Analysis Of The Poem ' This Is Water ' Essay

In the Commencement Speech, “This is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, about Living a Compassionate Life,” Wallace claims that people are naturally self- centered. (235) We only tend to see the world as it relates or pertains to us. Wallace’s speech is meant to change the graduate’s perspective on the world. Wallace believes that the graduates should heed his advice because it will eventually provide an important

In his speech, This is Water, Wallace gives us the story of how the two young fish failed to realize that they were in water. A simple, yet meaningful example demonstrates that what is obvious, is often difficult to notice. As people become more worried about themselves, they are unable to capture the value or lesson from experiences which results in distress. Throughout the speech, Wallace reminds the audience that they can avoid this by being aware, but to also accept the fact that the world doesn’t revolve around you. Wallace effectively builds a relationship with the audience when he says, “If anybody feels like perspiring, I’d advise you to go ahead, because I’m sure going to.” Wallace immediately undermines any image of an authoritative demeanor when he says that he “feels like perspiring.” He further supports his connection with the audience when he says, “I am not the wise old fish” (Wallace). Wallace’s down to earth persona relates to the rhetorical appeal of ethos, which validates his trustworthiness. Being a credible speaker will leave a lasting impact among the audience as they can see that Wallace is truly sharing a message that means a great deal to him. By stating that he does not represent the old fish proves that he isn’t here to blindly lecture, but to give solid advice to the graduate students and parents.

Released in 1971 and produced by Reprise records, river is an intensely emotional contemporary folk song about heartbreak. Written solely by Joni Mitchell for her album ‘Blue’ the song is reminiscent of Christmas time although lyrically it has little relationship to Christmas. (Hopper, 2012)

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.

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.

In the 2005 commencement address at Kenyon College, David Foster Wallace delivered an unusual message to the graduates. He uses a unique approach to the typical conventions of a commencement speech in order to catch the attention of the graduates and to reinforce the honesty of his message. By defying their expectations, he urges them to consider their own obliviousness and to look past their own natural biases in order to see what’s truly right in front of them.

Lucille Clifton's poem "Move" deals specifically with an incident that occurred in Philadelphia on May 13, 1985. On that date, Mayor Wilson Goode, Philadelphia's first African American mayor, authorized the use of lethal force against fellow African Americans living at 6221 Osage Avenue. In her introduction to the poem, Clifton says that there had been complaints from neighbors, who were also African American, concerning the "Afrocentric back-to-nature" group that called itself "Move" and had its headquarters at this address (35). The members of this group wore their hair in dreadlocks and they all used their surname of "Africa." Clifton's poem suggests that it was these differences that cost the lives of eleven people, including

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.

Death is inescapable. In the same way, life is inescapable. The Appalachian short story, “Jake Pond”, portrays this inevitable cycle through the depiction of a young boy enjoying nature. Lou Crabtree writes of the many inner workings of life through symbolism. While some would say this story is a literal telling of a boy and his surroundings, it does, in fact, include a plethora of metaphors to display the complexities of life through figurative language (Crabtree). In Lou Crabtree’s “Jake Pond” symbols such as the young boy, black snakes, pond, hollytree, and other natural entities portray themes of life and death, while detailing multiple aspects of change.

Many people tend to become frustrated with their daily lives and start to have a negative mindset of blaming other people for their problems. In David Foster Wallace’s speech, “This is Water,” he informed the audience of the importance for everyone to know they have a natural default setting, which is the automatic way that a person feels they are the center of the universe and that negative situations are other people’s fault. He also discussed the importance of trying not to act in this natural default setting, and try to think of problems that other people have to go through in their lives. The main purpose of Wallace’s speech was to persuade the audience to fight the urge of staying in their natural default setting to prevent

Foster Wallace’s commencement address on May 21, 2005, ‘This is Water,” proposes the concept of being able to choose how to think instead of being able to learn what to think expresses the true idea of enlightenment. Through detailed imagery that creates a contemptuous tone, repetition of diction that creates emphasis , and anecdotes that arouse interest, Wallace successfully defends his proposition on the true meaning of being educated; to be able to discipline yourself to override the default setting of selfishness and switch on a more empathetic attitude towards life and others. Finally, despite many views of contradiction, Wallace's tragic suicide three years after this speech further builds on his theory of awareness. Although he was

Graduating college is one of the most important moments in a person’s life. They get told at the ceremony how great they are and how life is just going to go their way. That would be true in most cases. However, David Foster Wallace had a different idea. He was going to make sure that these college graduates knew what they were getting into and was going to give them some advice.

Reflections Within is a non-traditional stanzaic poem made up of five stanzas containing thirty-four lines that do not form a specific metrical pattern. Rather it is supported by its thematic structure. Each of the five stanzas vary in the amount of lines that each contain. The first stanza is a sestet containing six lines. The same can be observed of the second stanza. The third stanza contains eight lines or an octave. Stanzas four and five are oddly in that their number of lines which are five and nine.

Famous actors, musicians, politicians, artists and authors are often called upon to deliver commencement addresses at prestigious places of higher learning. It doesn't take Nobel-Prize-winning social scientists or psychologists, or speech professors to predict what these elite guest speakers will say on such occasions such as these. The speaker will tell the graduating class to aim high, never give up, make the most of opportunities, and do as our forbearers did: pull yourselves up by the bootstraps. But when Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks showed up at Vassar College to present the commencement address, his presentation avoided those clichés and platitudes. Hanks was refreshing original and yet remarkably pragmatic. This paper critiques Hanks' themes, examines his rhetorical techniques, and editorially analyzes his purpose.

The Fish is a narrative monologue composed for 76 free-verse lines. The poem is constructed as one long stanza. The author is the speaker narrating this poem. She narrates a fishing experience. The author is out in a rented boat on a body of water, presumably a lake. She tries to describe the fish to the fullest, which appears to be the purpose of the poem, without saying either the specie or an approximate age. The narration gives the impression that the fish is slightly old. There are a number of reasons as to why that fish got caught by the author, including time of day, the weeds weighing it down, fish’s age, and the fact that it has been previously caught five times.