Reflections From Sharon Kraus and Jeannine Johnson on "Facing It" In the poem "Facing It" by Yusef Komunyakaa, Komunyakaa uses his own experiences as a veteran in Vietnam to paint a picture to the readers of what it is like seeing the Vietnam Veterans Memorial from the viewpoint of a soldier who lived through the conflict. The critics Sharon Kraus and Jeannine Johnson argue that the wall serves as a reminder of all that is bad in Komunyakaa's life, beginning with his past military experiences which shape the social issues he still suffers with today. Along with Komunyakaa, we see the same effect with another soldier where the wall stands as a reminder to him as well. Throughout the poem, both critics seem to separate the issues into two groups.…
Theodore Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz” is a simple poem with a deeper meaning. When I first read this poem, I thought it was about a young boy dancing around the kitchen with his father. As I read it over again, I realized the sadness and despair tones of the poem. The young boy is blind to his father’s alcoholism. After analyzing the structure, diction, and overall theme of “My Papa’s Waltz”, I found a much darker meaning to this thought provoking poem.…
Be good little migrants poem was written in 1986.By the 1980s, migrants from all over the world had settled in Australia. Immigration rates went high in 1988. Large numbers of migrants from places like Asia, the Middle East, Europe, South America and Africa filtered into Australia. The nation 's approach to new migrants since the 1970s had been one of 'multiculturalism '. This meant that Australian society embraced various cultural groups, with their distinct languages, religions and traditions and granted them equal status.…
Theodore Roethke’s My Papa’s Waltz has caused a lot of controversy throughout the years amongst literary critics, scholars, teachers, and students alike. Despite its innocent façade, upon closer inspection this poem is about a quite scary subject; a drunk father abusing his son. Many readers, preferring to ignore what a close read will inevitably lead them to, say that this is a happy memory between a father, albeit drunk as well as possibly a bit rough, and his son. One of the things that makes this poem so hard to interpret is that there is no clear indication as to whom the subject is, aside from a young boy.…
First of all, Whitman did not stick to either of the two popular forms of poetry: lyric and epic. Instead, he presents his ideas as a free verse poem, combining elements of both of the favored poetic forms. Whitman’s free verse poem expresses his thoughts and feelings like a lyric poem, but the poem is focused on two characters, Whitman and the reader, allowing it to have a narrative feel, demonstrating qualities of epic poetry. Because free verse poetry includes lyric and epic elements, this form is an example of equality. It gives both of the popular forms recognition is the different aspects that are utilized in free verse.…
Poems happen to be words that mean more than they look. May they express a message, describe someone’s point of view of his/her life or anything, poems are able to do so much with so little. Such is how famous poet of the 19th century Robert Browning managed to do with his writings. Through his writings of My Last Duchess and Porphyria’s Lover, we will look upon the way that he believes men would become alongside women. Replaced for stronger than interesting To start it off, let’s discuss about how Browning’s men view their woman as an object.…
Bruce Meyer describes that a poem “whether happy or sad, is driven by a profound sense of love”. Meyer commonly writes poetry following the themes of lost love, heartbreak, suffering from pain and nature. Through his various works of poetry Meyer describes the pain and suffering of love and connects it with nature. Meyer himself describes his personal affinity for nature, as he lives across from a botanical garden, as well as his description of “people watching” for inspiration. His natural affinity for nature sets many poems in nature, relating back to humans and love.…
The writing style in this poem includes long, descriptive lines. Having the long lines with the descriptions helps to let the reader know the way society thinks as well as describes the woman herself. Describing the young woman is important because at the end of the poem she commits suicide. A young woman is being described as being normal, but then society is saying…
Throughout the poem “A Story,” Li-Young Lee uses carefully selected language and punctuation, as well as a variety of line and stanza structure, to provide insight into the way that a father views the complex relationship shared by him and his son. The poem opens up with a short, two-line stanza that conveys a solemn feeling through one impactful sentence. The very placement of the word “man” towards the center of the first line establishes a focal point, or emphasis, on this one character, who is presumably the father, and sets the poem up to be a reflection of the way he feels. This man is apparently saddened that he “can’t come up with” a “new” story for his “five-year-old son,” who is introduced in the next short stanza.…
Sometimes life is best explained in metaphors. Sometimes the hurt, pain, and anger found in life are more easily grasped when one looks at them in terms of other objects. This is how the poem,“The Minefield,” written by Diane Thiel, looks at pain and anger. Written in short and choppy lines with no clear rhythm or rhyming pattern, this poem tells the story of a man who witnessed his friend blown to pieces in a minefield. Because of this, the man who witnessed this terrifying tragedy has grown into an angry and broken soul.…
Neutral Tones Analysis The poem ‘Neutral Tones’ by Thomas Hardy is a dark, solemn poem, reflecting on the termination of a relationship that he had in the late 1860s. It has a very melancholic note and in the duration of the poem, he shows the sadness and emotions in the narrator. The poem was published in 1898, however at the bottom of the poem he marked it as being written in 1867, perhaps he did not want it to be published then, before he met Eliza Nickels. It has a rhyme pattern of ABBA as the first and last lines of the Verses rhyme, which could imply a sense of entrapment or not allowed to escape, perhaps reflecting on his relationship with his partner.…
In “The Victim,” these methods help find the meaning of the poem which is everyone in the family is the victim including the one causing suffering in the family. In “The Daughter Goes To Camp," Olds uses the different methods to slowly reveal her emotions on her daughter leaving and how hard it is to see once child grow and become independent. It focuses on reflection on motherhood and what a parent go through. In the poem “One Year Olds,” the methods help find the meaning of life will always go in and not to hold on to the dead. Lastly, the methods used in the poem "The Race," where Olds was rushing to see her father, help bring out the meaning of the poem which is the wanting to be next to the dying loved ones and the determination to make it there.…
While “My Papa’s Waltz” and “Those Winter Sundays” differ in the attitudes and tones of their speakers, they are alike in the complex family relationships and themes of familial love, masculinity and sacrifice, and nostalgic youth that they communicate to the reader. A close-reading of the poems, with special attention paid to the speakers and the ideas they are trying to get across, can end up telling far more about Theodore Roethke and Robert Hayden than they may like. The speaker in “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke is a small boy having a grand old time waltzing with his father in the kitchen before bed. His father is a little rough with him, keeping time on his noggin and accidently scraping his ear against his belt buckle on every…
Psychological Criticism attempts to apply modern psychological theories to understanding literature (Introduction to Literature 13). When an author writes with symbolism it is up to the reader to apply Psychological Criticism in order to interpret the images used with symbolism. The author disguises their emotions through symbolism. Typically these symbols represent something much deeper within the character. When Theodore Roethke wrote “My Papa’s Waltz” there was much more to this poem than what is read on the surface.…
The reason why I chose to write about Nokugcina Mhlophe, it is because I like her work and stytle, because she was also involrd in fighting for freedom. I will be looking at her work in writing poetry. The inspiration that she gives out to young people. I was moved by her praise poem in honour of Nokukhanya Luthuli, widow of chief Albert Luthuli.…