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.
Clint Smith is a writer, teacher, and doctoral candidate in Education at Harvard University with a concentration in Culture, Institutions, and Society. Smith Clint wrote a poem called “Something You should Know.” The poem is about an early job he had in a Petsmart. The poet allows the readers into his personal life, but before he had trouble opening up to people and his work. Moreover, Clint wrote an insight in the poem about relying in anything to feel safe and he says it is the most terrifying thing any person can do.
In the short story “Two Kinds”, Amy Tan uses the narrator’s point of view to share a mother's attempt to control her daughter's dreams and ambitions. Tan`s short story is an example of how differing personalities cause struggles between a parent and child. Children often fall victim to a parent trying too hard or expectations being too high, and in the case of "Two Kinds," we see Jing Mei’s mother trying to live her life through that of Jing Mei. The outcome of her mother’s actions soon leads the narrator into feeling tension within herself, and between herself and her mother.
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.
The Poem “Introduction to Poetry” is by Billy Collins, an English poet, and it is about how teachers often force students to over-analyze poetry and to try decipher every possible meaning portrayed throughout the poem rather than allowing the students to form their own interpretation of the poem based on their own experiences.
The poem “Thanks,” by Yusef Komunyakaa, in the literal sense, is a poem poised in the midst of a “deadly game,” where the narrator keeps barely escaping death in multiple occurances. Through the usage of extended metaphor, literary devices, juxtaposition and Komunyakaa’s own experiences of the Vietnam War, the poem accomplishes a solemn tone for the piece as a whole. This solemn tone establishes an abusive relationship created in the poem between the two children, America and Vietnam, and the Mother of All, Earth.
Patricia talks about going to a Christian Endeavours Friday nights, and having a pretty normal school life (minus symptoms of her DID; blurry memory, confusions of learning subject or meeting people.) She was a Brownie and participate in the Girls Brigade, similar things that normal girls did growing up then and now (Nobles,2006,43-44). She had friends and played with kids in her neighborhood she was sometimes a ‘normal’ girl. Another thing that rubbed me the wrong way was the part about the vacation to Jersey (Nobles, 2011, 47), the girls knew that their father wasn’t going, but when they get to the station Kim finds out she isn’t going either. I found myself saying the questions she was saying to her self, “why was she not going, what had she done?” Some one that Patricia expresses her love for her is her ‘friend’ Lillian in Chapter 8 who she attended Warlingham, she shares how much she appreciated her later for her patience. Kim was constantly questioning her about school, why she was there, why she couldn’t go home, why her dad brought her back after being sent home for just a few hours (Nobles,2011,132). Her mother had a huge drinking problem and while Patricia also though she had one, I think she was just simply trying to just justify why she was blacking out. She was always asking her self “why don’t I remember anything, why am I always feeling like time is just flying by”. Her mother heavily drank through her entire childhood and into her adult hood it was a big
Hello ladies and gentlemen, I am here to bring forth some poems that represent our beautiful country for the Australian day anthology. Australians identity is a wonderful thing with our mate ship and way of life respected throughout the world. Our acknowledgement of our past makes us the country we are and creates the country we have, with the pride shared between all who happily call Australia there home. These poems explore our country’s pride through times of hardship, this being the Vietnam war. And how our strong mate ship and pride helped us prevail through this time. These are very clear throughout the poems becoming clear staple pieces for this era.
The growth from a young bride who settles in another country, to a mother is astounding, and this progress is shown through the eyes of Hana. Hana is not without flaws though, as not even a picture bride can be perfect. Hana vies for
Yusef Komunyakaa, famous African American poet of today, grew up at the very edge of the Civil Rights movements. Born in 1947 in Bouglasa, Louisiana, he witnessed firsthand the racial segregation and discrimination of the time. As a child, he loved to read, yet he was barred from the public library due to his race (Blumberg). In addition to this personal experience of discrimination, he likely observed and was aware of the purpose of the Civil Rights Movement (1954-1968) and the resurgence of black rage from political writers of the time, such as Amiri Baraka. He may not have been aware at the time that this black rage and polemical writing was the source of the Black Arts Movement (1960-1975).
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 “Facing It”, by the poet Yusef Komunyakaa, he himself is the one who is speaking, the poem is about his own life experience at the Vietnam Memorial. The way a person can tell if the own poet of the poem is the speaker is by the use of “I”, or first person throughout the poem. In this case, the poet uses words like “I” and “I’m” that support the fact that he is the speaker. The Vietnam War was a Historical event taken place in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. Which was one of the first war that African Americans were integrated with White people, and the majority of the soldiers were African Americans. Komunyakaa, being an African American soldier in the Vietnam War and surviving, is an honor, as not much African American’s survived. For Komunyakaa all his bad and painful experience is coming back to him to hurt him, as he is visiting the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. He is expecting to see his very own name engraved on the black granite wall, as he feels like part of him is gone and left behind in the War. In “Facing It” Komunyakaa memories from the War are coming to him and the memories are affecting his life style in the sense of haunting him/ hurting him with the use of imagery, metaphors, similes and personifications throughout the poem.
- By the age of 10, Hernandez knew he wanted to work in stage design. He went to Yale and worked on musicals after he graduated. To begin he starts by formulating a three dimensional world little by little. Then he draws it and gives it to the shops so they start building it. Once he finalizes the set design in model form, everything changes and he starts to design the actual play.
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.
Some of the poems and essays I have read during this class were relatable to me. Being away from college, I have struggled with not being at home. I have become a different person when I am at school, but when I am home, I feel like I am my normal self again. Some of these authors of the poems and essays that I have read throughout this class has struggled with being somewhere where they don’t belong and that they are someone else when they are not home. Unlike the other poems and essays we have read throughout the course. I enjoyed reading the ones about “home” because I actually understood what they are going through and that I can relate. Some of these poems and essays include “Going Home” by Maurice Kenny, Postcard from Kashmir”, by Agha Shahid Ali, “Returning” by Elias Miguel Munoz and “Hometown” by Luis Cabalquinto. All of these poems deal with duality.