Bilingual Biilingue Poem Summary

The poem “Bilingual/Bilingue”, by Rhina. P. Espaillat describes how a young girl is struggling with her combined cultures and two separate languages. The girl was born in a Mexican family who speak Spanish, but she is bilingual(bilingue) and speaks both Spanish and English. The girl must must struggle with the fact father fears that, because she is bilingual, that she will lose the part that connects them together, that being their shared language. The poem utilizes language, imagery, as well as form to convey the overall message.

In the poem chosen language is a very evident piece of what surrounds the poem. The diction that that the author choose to use in this poem shows how she must keep each of her languages separate in order to please her father and keep him from thinking that she will lose the spanish speaking side of herself “My father liked them separate,one there,one here (alla y aqui),as if aware.” (Espaillat line 1-2) Throughout the poem the words are a mix of english and spanish just like narrator 's life is, she was born Mexican but there 's also another part of her that is American. Her father is proud of who she is but he is afraid that she will grow without him as said through this diction …show more content…
The poem is mainly in english but has a few important words in spanish in order to recognize that part of the girls heritage , the