Responsibility and innocence are the main themes of Edwin Morgan's touching and thought-provoking poem: "The Death of Marilyn Monroe". Morgan has written this poem as he reflected on the very significant event of the death of the Hollywood sex icon, Marilyn Monroe. Morgan's skilled use of literary techniques conveyed to me the significance of Monroe's death.
The dramatic and thrilling opening line of the poem represents how the public and the world's media were desperate to find out more information on their Hollywood screen icon: "What innocence? Whose guilt? What eyes? Whose Breast?". These short, and exciting questions also represent the main themes of responsibility and innocence; which are explored throughout the poem.
The skilful usage of the metaphor; "Crumpled orphan-, creates an image of the child-like innocence of Monroe, and yet, portraying the idea that she is damaged in someway, i.e. the pressure and stress of the film-star lifestyle. This made me realise that fame and attention can seriously damage a person's life. This idea of innocence is continued in the line: " white hearse-, which is normally associated with the death of a child. These literary techniques play an important role in conveying the significance of the death of Marilyn Monroe to the reader.
The description I would give the following line is rapid and intense; "Di Maggio! Los Angeles! Miller! Los Angeles!". The repetition of; "Los Angeles!" is implying that the film industry played a highly significant role in Marilyn Monroe's death. Also; "Di Maggio!" and "Miller!", are the names of Monroe's ex-husbands which clearly indicates that her relationships usually ended in failure, and this also contributed to her untimely death. Finally, Morgan uses exclamation marks after each outburst of thoughts to emphasise his feelings and ideas. All of these techniques assisted me to understand what Morgan was trying to convey, and I strongly feel that they are highly effective.
