Portrait by a Neighboor

“Portrait by a Neighbor” Have you ever had a neighbor that just did everything against your morals? Edna St. Vincent Millary must have based on her poem “Portrait by a Neighbor”. This poem states a clear main idea that their neighbor does everything differently from them and they don’t like it. This poem is about a neighbor painting the reader a picture of her neighbor in which she has very different values and opinions then them. It states that she is always outside doing things such as tanning instead of her dishes or weeding her lettuce. There is quite a few poetic devices in this poem. There is alliteration, simile, and personification. An example of personification is “weed her lazy lettuce”. “Portrait by a Neighbor” is told by the neighbor. In each stanza, the second and fourth line rhyme. The tone of this poem is humorous by the words Millary uses. She makes it rhyme so it has a flow to the poem. All in all this poem was put together very well. The theme of this poem is to not judge others because they are different from you and your ways of life. This poem is painting a picture of the persons neighbor and they are judging her because she does things differently than them. By using figurative language, Millary is visually painting the reader a clear picture of the neighbor. This poem taught me not to judge a book by it’s cover or a person by their ways of life.