“The Unknown Citizen” by W.H Auden and “next to of course god america i” by e.e. cumming are two poems that deal with similar issues. They both address the issue of dying soldiers and blame blind patriotism for the deaths of these soldiers. The theme of both poems deals with the need for citizens to become more outspoken and follow their own beliefs instead of simply following their country. However, each poem addresses a topic that isn’t found in the other poem, and the poems themselves are structurally different. Auden’s poem is simply a description of a man who lived in the past. It is very reasonable to say that this man lived in the first half of the 20th Century, considering the fact that Auden states that the average person owned: “a phonograph, a radio, a car and a Frigidaire” (line 21). At the beginning of the poem, the man is described as a “saint” (4). However, as the poem/description continues, it becomes apparent that he was hardly a praise-worthy person. He was simply a man who did what he was told. In Bruce Meyer’s essay, he states that “the Unknown Citizen was a law-abiding veteran and union member who served his community through his very facelessness and his participation in a consumer society” (par. 9). He was never “odd in his views”, meaning that he was completely conformed to the views of the nation (Auden 9). The poem continues to describe this excessively normal man, and at the end of the poem, Auden writes: “Was he free? Was he happy? The question
Have you ever wonder how people survive and thrive in Antarctica? In the excerpt from the story Alone by Richard E. Byrd the narrator explains how a man lives in Antarctica for 5 months during the winter alone in -83°F weather. Being alone changes a person’s attitude and state of mind. When you are alone people tend to start to become more negative and have a gloomy mindset.
Starts with 'I love a sunburnt country ', which is the exact wording of the second stanza in the original poem by Dorothea Mackellar. This particular stanza (from the original) is the most oem by Oscar Krahnvohl like environmental issues, humanity issues, cultural issues and politicwell-known, and by Oscar starting with this particular line, he exposes the brilliance of the previous poem, but the next few lines start as a parody from the influence of the previous poem.
In “America the beautiful” the author’s use of diction creates an uplifting spiritual tone in the poem.The author uses the same words “oh beautiful for…”focusing not on America's flaws but on the beauty. For instance the start of stanza 4 she writes “o beautiful 4 heroes proved in liberty strife who more than self her country loved and marymor than life”.She apads for the people who believe in freedom of america by sacrificing their lives for their
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.
When songwriters begin to pen the lyrics of a song, I believe their ultimate goal is to transcend time in hopes of reaching listeners for generations to come. J.R. Cash, professionally known as Johnny Cash, wrote a song that did just that. “Ragged Old Flag” is a patriotic song that speaks to every generation. Written in 1974, “Ragged Old Flag” was meant to tell the story of our country. Johnny Cash recorded “Ragged Old Flag” live at the House of Cash. Cash wanted the song to be recorded live because it was raw, untouched, and unapologetically real. The basis of this analysis is to show how patriotism spans generations, but also why a song such as, “Ragged Old Flag” is an important part of patriotism in the United States of America.
In Citizen: An American Lyric written by Claudia Rankine, there is a passage where a man is stopped because he fits the description of a “criminal”. The speaker faces immense trauma just trying to relay to the officer that he is not the perpetrator they are looking for. In fact he is just another person trying to get home from a long day at the office. The officers refuse to listen which angers the victim and causes him to curse at the officer saying, “Go ahead hit me motherfucker.” (Rankine 107) While the victim could not have been held for the original reason, he was now charged with speeding. The victim was then taken down to the station on new charges. After being wrongfully targeted, held, fingerprinted, and stripped, he was finally let
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.
Native Guard is a poem that is built on a lot of passion and precision that makes this entire book of poetry stand out. From the beginning with the elusive imagery and foreshadowing of her childhood and her mother’s life we are easily engulfed in the lifestyle of being born in the south. The imagery continues on in the new memory of the pinnacle time of slavery and the Civil War, which shows the true nature of the south through repetition and metaphoric sentences of many gruesome and remorseful scenes.
The title itself alludes to “The Unknown Soldier,” almost parodying it. According to Georgia Virtual School, an unknown soldier died in battle, however, the body is unrecognizable. It is also known that soldiers are tagged. The fact that the title is the way it is and the subtitle mimics a tag implies that the lives of common folk is so insignificant and uneventful that they might just as well be unknown since they are just another face in the vast crowd of people. This relays a metaphor in the eyes of the reader.
This very well-known poem ‘Sanctuary’ was written in the early ‘50s by Judith Wright. Judith was a prolific Australian poet, critic, and short-story writer. She was also an uncompromising environmentalist and social activist campaigning for Aboriginal land rights. She believed that the poet should be concerned with national and social problems. The poem ‘Sanctuary’ was written as a great expression of environmental concern from her. The poem begins with a shocker. Sanctuary, implicitly, is a place of habitation which is safe. However, the first lines of the first stanza, “The road beneath the giant original trees sweeps on and cannot wait” represents a contrast. Here the road is used metaphorically to symbolise today’s modern developments taking place at the cost of all round natural destruction. The poem then unfolds the gloomy mood of the poet in the description of dangerous driving in the night on the road through the Sanctuary to the city: “only the road ahead is true.” In the last line then she is simply sarcastic: “It knows where it is going: we go too.” In fact the road never knows where it is going, but we know where we are going! The poet subtly asks: do we know where we are going by destroying our own habitation, native forests, plants and animals?
In the poem, “35/10” by Sharon Olds, the speaker uses wistful and jealous tones to convey her feeling about her daughter’s coming of age. The speaker, a thirty-five year old woman, realizes that as the door to womanhood is opening for her ten year old daughter, it is starting to close for her. A wistful tone is used when the speaker calls herself, “the silver-haired servant” (4) behind her daughter, indicating that she wishes she was not the servant, but the served. Referring to herself as her daughter’s servant indicates a sense of self-awareness in the speaker. She senses her power is weakening and her daughter’s power is strengthening. It also shows wistfulness for her diminishing youth, and sadness for her advancing years. This
Identity is moulded by a multitude of different sources, and this is demonstrated on personal, social, historical and cultural levels. The intricacy of the relationship depicted in "Feliks Skrzynecki", between the narrator and his father presents a perspective on the author 's personal identity. "Post card" illustrates the historical perception of identity, representing a disparity of identity between the narrator and his parents caused by a lack of presence in Warsaw. The perception of social identity is demonstrated in "The Shipping News", where the main character, Quoyle is socially disabled and unable to conform to society. Cultural identity is shown in the poem "Migrant Hostel", where the narrator explores the different perceptions of
The author describes this citizen as being an overall regular man in society, who did not change or impact the world by any means. He was a normal man who bought a paper every day
Ted Kooser, the thirteenth Poet Laureate of the United States and Pulitzer Prize winner, is known for his honest and accessible writing. Kooser’s poem “A Spiral Notebook” was published in 2004, in the book Good Poems for Hard Times, depicting a spiral notebook as something that represents more than its appearance. Through the use of imagery, diction, and structure, Ted Kooser reveals the reality of a spiral notebook to be a canvas of possibilities and goes deeper to portray the increasing complexities in life as we age.
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.