Poem Explication of "Red Shift" by Berrigan

In the poem Red Shift, Berrigan suggest that people become increasingly bitter and angry as they age. He dose so by his tone while reading the poem and the words that he uses in the poem.

The begging of the poem which represents a person’s childhood is hopeful and looking toward the future. When read by Berrigan seems to have a somewhat hopeful. Also in the actually wording of the poem he talks about “looking at the smilingly attentive women”. Both of these things suggest that Berrigan believes that a person’s childhood is the most optimistic and hopeful time of his/her life.

Next is the middle of the poem which represents the middle ages of a person’s life. The poem when read by Berrigan has an uncertain and confused tone. This suggests that during a person midlife they become uncertain about what they are support to be doing in life. This suggestion is further reinforced by the text of the poem in which Berrigan talks about “Love, children, hundreds of them, money, marriage-/ethics, a politics of grace,/ up in the air”. By talking about how all of these things are up in the air suggests that a person will face uncertainty in this period in their lives.

Last of all is the end of Berrigan’s poem, which is representative of when people are old and nearing the end of their lives. At this point when Berrigan reads the poem his voice becomes louder and his tone becomes angry. Also in the text of the poem Berrigan speaks about how “you will never escape from me…Who lives only to nag”. These two things suggest that Berrigan believes that people when they become old become angry and cling to the things in their lives not wanting to let go and clinging to life.

Berrigan believes that as people age they all go through certain phases of their lives. When they are young they are hopefully, when they are in their middle ages they are uncertain, and when they are old they are angry and bitter.