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Curriculum In Response To Changing Demographics

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The relationship between authority, power and the individual is one of the most important subjects when living in society. Martin Espada wrote two poems exploring the relationship between these different components in society: “Why I went to College” and “The Community College Revises its Curriculum in Response to Changing Demographics”. In terms of form, one poem is an epigram, while the other is free verse. The speaker in one poem is a person speaking about his or her relationship with his or her father, while the other poem presents an objective, dry school curriculum. However, both poems address the subject of aggression and abuse of power. Through different forms and speakers, Espada’s “Why I went to College” and “The Community College Revises its Curriculum in Response to Changing Demographics” present how people that have power sometimes abuse it to squash other people’s desires. …show more content…

The first poem “Why I went to College” is about an epigram, that is, a short poetic composition that indicates a single thought coming from the ingenuity of a person with great precision. In the poem, the second-to-last and last verses rhyme: “straw”-“jaw”. However, in the second poem “The Community College Revises its Curriculum in Response to Changing Demographics”, one can see find a poetry of free verse, that is, an open form of poetry that does not rhyme or have a regular rhythm. Grammatically, the first poem is expressed in the first person, while the second is in third person. The first is more subjective and the second poem on the other hand is more objective. In terms of form, one can see there is a difference between one poem that is an epigram, has a rhyme and is more subjective, and another poem that is in free verse, does not rhyme and is very dry and

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