In this literary analysis it is essential to compare and contrast Cathy Song’s poem “Heaven” and Bryan Thao Worra’s poem “Pen/Sword” to give the reader a better understanding of what the authors’ are conveying to their readers. The similarities in the style, word choice, and theme will be compared, along with the differences of style, word choice, and theme reflected throughout each poem. Furthermore, I will determine the meaning behind the broken up and/or the way the lines of each poem while describing why the lines are strategically placed throughout the pieces. This will allow me to identify the meaning that the authors’ are explaining to the reader. Each poet specifically writes to give the reader(s) a picture of what they are feeling and defining their emotion through their writing.
Discussion
Baym et al.’s (2012) gives us a poets writing that is entitled “Heaven.” Cathy Song is an Asian American poet who is the speaker in this first person poem. Song exemplifies the romantic spirit by evoking reminiscence and separation. In the poem, a woman who is disconnected from her Chinese heritage longs for her familial homeland that she has never seen. She is amused by her son’s notion that "when we die we’ll go to China." She expresses her disbelief of where she currently resides but wants to imagine that she is in China where her ancestors are from. This is seen in lines 12-15:
I’ve never seen it.
It’s as if I can’t sing that far.
But look— on the map, this black
The loss of Aboriginal ethnicity is also highlighted when the land asks “Where are the laws and legends I gave?” This dates back to the Aboriginal culture, as their spirituality is inextricably linked to the land. They believe everything on the vast landscape has meaning and purpose. As long as they look after the land, the land will thereby return the favour. However, through time, Aboriginals have begun shifting away from their original beliefs as their world collides with the Western world. Different meanings could be made out of this; such as the more Aboriginals walk away from their culture, the less inclined the land will be to look after them, thus breaking the chain of their spirituality and beliefs. Caesuras such as full stops and question marks are used are pauses for a moment of reflection. Through the reader’s understanding of the poem’s structure, they are able to not only understand how the poem is to be read but also get the feel and emotions coming across from the poet.
Style is the special way an author creates his or her work. Gabriela Mistral exploits an informal style in her poem “Ballad”. The poem discusses the poets feelings and is written in first person point of view validating its informality; “My heart’s blood.”-Line17 using ‘my’ and describing her heart confirm this. Diction contributes to style in an extensive way. Repetition is a form of diction that is heavily spread out through the poem. “Saw him pass by.”-Lines 2/6, “He goes loving.../...in bloom”-Lines1-2/11-12, and “He will go.../through eternity.”-Lines 19-20/23-24. The repetition emphasizes the authors style an diction. In this poem diction is displayed through negative connotation. Choosing to describe her emotional state as “,wretched,”-Line 5, instead of sad or unhappy, and by adding a
Ross Gay’s book Against Which, portrays his poetry to readers allowing them to gain understanding of the cruel world that one lives in. Moreover, the unusual brutalities that people are inevitable confronted with in life. The common denominators within Gay’s poems such as violence, love, fear, and loss allows the reader to visualize characters’ transformation within his poems. In a world of calamity, Gay has created poems that portray the corporal conforming to gender and sex but also human development. Using a reader-response criticism lens, I will be demonstrating my interpretation of Ross Gay’s poems and the meaning that I believe to be a common interpretation of his work. Within, Gay’s poems, “It Starts at Birth” and Angels Out of Reach” one is able to see a pattern of human transformation. By experiencing pain, love, loss, fear, and wisdom one is able to see Gay’s characters evolve through the narrators and readers gaze. In doing so, one is able to reflect on Gay’s poems and gain wisdom themselves.
In this piece of writing I will be comparing and contrasting 3 poems. Which are ‘Praise Song for my mother’, ‘Harmonium’ and ‘Nettles.
The use of different literary devices such as imagery, symbolism and diction set up a poem that is addictive to read! Once it is started, it’s hard to stop. This poem offers a welcoming story for our reader to enjoy.
In this stylistic analysis of the lost baby poem written by Lucille Clifton I will deal mainly with two aspects of stylistic: derivation and parallelism features present in the poem. However I will first give a general interpretation of the poem to link more easily the stylistic features with the meaning of the poem itself.
Both Poems are faced with the problematic situation of inner hassle. Piano’s narrator struggles with his oppression of his emotions in sentimentality. When he is listening to the sounds of the chant from the women singing he says “In
In Mark Strand’s poem “Eating Poetry”, the author expresses his desire for his love of poetry through the use of an expended metaphor of him eating poetry and becoming a dog who is also hungry for poetry. Throughout the poem, he shows the emotional journey that can be experienced while reading and experiencing poetry. Furthermore, he uses vivid and sharp imagery from the beginning to the very end of the poem by using descriptions to show the events that are happening throughout the poem and to provide it with a conceit comparing it to the primary digression of something astounding, while also communicating a joyous tone that reaches its peak to a negative, yet terrified tone. This shows us that Strand represents the power that poetry has over him and how poetry can transform you.
The poems, “Dog’s Death” by John Updike and “Shooting the Horse” by David Shumate, have a similar emotional feeling that are developed by the author. This paper seek to examine stylistic devices used in the poem and the relevance to the theme of the poem. The statement problem is the use of stylistic device and the intention of the author. The death of a pet is considered as the hardest experience in some people. People who mourn for the death of their dog pet suffer alone because they don’t want to show other people the situation surrounding them when grieving about the death.
These two poems both portray similar experiences and types of love but also differ. They can teach us a lot about the poet’s feelings and help us explore the effects and nature of
In this well narrated poem readers feel just that as the poet uses pathos bringing the emotion and empathy out of the audience. The message of the poem is symbolized using personification, representing the
Taking example of poetry from “First Fight. The Fiddle” and “Lady Lazarus” are different style in poem writing, one poem rhymes and the other simply not. From both poems, talk about death and survival, about the darkness of evil that lurks inside snatched lives. In “First Fight. Then Fiddle” Gwendolyn Brooks suggests that although life can be so intimidating with many turns, enjoyment of its can be captivating. Brooks also embraces the fact that love can be hurting and music can be tasteless. When the heart becomes empty and life has no thrill, there is always something worth fighting for. Be deaf to music and to beauty blind proposes all senses may no longer serve its purposes.
Many may wonder what, if any, significant differences and similarities one could find in a poem and a song that was composed almost 100 years apart. At first sight, nothing, but after one has analyzed all the elements, in turns out to be more than it may have first appeared. In T.S. Eliot’s The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, we read the ramblings of a middle aged man who loathes himself and never takes any risk in his life. In contrast, Garth Brook’s Standing Outside the Fire, is more about inspiring others to take those risk otherwise one is not really living. With many decades between the two, we see many different poetic devices especially with one being simply a song and the other a poem. As well as, a difference in the authors styles and life. Although, even if the works are unique in their poetic ways with only slight similarities, both explore taking chances or risk in life and the consequences of not taking any.
Sir Ahmad Salman Rushdie, a novelist, essayist and a Fellow of the British Royal Society of Literature, explains the purpose of poetry “[a] poet's work . . . [is] to name the unnamable, to point at frauds, to take sides, start arguments, shape the world and stop it from going to sleep” (“Salman Rushdie”). In order to reach their goals, poets use specific techniques to convey their messages. These techniques are –but not limited to—form, meter, rhyme scheme, enjambment, content, themes, images and metaphors, language and tone. Therefore, analyzing the poet’s style in approaching the poem’s subject is imperative to understand its aim. For that reason, the analyzing the structure and content of the poem “Next to
It is my impression that a poem is complicated, obscure, and must have deep meaning. However, after reading William Carlos Williams’ poems, I felt like making a deep breath of fresh air. It was the first time I felt that poems could be simple like this. In his poems, everything is expressed in simple words. Even a reader as me, an international student, could understand his words easily. Also, the images he described are the common but neglected scenes. Nonetheless, when I closed the book, some of the images overlapped with my memory. It seemed like something happened before in my experience but I ignored. The fragments now look so beautiful. I especially like his poems To a Poor Old Woman, Poem, and Her Daughter. These three poems help me to find the beauty around me, help me to change a direction to see the world, help me to appreciate.