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Beginner · 3 min

The voice in a poem

A poem’s speaker is the voice presented by the poem. The speaker may resemble the poet or may be an invented person, an object, or another imagined voice. Identify what the poem establishes about that voice before making biographical claims. A poem spoken by an old bridge need not describe the poet’s own literal experience.

Practice

Who is the speaker in a poem whose voice says it is an old bridge?