Alphabet

“So Much Happiness” by Naomi Shihab Nye (1995)

In Shihab Nye’s most famous poem, she plays with the relationship between the abstract and the concrete in order to characterize happiness as something intangible yet present everywhere. While the tone of “So Much Happiness” sharply contrasts that in “Alphabet,” the two poems share a consideration of the environment and a flowing, free-verse structure.

“In the Waiting Room” by Elizabeth Bishop (1979)

In this confessional poem, the young speaker experiences an empathetic response to a dental patient, which leads her to consider her own humanity and sense of self. Like the speaker in “Alphabet,” this speaker develops a sudden and overwhelming awareness of loss and pain.

“Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden (1966)

Like the speaker in “Alphabet,” the speaker in “Those Winter Sundays” feels regret for what he did not ask his father, whose caring actions were often overshadowed by the “chronic anger” of his childhood home. As in “Alphabet,” the speaker focuses on concrete, sensory details and free verse in order to mourn his father and what he did not know.