19 pages • 38 minutes read
Ada LimónThe Leash
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 2018A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Literary Context
“The Leash” is a contemporary poem influenced by mid-20th century confessional poetry. Often defined as an extension of lyric poetry, confessional poetry is characterized by a strong central voice sharing a deeply personal and emotional experience. The key difference between the lyric and the confessional is the relative lack of a masking persona—the lines between speaker and poet collapse.
Confessional poets use natural speech rhythms and language to tell their stories. “They grounded their work in actual events, referred to real persons, and refused any metaphorical transformation of intimate details into universal symbols” (“An Introduction to Confessional Poetry.” 2022. Poetry Foundation). They didn’t shy away from taboo subjects—physical and mental illness, family issues, suicide, sexuality—and personal trauma in their work. Honesty and naked vulnerability are hallmarks of the genre.
The focus on emotional and personal content is balanced by equally strong technique: “these poets maintained a high level of craftsmanship through their careful attention to and use of prosody” (“A Brief Guide to Confessional Poetry.” 2014. Academy of American Poets).
Limón has identified Anne Sexton, Sylvia Plath, Lucille Clifton, and Adrienne Rich as influences on her work—all poets associated to some degree with the Confessional movement. The honesty, personal connection, political investment, and real-life detail are all at work in “The Leash.”
Rhetorical Context
“The Leash” was first published on January 1, 2016 and was also included in the 2018 collection, The Carrying. This was a period of uncertainty and plays a major part in the rhetorical context of the poem.
In 2015 alone, five high-profile mass shootings left 40 dead and 39 wounded (“2015 Was a Grim Year for American Gun Violence.” 31 Dec. 2015. The Washington Post). In the same year, environmental disasters hit across the globe: a major earthquake in Nepal, a super typhoon in the Pacific, floods and tornados in the American Southern Plains, and wildfires in the American West. The Flint Water crisis was ongoing. In May 2015 the Refugio Oil Spill deposited 3,400 barrels of oil in West Coast waters, and in August the Gold King Mine wastewater spill dumped three million gallons of contaminants into the Colorado watershed. The political and cultural climate was also fraught, as the 2016 campaign, election, and ultimate presidency of Donald Trump was polarizing and controversial for many Americans.
This is the world that “The Leash” explores. In The Carrying, “Limón’s mental strength emerges through her determination to confront political and social atrocities thrust upon her and others by those who hold the majority of America’s power and wealth” (McAndrews, Journey Wila. “[Review] The Carrying by Ada Limón.” 2018. Pank).
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By Ada Limón
