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Rhetorical Analysis of Charles Bukowski
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In Charles Bukowski’s, The People Look Like Flowers At Last, the reader is drawn into the author’s tumultuous lifestyle through freeform poetry. At first glance, this collection may seem geared towards a more adult audience. However, upon further examination the book reveals itself to be a striking chronicle of human experiences, universal themes, and timeless struggles that appeal to every human, regardless of age or wisdom. Taken as a whole, the book appears to be much more than a sum of its rhetorical devices: imagery, sarcasm, irony and endless metaphors. Instead, it is essentially like life: each part is interconnected, creating unity to form a whole. The People Look Like Flowers At Last is poetry with literary merit—and lots of it.
Part of the book’s appeal lies in its compelling themes, which strike chords that resound throughout time and across social boundaries. Personality clashes, fatal character flaws, and the deliberate rebellion against social norms are the main themes in which Bukowski’s poetry probes. The author uses a great deal of imagery in order to portray these key themes; “…I smashed the glass, I broke the glass, and then I reached in and touched Christ…” (43) Instead of sugarcoating every word and phrase available, Bukowski recalls events exactly as they occurred. One might say that Bukowski simply “lists” his ideas, rather than trying—as many poets do—to romanticize every aspect of a poem. In fact, he does almost the opposite. One of Bukowski’s cla...
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