Famous Naomi Shihab Nye Summary

The poem “Famous” by Naomi Shihab Nye is a short but very impactful passage. Through repetition this poem suggests that fame is not necessarily what we think it is. Rather than it being a widespread reputation it is formulated by perspective. This poem is a perfect example of imagery. Nye gives a new perspective to items that are overlooked or seen as being unimportant.

• The goal now, it seems, is simply to become known, to turn oneself into a sort of miniature celebrity. (The end of solitude, pg. 2)

In the fourth line, Longfellow states that it’s “A voice” from the “silence of the deep”. Here, the reader once

The title of the poem, “An Echo Sonnet To an Empty Page, is a symbolic representation of the echo being the force that drives the ‘voice’ of the poem to do activities the poet never dreamed of. The empty page represents the speaker’s life but it would not be empty as it is if he listens to the ‘echo’ telling him to do what his timid self would never do. The overall synopsis of the poem is about these two ‘speakers’ which are the ‘voice’ and the ‘echo’ which sets up the structure. The voice symbolizes the timid man who is afraid to plunge into his own life because he fears the future and consequences of his own morality. On the other hand, the echo symbolizes the poet’s alter ego as it answers the questions the voice asks in a way that drives the voice to take a certain prospect in life. In the first line it quotes, “How from emptiness can I make a start?” The echo answers back, “start’ which shows that the echo’s response is not as harsh because it is the step time of starting a new page in his life. It continues by quoting, “And starting, must I master joy or grief?” Then the echo replies, “grief.” This symbolizes that it is a very sincere answer because it is not blindly trying to trick the poet but exist to give answers to life. When it gets towards the end, the voice asks, “Then are you glad that I must end in sleep?” and the echo replies, “Leap.” This may be cruel by the echo but it shows the reality of life because humans need to realize at one time they are going to

Jessica Bennett is stating that Internet fame has a dark side and how becoming internet famous may not be great. There will always be backlash for any type of fame, so it’s to be expected with internet fame. Jessica lists many examples that backup her opinion on internet fame.

This stanza captures the moments in which people are insignificant, or momentarily overlooked alongside the remainder of the everyday objects in the poem. Nye expresses how paying attention to these people, even by the simple act of smiling, will make her famous – not to everyone – but to them. Similar to a buttonhole or pulley, we will never forget what we have the ability to do, and it is what we can do that makes an impact on others rather than something extraordinary.

The explication of the beginning of the poem is so bizarre. The first verse of the poem talks about the speaker’s loneliness. The speaker woke up from the sleep and he is trying to tell about his dream to his old friend. However, He addressed the darkness as his old friend and started to describe it which he had done before. Also, He is saying that when he was sleeping a vision left its seeds and it was deeply rooted in his brain. In this poem silence is the taboo, what he wants to speak about he cannot. The speaker is mentioning to all enlightened people in this poem. Its theme is man's inability to communicate with man.

In the first stanza of the poem, the attitude of fame for the narrator seemed joyful and full of happiness: “Man and boy stood cheering by/ And home we brought you shoulder-high” (3-4). It seemed like an athlete had won a

Often at times there are many voices in one poem. These voices represent the different views that come from the same material that are portrayed by the buzz that the bee elicit in the hive. The proposal that Collins is trying to exude is that there is never one way to read a poem. The type of approach will vary with reader and who they are, but by having a radical approach it will help to enhance our understanding of what the poem means. Collins wants the reader to feel free when analyzing a poem: “I want them to waterski across the surface of the poem waving at the author’s name on the shore.” As a teacher you try to pummel depth into your students’ minds and push them into the direction of understanding. The speaker declares that the grapple to illuminating meaning and the amount of time where the reader does not understand adds to the worth of the poem. The parallel to the surface of water, where you have not attained the depth even though you know it’s there is important to how much it takes to find the true meaning of a poem. While reading this poem it have the outlook on how poetry places more of aln emphasis on us to be able to pick apart the undisclosed meaning and essentially to be able to pull apart the poem without a fixed structure. By doing it this way it is able to help the audience to build upon skills to help interpret and understand, which substantially is important throughout any source of literature. We

famous for should be enough for a person to be able to function in society.

What they failed to mention is that “famous” isn’t a job and it doesn’t just happen, truth be told it isn’t even the message in my heart. “Pretty” doesn’t get me anywhere I want to go.

Again, the author selects a new set of imagery, such as stars, moon, sun, ocean, and wood to remind of the heaven in which the speaker used to live, and then to sweep it off right away. The last statement “For nothing now can ever come to any good” (16) finally reinforces the speaker’s loss and unhappiness. In loneliness, the speaker’s love becomes fiercer and more truthful. It is the fierceness and truthfulness that lead the speaker to the last stair of hopelessness. The end of the poem is also the hopeless end of the speaker’s life because of “nothing …good.”

Indeed, this sound of sadness is an ancient entity since Sophocles long ago/ Heard it on the Aegean, and it brought/ Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow/ Of human misery. The eternal note of sadness has been important to writers and philosophers throughout time. Arnold believed this same sound existed in all the seas around the world. The waves, sounding of despair, also symbolize the curtailment of religious values. In stanza three the speaker describes the diminishing faith of religion in England: The Sea of Faith/ Was once, too, at the full, and round earths shore/ Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled. At one point Englands faith was like a high tide. It was similar to a belt being placed around the world, holding it together. During this time people believed in their religion, thus leading England into a state of order and tranquility. However, now the speaker only feels a troubled sense of blankness: But now I only hear/ Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,/ Retreating, to the breath/ Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear/ And naked shingles of the world. This passage emphasizes a mood of uncertainty and alienation in the world. In stanza four, the speaker ends on a note of melancholy. Love is offered as a possible solace from the sadness of the world, but quickly this idea is abandoned for the world,

“The relationship between the energies of the inquiring mind that an intelligent reader brings to the poem and the poem’s refusal to yield a single comprehensive interpretation enacts vividly the everlasting intercourse between the human mind, with its instinct to organise and harmonise, and the baffling powers of the universe about it.”

In the second stanza, the speaker beholds a piper joyfully playing under the tress for his lover to find him with song. “Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on; not to the sensual ear, but, more endeared. The use of imagery of the senses is effective here. For I consider poetry to be more musical in nature than literary text. The speaker claims to be hearing melodies emanating from the urn, which for me the sound transmission from the urn correlates to the finite aspects of fleeting love. While the nature of art of the urn seems to me to represent the exquisiteness and infinity of the universe. Indeed, the sounds of silence from art is akin to vastness of space and time. “She cannot fade, though, thou hast not thy bliss,” (line19). Keats is asking the readers to not grieve for him. Because, her beauty will not diminish over time it is everlasting.