I think Rita Dove splits her poem Parsley into two separate sections. The first section “The Cane Fields” takes place in the spring and the closing of winter. Spring represents beautifully colored leaves and so might represent a time of joy and love. Also, the first part of the poem has a different speaker from the second part of the poem, because the language changes from being calm to more erratic. Perhaps the speaker of the poem dies, then “The Palace’ section starts from then on. “The Palace” section mention fall and so the shift from life to death becomes apparent. Fall is a time when the beautiful leaves die and lose their color. The speaker also must represent a slave who works the cane fields. It is hard to say where the poem is taking
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She also uses the color green a lot which symbolizes the color parsley and the parrot’s wing. Some Spanish reference is used more to make certain words stand out clearly - El General, perejil, and Katalina. The parrot is mentioned from beginning to end and could be a representation of the speaker’s mother who herself could not roll an R. Some form of sarcasm is used where it is written that “even a parrot can roll an R!” almost like saying if an animal can roll an R, how can a human not? The green and parrot are the only ones that are repeated and therefore, are significant. Even just being an animal and color, the speaker uses these elements to help shape an idea in the reader’s mind of the comparison from parsley to a parrot’s green-colored wing. “There is a parrot imitating spring’ appears and re-appears reminding the reader that maybe, in the spring time, the workers in the fields were happier and showed their happiness by singing the same old song many times over and over again. Rhymes do not seem to be used anywhere, only words that are strong to invoke images. The writer never lets us forget the R or the greenery of the parrot. Parsley wraps up once and for all ending with, “to be killed for a single, beautiful word.” The whole focus is that word parsley, beautiful, still though it is the very name that caused such horrible
She also uses the color green a lot which symbolizes the color parsley and the parrot’s wing. Some Spanish reference is used more to make certain words stand out clearly - El General, perejil, and Katalina. The parrot is mentioned from beginning to end and could be a representation of the speaker’s mother who herself could not roll an R. Some form of sarcasm is used where it is written that “even a parrot can roll an R!” almost like saying if an animal can roll an R, how can a human not? The green and parrot are the only ones that are repeated and therefore, are significant. Even just being an animal and color, the speaker uses these elements to help shape an idea in the reader’s mind of the comparison from parsley to a parrot’s green-colored wing. “There is a parrot imitating spring’ appears and re-appears reminding the reader that maybe, in the spring time, the workers in the fields were happier and showed their happiness by singing the same old song many times over and over again. Rhymes do not seem to be used anywhere, only words that are strong to invoke images. The writer never lets us forget the R or the greenery of the parrot. Parsley wraps up once and for all ending with, “to be killed for a single, beautiful word.” The whole focus is that word parsley, beautiful, still though it is the very name that caused such horrible