Chronology - Margaret Atwood

Chronology refers to the sequential order in which past events occur. The poet, Margaret Atwood uses her poem titled Chronology to show the negative effects of the media on a person throughout the stages of their life. Short stanzas make up the poem, each representing a stage of life and Atwood uses similes’ and images contradictory to the title making the character appear to be growing younger in knowledge and sense of self. To be “born senile and gigantic; [their] wrinkles charting” gives readers the image of an older person. I believe Atwood uses this image to represent wisdom and experience which slowly deteriorates throughout the poem as the person is influenced by the media. This person “wears [their] hair like a helmet” and conforms with society as it is evident that “thin skin is no protection.” As the poem comes to an end, Atwood compares the narrator at the age of fifty to “a horse with a broken back,” a person who is “no use to the city” and the narrator is “unshelled” to reveal their innocence and vulnerability was hidden within her. Atwood’s poem conveys a strong message of the realities of the media and how a child may be wiser than say an adult as they are not affected by the negative influence of society.