“Habitual” by Nate Marshall: Poem Analysis Essay

In “Habitual” by Nate Marshall, as the title implies, the poem describes the psychological issues of habits that construct human lives. The narrator opens the poem with the expressions of controversial existence. Indeed, Marshal purposefully uses simple but grammatically confusing constructions, such as ‘I be, but I don’t is’ written in all small letters to emphasize existentialism and the flow of thought. The habits that the narrator deals with make him beloved and unloved at the same time, as well as being in the dirt and never wanting to stop. The poem demonstrates the complexity of the habitual aspect of addiction.