The Importance of the Ordinary: Analyzing "Common Magic" Kerry Yang 11th Grade

“Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it” (Roald Dahl). At a young age, we stop believing in magic. As we grow up and move through the mundanity of our lives, magic exists exclusively in the nostalgia of our childhood. However, in this poem, Wallace calls our attention to this exact magic in our everyday lives. The poem “Common Magic” by Brownen Wallace implies that magic lives even in the simplicity of our daily lives. The speaker argues that magic disguises itself in the mundane details of life through the use of abstract personifications, vivid imagery, and imaginative metaphors to describe both people and life. Although we don’t see magic commonly, the poem “Common Magic” changes our perspective on the alienation between the two words to guide us towards finding magic in our everyday lives.

Wallace’s use of abstract personifications in her poem breathes life into mundanity, creating magic from ordinariness. The speaker observes children at the park and explains they engage in games as if they “weave / the interface” (l. 36-37) of a video game, magically immersed in another world. The personification exists in their game intertwining in other worlds in which the children are game characters. Wallace also finds...