'Shurt', And It's Hard To Keep A Clean Shirt Clean

In Sandra Cisneros’ “Tepeyac” she uses long descriptive sentences with complex words to reflect on her past, while in Langston Hughes’ “Marion Anderson” he uses short sentences and simple, down-to-earth language to inform the reader about Marion Anderson’s singing career. In “Tepeyac”, Sandra Cisneros uses high or formal diction to elevate the images from her memories. She also uses concrete, descriptive language such as “arabesque” and “lacework” to contribute to the imagery of her past. Describing her memory she states, “Green iron gates that arabesque and scroll like the initials of my name, familiar whine and clang, familiar lacework of ivy growing over and between”(Cisneros 105). Her long sentences are made easy to read by her use of natural order. She is able to express her thought with complex word while not having the reader get lost in complex sentence types. The images conveyed in her memories are comforting and nostalgic, while describing where she resided as a child. “Shoeshine men sheltered

Nikki Giovanni’s diction heightens the meaning of the theme where the poem Knoxville, Tennessee uses diction to illustrate the theme of joys of childhood and family. The lines “and okra/and greens/and cabbage/and lots of/barbecue/and buttermilk/and homemade ice-cream” (lines 5-11) show that the poet's diction is repetitive and simple. The repetition of the word “and” with the simplicity of the words show that the writing is like a child’s. The words homemade and barbecue can create a emotional connection between the reader and the piece of literature where it can create a reminiscence of a family gathering from childhood. The lines “and go to the mountains with/your grandmother/and go barefooted/and be warm” (lines 18-21) shows that the poet’s diction is simple. The simplicity of the words in the quote shows that it can be read by even a young child. The words barefooted and warm can create a connection between the reader and the writing where it can create a reminiscence of a moment when the reader walked or did something outside barefooted in his childhood. Thus, relating to the theme of childhood and

Poetry can sometimes allow one to explore the unknown. However, in some works of poetry, one can realise that some known ideas or values remain relevant to current society. This is certainly applicable to T.S. Eliot’s poems, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock and Rhapsody on a Windy Night. Eliot’s manipulation of poetic techniques in both these poems allows the responder to realise that some ideas prevail in both modern and post-modern society. These poems explore the unknown phenomena of the obscurity regarding the purpose and meaning of life. This unknown phenomena causes the persona in both texts to resort to a sense of isolation or alienation. Eliot uses poetic techniques such as metaphors and personification to convey his ideas.

Poetry is used by writers such as Zora Neale Hurston and Kate Chopin to express ideas and words through a sense of writing and rhythm that is felt by the poet who is writing it. Years ago, poets would use poetry as a record of history where they told life events that was happening or how modern societies were expected to be. “The Poetry of this period forms the immediate background and matrix of their own work, so much so that unless one keeps the later nineteenth century.” (Venuti, The translator's invisibility, 2017.) Each author made poetry different by changing the tradition and outlook on poetry which is also known as the dead poet’s society. Authors from the past heavily influenced everything that was created in a poem. “Sweat” written by Zora Neale Hurston was written during a time period women didn’t have an opinion and it was frowned upon to disagree or go against your husband. This woman in the story over comes the current times cultural norms. The “Awakening” written by Kate Chopin, speaks out against societies gender roles and says women are evolving to hold more than the titles “mother” and “housewife.” It was the time of shifting order and woman gaining more rights than was handed to them. Kate Chopin used her poetry to give an insight of what limitations she might have encountered in her life as a woman and it explained her choices she chose to help the reader understand what she may have felt towards the subject during this

For many centuries, poetry has been at the center of communication and expression. Poetry has progressed, and styles have changed. However, there are some concepts in poetry that have stayed consistent; every single poem contains a theme that readers can analyze. Poets use different methods to make sure that readers understand their themes. For example, poets may use a variety of imagery, repetition, structure, and history to achieve their purpose. One poet who exhaustively uses literary devices to reach her goal is Dolores Kendrick. Kendrick’s renowned book of poetry, The Women of Plums: Poems in the Voices of Slave Women, contains a multitude of poems that encapsulate exactly how it felt to be a woman and a slave. One specific poem from

Jim Daniels may not write poetry as eloquently as one would expect, but his style matches the subject matter he writes about perfectly. Indeed, it is this unrefined colloquial style, which allows Mr. Daniels to capture the essence of working class Detroit and relay it to the reader. His words may be somewhat coarse and he does not hesitate to use profanity, but one is still able to find beauty in his writing. The same can be said about the working class society, in which Jim Daniels was born and raised.

In Neon Vernacular, Yusef Komunyakaa brought to the forefront the struggles of African American soldiers who fought in the Vietnam War. They fought for the freedom of the very ones that denied them their freedom to be equal and the same as their white counterparts. The collection of poems really delve into the everyday matters that were a constant reminder to the African American soldiers that they were free to fight, but not free to be as those white soldiers that they fought beside. An analysis of Komunyakaa’s work opens the eyes of those who felt that the Vietnam War zone was an equal opportunity for all those who fought for America. Also,the realities of racism that existed in the Vietnam War are highlighted in the Neon Vernacular.

The text proceeds from analyzing each poem individually, and later draws parallels between the two. It tries to answer the questions whether the poems are a call to social irresponsibility, and if the object of the poem, the common man should be scorned or pitied. That the common man who is busy conforming to the norms of the state and the society has lost connection with his natural surroundings evokes sympathy for him. Materialism has subsumed his capacity to think to an extent that he cannot even decide whether he is free to do as he wishes – can he say no to enlisting for war? Or can he hold an opinion that did not coincide with the larger public?

“People forget. We are here to act. We are here to deliver results. We are agents of change. Our job is to change the United Nation- and, through it, the world.” -Secretary-General Ban-moon. In this essay, I am going to talk about a poem called, “The Secretary’s Chant” by Marge Piercy. Marge Piercy is an american poet, novelist, and a social activist in the mid 1900’s. She wrote many poems such as “Barbie doll,” “The Secretary’s Chant,” “What’s that Smell in the Kitchen” and many more. By the use of shifts and connotations, it helped me understand the theme of “The Secretary’s Chant.” Let’s begin by explaining why shifts helped me understand the theme.

Poetry has a role in society, not only to serve as part of the aesthetics or of the arts. It also gives us a view of what the society is in the context of when it was written and what the author is trying to express through words. The words as a tool in poetry may seem ordinary when used in ordinary circumstance. Yet, these words can hold more emotion and thought, however brief it was presented.

With so many rules in the English language, it is easy for one to wonder how they were created. The dictionary, for example, was only created a few hundred years ago by people who thought that was how language was supposed to be. Many artists have had the mission to go forward and break these “rules.” Gertrude Stein’s Tender Buttons, bill bissett’s “text bites,” and John Agard’s “I Ain’t No Oxford Don” question rules of grammar and synaptic normality. By the way, these poems disrupt words, use non-standard prose, and have ambiguous interpretations they break the rules of grammar and disrupt the formal laws of language, inducing new ways of about the how one produces meaning.

The poem, “Singapore”, by Mary Oliver advocates for respect for all types work. It is set in a restroom at an international airport in Singapore. The poem has two characters, who are the poet and a female toilet cleaner. The poem starts with the poet visiting a restroom at the international airport. The poet finds a native woman kneeling and cleaning the toilet that has human excreta. The poet is disgusted by this scenario. On the other hand, the toilet cleaner is embarrassed that the poet has found her doing this “undignified” work. The poet uses this scene to pass a message that all types work deserve respect. She uses imagery in her lines to express this message, which is discussed below.

In this essay I will be comparing two poems which show connections between people and the places in which they live. The two poems I will be comparing and contrasting are “Blessing” by imtiaz Dharker and “Island Man” by Grace Nichols. Both of these poets express their feelings through these poems. Grace Nichols allocates her experiences of how people feel when separated from the environment and place they lived in for such a long period of time. On the contrary Imtiaz Dharker uses the poem “Blessing” to convey the importance of water for less fortunate people. From both of the poems I have chosen I can see that the poets have written about something they feel is important. The reason why I have chosen these two poems is because both of the

Don’t let the title “Washing-Day” fool you into believing that a 1797 poem by Barbauld is playfully poking fun at the mundane chore of washing linens. Admittedly, falling into this trap is a snap when the speaker talks about a day of hovering bubbles, forbidden butter and desire feeding pudding. Nonetheless, the poems sense of satire cannot overshadow the speaker’s testimony about the hopeless dynamics of the world she lives in: “Come, Muse; and sing the dreaded Washing-Day” (Line 8).

Although Zapruder can be considered an academic poet, currently making his living as a faculty member at UC Riverside-Palm Desert, his poetry reaches out to grasp the mundane life of everyday people, distort it into something unrecognizable, and pull in even the most indifferent reader. The subjects of his poetry vary from people and objects that are encountered on a daily basis to pop culture to scientific research. Stripped of the formalities of set structures and rhymed lines, his poems are honest and bare. The single voice used throughout his work is one closely aquatinted with a surreal view of reality, diving deeply into the energy and mystery that is often hidden behind the repetitiveness of life and capturing these camouflaged moments in his poems. This relationship between reality and the unseen is often suggested in Zapruder’s titles, “Pocket,” “January,” “Canada,” “Spring,” “Scarecrow,” “They,” and “Lamp Day,” many of which consist of experiences that can be felt by any person.