Poetry Analysis: "The Lanyard" Essay

The Past, an ever growing pool of time, is always biting at the heels of a person. It reminds him of what they have done wrong, done right, or when he did nothing. For most people, recalling the past leads to loose ends and blanks where memories should be. No matter how much a person may want to return to the past, it is not possible. It is lost forever. These forgotten moment lead to uncertainties and confusion in the present, and chaos in the future. Forgetting the past leads to spirals, spinning downwards as people look to what they have lost. They retrace their steps hoping to find a sliver of who they are and what may become of them. In the poem, Itinerary, Eamon Grennan shows how an individual searches through his past, but can never return to it. Through the poem and with a personal experience I will explain how individuals deal with uncertainties in their pasts.

Losing a parent is presumably an unthinkable concept for those lucky to have them alive, but sometimes the title of “parent” dies long before a body is placed in the ground. Toi Derricotte author of “Beginning Dialogues” unfortunately had to experience both the death of her mother’s title of “parent”, as well as her literal death. Derricotte’s parents had divorced when she was eighteen, and her father did not seem to play much of a role in her life; she was left to be raised by her mentally abusive mother. Her mother also had a tough road to walk growing up, having to face and deal with brutal issues like racism and bulling. Persevering through those tough times may be the underlining reason behind Derricotte’s mother’s negativity and abuse towards her daughter. Perhaps she just grew a thick skin at a very young age and had never learned how to feel, accept, or administer love. Derricotte’s had said: “She told me all my life she loved me, as if she completely forgot the hundred slights, humiliations, threats, and insinuations. Of course she loved me;

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.

The story is written as a second person narrative. This style puts the reader in the position of the main character. We are never told the main character’s name, making it easier for the reader to relate to the character. Writing in the second person also challenges the reader, putting them in the position of the main character.

As the poem begins, the reader immediately visualizes someone playing outside in a “polka dot dress,” and this someone is the personification of poetry (1). Forman uses

Poetic techniques displayed through the ideas, poetic features and style of the poet, reveal concepts which transcend time and place. In Gwen Harwood’s poem “the violets” her ability to interweave past and present emphasises the importance of memory in preserving ones journey though the universal experiences of growth, maturity and mortality. Similarly the poem “Mother who gave me life” demonstrates the memory of motherhood as a timeless quintessential part of the human condition. And lastly In Harwood’s “father and Child”, the connection between the father and son/daughter highlights that transformation throughout childhood is inevitable. Through the content and the language, the ways in which human experiences reveal concepts which

The necklace serves as a symbol for greed. When Mathilda Loisel loses the necklace that she believed was worth forty thousand francs, she desperately retraces her steps and gets her husband to help her find it as well. It ends up taking ten years to pay off the debt. The ten years were hard on Mathilda Loisel and her husband, and Maupassant told the reader that she “looked old now… with hair half combed, with skirts award, and reddened hands” (6). However, even after the long ten years of manual labor all because she lost the necklace, she “sat down near the window and though of that evening at the ball so long ago, when she has been so beautiful and so admired” (6). The necklace symbolizes that when greed controls emotions and decisions, it never leads to good results.

“The mother removes her purse from her shoulder and rummages through its contents: lipstick, a lace handkerchief, an address book. She finds what she’s looking for and passes a folded dollar over her child’s head to the man who stands and stares even though the light has changed and traffic navigates around his hips… He does not know his part. He does not know that acceptance of the gift and gratitude are what makes this transaction complete… The mother grows impatient and pushes the stroller before her, bearing the dollar like a cross. Finally, a black hand rises and closes around green” (paragraphs 3-5).

Rosie the Riveter is a symbolic figure and has helped shape America into what it is today. The bright yellow back round, with bold words standing out in the navy speech bubble, “We can do it”. The focus of the poster is much more than the words written. This poster is of the women of the modern world Rosie. She is wearing a jean shirt with rolled sleeve as she flexes her arm to show her strength. She has a red bandana around her head holding up her hair. She gives a twist to what the traditional women looked like during the 1940’s. She was there to give women a sense of empowerment and motivation to go to work.

In his poem, “Aunt Ida Pieces a Quilt,” Melvin Dixon presents the protagonist Aunt Ida experiencing an internal as well an external dialogue with her family members. Initially, the poem starts off the mother of Junie, a young man who died of AIDS handing all the clothes to Aunt Ida. Automatically, the feeling of nostalgia and agonizing construct the atmosphere of the poem. However, as the poem continues it is revealed Aunt Ida is handed down the clothes to make a quilt. As she starts to quilt the atmosphere of the poem transition to a more unifying and commemorative feeling towards the families that have had a family member die from AIDS and for Junie too. Indeed, the poem is representative of what a family is because it demonstrates the

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.

Along with “Introduction to Poetry,” in “The Lanyard,” the speaker recalls making a lanyard at camp for mother, and illustrates the powerful memories and connections ordinary objects can bring. By repeating “and I gave her a lanyard” (20), “and I, in turn, presented her with a lanyard” (26), “And here is your lanyard” (29), or “and here, I said, is the lanyard I made at camp” (34), Collins emphasizes the humor and irony it rouses simultaneously: although his mother “gave [him] life and milk from her breasts,” all the narrator could give was “a boxy/ red and white lanyard” (19, 17-18). Collins creates a comical effect as the speaker continuously derides his gift; thus comparing the greatness of the mother’s nurture and the meagerness of what he could return. However, Collins narrates an irony that “this useless, worthless thing [he] wove/ out of boredom would be enough to make [them] even” (41-42). Though the two-tone plastic strips speaker braided are trivial, the action of giving touches his mother’s heart, and showed the genuine love towards each other. Collins’ usage of irony is also described in “Forgetfulness”: “It has floated away down a dark mythological river/ whose name begins with an L as far as you can recall” (14-15). Yet the speaker only recalls the letter “L” from the entire name due to his “forgetfulness,” it is, however, possible to discover the rest of the

There are five words that stand out to me in this quote are deserved, ugliest, display, gratitude, and inexplicable. Deserved is rightfully earned because of something done or qualities shown. Ugliest is unpleasant, in this case her mother thinks that she is the ugly picture of her childhood. Display by definition is to make a prominent exhibition of a thing in a place where it can be easily seen. Gratitude consists of being thankful and showing appreciation and in return to show kindness. Inexplicable defines unable to be explained or accounted for. This quote with the addition to the words I thought was important tells us that this has been a repeat in her memory all through her life, secures her from building a relationship, especially wanting her daughter deserving the worst death. Also adding in the fact that she doesn’t want anyone else to take care of her because as a youth, she would be neglected so her mother knows that some stepmother out there could’ve potentially taken good care of her through her youth. Additional ideas to include about that disturbing quote is the inexplicable rage, as Li’s mother is telling her that she wants her own

Some of the poems and essays I have read during this class were relatable to me. Being away from college, I have struggled with not being at home. I have become a different person when I am at school, but when I am home, I feel like I am my normal self again. Some of these authors of the poems and essays that I have read throughout this class has struggled with being somewhere where they don’t belong and that they are someone else when they are not home. Unlike the other poems and essays we have read throughout the course. I enjoyed reading the ones about “home” because I actually understood what they are going through and that I can relate. Some of these poems and essays include “Going Home” by Maurice Kenny, Postcard from Kashmir”, by Agha Shahid Ali, “Returning” by Elias Miguel Munoz and “Hometown” by Luis Cabalquinto. All of these poems deal with duality.