
” (49) This example shows the different language because she writes like she, herself is a child. A literary technique that Myra Cohn Livingston uses is repetition. An example of this occurs when she writes, “Sticks out the other foot,” (49) in the first stanza and in the third stanza she writes, “Then sticks out the other foot.” (49) The poet’s use of techniques makes the poem easier to picture. 74th Street by Myra Cohn Livingston is a vivid poem, which helps the reader understand the setting, theme, and characters. The theme, which is a central message that the author tries to convey.
Her theme in the poem was to never give up and always try again. The setting, which is where the poem takes place; Livingston put the setting on a blacktop with a little girl on skates. She did a phenomenal job writing this poem. Myra Cohn Livingston was born on August 17, 1926 and died in 1996. She was not just a poet, but also a musician, educator, critic, anthologist and even an author. With her variety of skills she taught at the University of California.
She went to Sarah Lawrence College, where she first begin to write her poetry. In 1946 her first poem was published in a magazine, and in 1958 her first book. A quote of hers was, “It is the force of what I say that shapes the form.”
