This paper analyzes and explicates the lyrics and musical aspects of “Aggravatin’ papa” by Bessie Smith. The lyrics contain many rhymes put into different sections, and include slangs, softening the intensity of the occasion of the storytelling just like a daily talk. The tempo is kept slow throughout the song, and the accompaniment is minimal, which makes one think that although the situation portrayed in the song is quite intense, the song itself sounds rather calm. This might be possible because the speaker is only a third person narrating the story, not the character itself. The song, in large, shares a similar style with the musical theatre. In the first four lines, Smith introduces the characters involved in a situation, Mandy and Sam,
Gabi, A Girl in Pieces is a novel about a young, Latino girl who appears to have received the short end of the straw during her senior year of high school. Her father is a drug addict who soon dies, her best friend becomes pregnant, the other friend is kicked out of her home and Gabi struggles with self-confidence which stems from body issues. In addition to these issues, her mother is constantly calling attention to her weight and her grandmother does not have any desire to meet her. This is quite an amount of stress to handle while trying to consider her options about college and a future. Although her life seems to be spiraling out of control, she is an inspiration being that she remains optimistic about these circumstances and refuses
Beauty is a subjective idea that focuses on the characteristics preferable to a single species that gives an advantage over another and at the cost of another species survival. Humans have created astounding empires with beautiful cities and monuments because they were the most progressive species that are able to do so because of their capacity for violence. Some empires fear for their survival, so they must eliminate any threat whether it be humans or other animals. The poem, “Thanks” by Yusef Komunyakaa, it symbolizes how humans can become single minded only driven by their own personal desires at the sake of anyone else. Humans naturally commit ugly atrocities to progress their own beauty, or at least idea of, and they instinctively oppose nature because mankind is the dark side of nature.
In “Conte” by Marilyn Hacker, Cinderella shows the reader a glimpse of her life after the childhood tale ends, a less happier ending than the original story implies. She feels trapped in a constant state of misery and boredom in the royal palace. Without life experience guiding her, Cinderella is in a dilemma caused by her ignorance of the potential consequences of her actions. With the use of irony, structure, and diction, “Conte” shows how innocence and naïveté result in regrettable mistakes that create life experience.
I chose the poem Oranges by Gary Soto because it seemed simple but at the same time seemed profound. When I first read this poem it was easy to follow but I realized there was a deeper meaning behind the simplicity and I was intrigued. To find this poem, I searched on the internet for poems that were recommended for students in grade 11. I was looking for a poem that was somewhat long so I could write quite a bit about it. I was also looking for a poem that did not contain any allusions or ornate language. While I was reading through my choices, I briefly analyzed them, after this process I chose the one that I understood the most. The word ‘oranges” caught my eye, because it is rare to see a poem with such a simple name, but I felt that
The poem "My Papa's Waltz" by Theodore Roethke is a moving representation of childhood spent in a working middle class family. The speaker of this poem is a man recalling his childhood, his father and his mother through the means of a waltz. The following essay will present a detailed analysis of the dramatic situation and speaker through the explanations of the various poetic tools used in this poem such as similes, choice of words and style.
La Migra (pg. 700) is about two young kids (mostly immigrants) playing a game called “La Migra.” In La Migra there are two roles that can be played, the border patrol officer or Mexican maid. The poem is spilt into two main stanzas; each stanza gives you a different point of view. It allows you do play both roles of this game. The first stanza is focus on the role of the border patrol officer. In lines 4-7 of the poem tells you what the border patrol officer would have on the daily basis. This was a jeep, a badge and sunglasses. In the second stanza you play to Mexican maid/ woman. In this stanza you are powerless because you play the immigrant. It gives you a since of being caught in the act of a crime. In my opinion, I feel the theme of this
Thesis: The poem “My Papa’s Waltz” is a work that has an array of meanings, singular to each reader’s viewpoint.
Lorna Dee Cervantes' poem, “Poema para los Californios Muertos” (“Poem for the Dead Californios”), is a commentary on what happened to the original inhabitants of California when California was still Mexico, and an address to the speaker's dead ancestors. Utilizing a unique dynamic, consistently alternating between Spanish and English, Cervantes accurately represents the fear, hatred, and humility experienced by the “Californios” through rhythm, arrangement, tone, and most importantly, through use of language.
When Sonny plays the piano his brother “heard what he had gone through.. I saw my mother’s face again, and felt for the first time” (275) The narrator is reminded of the struggles he went through and relates back to
Richard Blanco is a Cuban- American poet who was given the oppurunity to write an inaugaration poem for Barack Obama's second swearing-in. He wrote a poem titled "One Today" that praised the good and unique things about the United States and also the everyday people who's daily routines help to make America the proud country that it is.
Artist, Kesha, co-wrote and sang the song titled “Praying.” In the video that she created for the song she shows us, the audience, what she went through during her healing process from the sexual and mental violence she received. Through many methods, such as religious references, Kesha took us through her journey through ethos, logos, and pathos.
In the poem “Passed On” by Carole Satymurti, the speaker tells a story almost as in a novel of their mother and how she left them a box of index cards with advice on life when she died. The speaker’s gender seems to be female. In the poem, the poet presents the theme of growing up and becoming one’s own person through the maturation and acceptance process. She personifies the index cards themselves, comparing them to her mother. They also characterize the speaker and her mother and create a mood of sadness and longing, implying that perhaps the mother has been dead for some time, but the speaker has never truly accepted this.
In the music video/song “Strange Fruit”, the phrase strange fruit doesn’t really refer to a fruit that is strange. It actually refers to people being lynched and hanging from trees. More specifically, the term strange fruit applies to the lynching of African Americans. This song was performed by Billie Holiday in 1939 at the Cafe Society in New York. The music video was actually a recorded performance from 1959. The song was written and performed because the purpose of was to raise awareness and fight against African American lynching because during that time, African Americans were being discriminated and abused. Billie Holiday in the music video/song “Strange Fruit” displays logos through context and imagery, pathos through her sorrowful tone and facial expressions, and lastly, ethos because she won many awards during her career in singing, and Strange Fruit is one of them.
I want you to stop and think about tone in day to day conversations. It mostly depends on the body language, volume of voice, and pitch of the person speaking. Written poems, on the other hand, develop their tone through imagery, language use, and form. To show this, I will be using the poem “Tonight I can write” by analyzing how Pablo Neruda works with distant imagery, nostalgic past tense, and repetitive form to develop a grief-filled tone. Through my analysis, I will be mentioning that the author generates loneliness in the persona. I expect the reader to agree that solitude is a state naturally feared and unwanted by humankind because of our undeniable biological drive to reproduce and survive, which requires the company of others. With that being said, I hope that we can assume loneliness is essentially connected to grief.
Poetry is a reduced dialect that communicates complex emotions. To comprehend the numerous implications of a ballad, perusers must analyze its words and expressing from the points of view of beat, sound, pictures, clear importance, and suggested meaning. Perusers then need to sort out reactions to the verse into a consistent, point-by-point clarification. Poetry utilizes structures and traditions to propose differential translation to words, or to summon emotive reactions. Gadgets, for example, sound similarity, similar sounding word usage, likeness in sound and cadence are at times used to accomplish musical or incantatory impacts.