Essay about Folding Won Tons in Analysis

The poem begins to address the state of an imperfectly built house to explain the difficulties of life to his potential wife. The first line by saying, ‘Nothing is plumb, level, or square.’ (Dugan 1) Although he is describing the imperfections of a house he is figuratively alluding to his personal mistakes. However, through the next lines the “studs are bowed, the joists are shaky by nature, no piece fits any other piece without a gap, or pinch, and bent nails, dance all over the surfacing, like maggots”(Dugan 2-6) is a grim aspect of the life and how nothing seems to be going right. To further explain why it is grim is because the imagery is like the house is about to feel apart and the speaker feels the same way in life. In a house if your nails are bent, studs are bowed, and the joists are shaky the foundation and structure is not well designed much like how the speaker feels like his life is caving in. Through the next metaphor like maggots it gives an image of decay and makes you feel a sense of desperation. The statement, ‘No piece fits any other piece without a gap or pinch’ continues to reveal how incomplete the speaker finds the way he has lived his life in lines three through five. In this section. The speaker is unsatisfied with everything about himself because there is not a single thing he feels is, perfect about his past, everything has been a disaster.

Born ten years after the death of Walt Whitman, there was no possible way for Langston Hughes to ever meet or communication with Whitman, but that did not mean Hughes could not establish a connection to him, or at least his work. In 1925, Hughes wrote a poem titled “I, Too” was inspired by and directed in response to the poem “I Hear America Singing”, which was composed by Whitman much earlier. Whitman’s poem consisted of a variety of different American laborers who “sing” as they do their jobs. This well-known poem never specifically addresses the ethnicity of these singing laborers of the American population, but Hughes sets about to rectify that omission.

In the narrative the author uses examples of imagery to connect with the reader’s senses and to help visualize the story. When the author finally gets his hands on the precious pie he states, “the pie like a discus in my hand.” He uses imagery about his hands to show that the pie is a heavy burden and that we commit sins by what we do

Li-Young Lee is a poet who has written numerous amounts of work. He is a writer of Chinese heritage, but he does not classify himself as an Asian American poet. According to an article titled, “Li-Young Lee,” Li-Young Lee refuses to classify himself as an Asian American writer because he strives to be a “global poet.” This statement demonstrates that Li-Young Lee uses poetry as a means of addressing universal concerns. He writes about experiences or lessons that are personal to him; however, these are experiences and lessons that people all around the world can relate to. Li-Young Lee specifically writes about his childhood memories and family. A particular poem that reflects his personal life and poetic writing is, “The Gift.” In “The Gift,” the use of vivid imagery, free verse, and a distinct tone portrays Li-Young Lee’s poetic style.

In stanza four the poet is flashing back to his childhood and telling us some other words that he got in trouble for. “Other words that got me into trouble were fight and fright, wren and yarn.” (29-31) Even though he got in trouble by his teacher for not knowing the words, his mother helped him understand them in a different way. “Wren are small, plain birds.” (34) “My mother made birds out of yarn.” (37) Here he is shown how two different things can become the same thing.

In the poem “Persimmons” Li-Young Lee leads us on a journey that bounces between childhood and adulthood. There is an undercurrent of divisiveness as Lee recounts moments from his time at school that conflict with the lessons he learns at home. Lee writes “Persimmons” as a stream of consciousness reflection of his youth and his struggle to reconcile his Chinese heritage with his American upbringing. He structures the poem to allow the audience to see these moments through his eyes and uses persimmons to show not only the emotional attachment that words have but as a symbol for the strained relationship Lee had with his white teacher Mrs. Walker. In reading the poem we gain a deeper understanding of Lee’s complicated relationship with the two worlds he finds himself in.

First, the diction of the poem is very violent. The words used are harsh and show that the speaker is engaged in a war against his desire. For example, on line 14 it states, “Desiring naught but to kill desire” (Sidney 14). The word kill is very intense and shows that the speaker feels that the only way to destroy their desire is to murder it. Thus, ending the fight they are stuck engaging in. This idea was earlier introduced in line 6, which says, “With price of mangled mind, thy worthless ware” (6)[.] The words mangled and worthless are further proof of this battle. Desire is leaving their mind in a mess, as is shown in the word mangled which gives off the image of something being tangled and unable to be separated. Likewise, because his mind is a mess, his thoughts are seemingly useless as shown through the use of worthless. The wares, or valuable objects, in this case are the speaker's thoughts and ideas. Their constant battle with desire has left their thoughts to be filled with nothing but thoughts of desire and those trying to subdue it, thus leaving his mind

In the second stanza, the speaker says, “and I felt, in my pocket, for my ticket” (line 7). This is just a stopping point in the speaker’s trip, and she knows she needs to get going. This also is when the speaker is at a loss for words. “Disgust argued in my stomach” (line 6), and she is reaching for something to say, reaching for something to make sense of this encounter. However, the ticket that she is reaching for cannot be found as easily as “feeling in her pocket”, yet it lies right in front of her, in the face of the woman laboring over the toilet. The lesson the speaker learned from the encounter with the cleaning lady is something that holds such a great value. As strongly as the speaker feels that, “a poem should always have birds in it” (line 8), she also feels that we should have a broader range of social acceptance. The entirety of the encounter symbolizes what the speaker wishes to stand for, as well as what she hopes

The imagery used throughout the poem is heavily sensual, we start with an intimation that the dog has lain dead for five days in the heat, the word `thick' being used to describe the summer heat and to hint at the smell which permeates the air later. The sound of flies is also used to give a sense of foreboding and oppression, he later returns to

Symbolism is used in this poem to represent the onion. The onion acts as this burden or traumatic experience that is causing this thing its pain and suffering. As this thing cuts into the onion, and peels back its layers, the more the thing cries and saddens, as it goes deeper into the onions core. This can be expressed in lines 7-10, where Suji Kwock Kim writes: “Hunt all you want. Beneath each skin of mine lies another skin: I am pure onion-pure onion of outside and in, surface and secret core. Look at you, chopping and weeping.” Therefore the text supports the thought of this onion being a traumatic experience constantly causing this thing tears and

Langston Hughes is a famous poet known mostly for his contribution to the Harlem Renaissance. He wrote many inspirational poems that are still read and used for educational purposes. Many of his poems were inspired by his life and his story. One of his many poems entitled “Theme for English B” talks about how his teacher instructed him to write a page about himself and it will be true. In a “Theme for English B”, Hughes uses tone, and characterization to display a relationship between race and writing.

It gives evidence of having lived two separate lives, one on top of the other, but neither owning the upper hand at any time. It is a poem of change, and how things never change as they are expected to do, nor do they change before our eyes as we would believe, but instead change us in a way that makes us blind to ourselves. "As the fingers of the factory owner's son, That knew a grip for books and tennis"; here is described the man's childhood, and here, "As well as one for iron and leather,-", is described his adulthood, with responsibilities and duties to perform.

Alliteration occurs with; “stitch, stitch, stitch” and “work, work, work” that signify repetition and never ending work (Hood 5, 6, 9, 10). Enjambment occurs with: “In poverty, hunger, and dirt, And still with a voice of dolorous pitch, She sang the “Song of the Shirt” this signifies oppression through lamentation over proletarian’s fate (Hood 6, 7, 8). Hood uses simile and metaphor to compare the main character’s existence to slavery, “It’s O! to be a slave, Along with the barbarous Turk" (Hood 13, 52). Assonance is one of the most convincing of the proletarian’s plight with the letters and sounds of “I” and “O,” which signify never ending oppression; “In poverty” and “Oh, God!” (Hood 6, 12, 18, 20). Repetition of the line, “In poverty, hunger and dirt” used several times in the poem reminds the reader of the plight of the proletarians as well (Hood 7, 8). Figurative language and symbolism used in a phrase that seems to be about sewing, but can also apply to society; “Seam, and gusset, and band, band, gusset and seam” (Hood 21, 22). The seam represents a thin line of thread (few rich), a gusset, “a triangular piece of cloth used to expand the armpit part of the shirt” that represents the expanding middle class and band for cuff or collar that represents economic restrictions and oppression faced by the poor (Textile Glossary). The second half of the phrase “band, gusset and seam” (Textile Glossary) represent the poor (band) who supply the bourgeoisie (gusset) and they supply the rich (seam). Hood uses many literary elements and figurative language to convey his opinion of the oppression felt by proletarians. When one examines the author’s biography,

Carl Sandburg is renowned as one of the outstanding and innovative American poets of the twentieth century. Sandburg used his poetry to explicate to the public how life is, can, and could be. “He published many works including: Chicago, The Harbor, Picnic Boat, Gone, They will say, and countless more” (Meltzer 13). Carl Sandburg is widely renowned today for all his accomplishments and works during his lifetime. Few poets could match his skills as a writer and what he was able to accomplish, such as earning the Pulitzer Prize for his collection, The Complete Poems of Carl Sandburg, and the Grammy Award for his recording of Aaron Copeland’s Lincoln Portrait with the New York Philharmanic.“Today, Sandburg’s

The structure of the poem creates and divide between ideals in the first stanza and the harsh reality in the second stanza as there’s “frames as large as rooms” symbolising how size of products matters to the consumer and promotes sales it, however the reader is then told the billboards and advertising creating and image of harsh reality and the reader is then hit as the harsh reality of large corporations such as Marks and Spencer’s “ dominate outdoors” and control us. The use of advertisements and propaganda in the 1950s had huge impact on the reader in manipulating and shaping their mind into buying the product that the company want them to desire and to buy. This then allows the institution to control the consumer, which highlights the capitalistic values and ideologies that large institutions such as Marks and Spencer’s hold to gain large amounts of power within society. The use of the rhyming scheme within the poem creates strong imagery upon how the large institutions show the harsh reality of life, as it states “the gutter” and then on the next line “golden butter”. The rhyme implies how life is not “golden” like butter and also the use of juxtaposition further enhances how a light-hearted comment and be totally changed to generate the image of a harsh reality.