Burning the Old Year

Figurative language goes beyond the literal meaning of the written text to convey a message. Nye uses figurative language throughout “Burning the Old Year” to convey the poem’s central themes; she uses personification, simile, and imagery to create a poem that merges the concrete with the abstract. Throughout the poem, the speaker is burning remnants of the year before, but these papers, notes, letters, and poems also represent the memories and times associated with when they were written. As the speaker moves forward into the new year, she chooses to burn these specific written artifacts, ridding herself of the reminders and memories of times that are no longer valuable or needed.

Nye employs strong and vivid imagery in “Burning the Old Year.” Imagery appeals to a reader’s five senses with vibrant word choices that paint a picture for the reader. In the first stanza, Nye writes:

Letters swallow themselves in seconds.

Notes friends tied to the doorknob,

transparent scarlet paper,

sizzle like moth wings,

marry the air (Lines 1-5).

While reading these lines, the reader can visualize the letters and notes being burned, hear the “sizzle” sounds of burning papers, and even smell the unforgettable aroma of smoke rising from the fire.

In stanza two, the speaker describes the “Orange swirling flame of days” (Line 8); here, the reader can picture the colorful churning of the fire and liken it to the days blending together as time passes. The concluding lines of the poem, “only the things I didn’t do / crackle after the blazing dies” (Lines 14-15), trigger both the visual and audio senses, so the reader can hear the “crackle” of the fire as it represents what has been left undone, and imagine the image of the waning flames as the fire diminishes and is finally extinguished.

Personification is a type of metaphor where a writer uses human characteristics to describe non-human things. Nye pairs personification within “Burning the Old Year” with rich imagery to create a physical and abstract presentation of the various symbols and themes throughout the poem.

The first use of personification comes in the first line: “Letters swallow themselves” (Line 1), which describes how the letters being burned catch fire against each other, allowing the fire to quickly eat through them. The second use of personification comes in the line “an absence shouts, celebrates” (Line 11). By describing the empty space where an item or memory was erased as shouting and celebrating, Nye notes the importance and weight of absence and how emptiness makes an impact once the object filling it is gone.