In today's world, many people are very ungrateful for their current state they are in and complain without taking any action, only adding negativity to their lives. In the slam poem "Complainers" by Rudy Francisco, it demonstrates that one's constant focus on negativity and complaints towards life with no action results in failure to recognize the joys life has to offer. Throughout the slam poem, the author makes effective use of allusion, metaphor, and repetition to inspire and encourage readers to make positive changes in their lives and to strive towards self-improvement. Firstly, the author uses allusion to draw on the reader's pre-existing knowledge of the subject matter and establish the context of the discussion. "May 26th 2003 Aron Ralston was hiking, a boulder fell on his right hand. …show more content…
Here the author states a time, date, and name of the person they are talking about, and it is used to compare Aron's immense suffering and pain to the complaints made by individuals experiencing only minor discomforts. Secondly, the author uses metaphor to connect the feeling of a genuine inconvenience with the minor inconveniences we often complain about. "Each pulse, each throb, each palpitation is a trophy engraved with the words/ "You are still alive"(40-41). This metaphor reminds us that even the simplest aspects of our daily lives, such as our heartbeats, should be celebrated as an achievement. Each heartbeat serves as a testament to the fact that we are alive. The author encourages us to enjoy every moment of our lives, no matter how seemingly insignificant it may be. Lastly, the use of repetition is to really engrave a saying or phrase that will come back to the reader's head throughout the poem. "You are still alive/ You are still alive"(40/42). Francisco urges the readers not to take their lives for granted and reminds us that there are people who are in much worse
Anthem Anthem, written by Jim Daniels, is a free-verse poem, and this essay examines thirteen lines of the overall poem, which comprise two stanzas. Within the first stanza, a daughter or son uses a reflective voice to consider how his or her father’s work from when the speaker was a child affected their relationship. The second stanza describes the present, still strained relationship, that the father and now grown-up speaker admit they want to improve. Though not particularly evident in these thirteen lines, the second stanza takes place as the speaker and father stand before the start of a football game, singing the national anthem.
This passage conveys a personal and emotional story line. It personalizes the human struggle of an individual living with multiple disadvantages. Nicholas Kristof uses the strategy of pathos to make the audience feel a sense of guilt. One of Nicholas Kristof’s friends, Rick Goff, is representative of the travails of working-class America.
In the poem, “Saturday at the Canal” by Gary Soto, the act of irritation, an emotion often found in adolescents, was demonstrated. Through lines of imagery, the narrator who is a 17-year-old in highschool, expressed many variations of irritation. An example of this is when the narrator internally said, ”I was hoping to be happy by seventeen” (Line 1). As soon as the narrator said that they were hoping to be happy by seventeen, an issue many adolescents and highschoolers face got brought up. Adolescents often hope for better opportunities or even freedom when it comes to maturing but, maturing is realizing that not everything goes accordingly.
Through the poem’s tone, metaphors used, and symbols expressed the poem portrays that fear can make life seem charred or obsolete, but in reality life propels through all seasons and obstacles it faces. The poem begins with a tone of conversation, but as it progresses the tone changes to a form of fear and secretiveness. The beginning and ending line “we tell
In the poem, “Oppression”, by Jimmy Santiago Baca, Baca demonstrates many examples of the hope and belief throughout the poem. Baca mentions to the audience that there will always be obstacles which one must prevail before they reach the top. Therefore help the readers recognize that in order for emancipation, one must never stop believing in themselves. An example of hope would be when Baca states,” And always, always, remembering you are human.” Here he indicates that though life may put us through tough times, we must always remember that we are humans and we are capable of overcoming obstacles.
“Hate Poem” by Julie Sheehan describes how she transformed hatred to love. By looking at her pattern of thinking, it involves her own experience in the daily life that result the conflicts between her loves and hates. This poem begins with “I hate you truly. Truly I do” (1). This opening did not match the idea of a poem about hate; instead it is a poem about love.
The poem, Useless Boys,is one that portrays a feeling of indignation, rebellion and finally, understanding by two boys who grew up with bitter views of their fathers’ onerous jobs. The narrator believes that the only reason his father stays at his job is for the money. In his naivety the son does not realize that at times living selfishly is the way things have to be. Sometimes commitments are made in a self-sacrificial and cowardly manner. No matter how “wrecking” his father’s career, he stays in order to provide for his family.
Everyone has a journey of childhood some with more self-discovery and some with more self-doubt. The poem “Queries of Unrest” by Clint Smith is about a black author dealing with self-doubt and seeing joy in darkness. Furthermore the poem “Making a Fist” by Naomi Shihab Nye is about a whining child asking his mother about death. “Queries of Unrest” by Clint Smith and “Making a Fist” by Naomi Shihab Nye the poem that was more effective was “Queries of Unrest,” due to it having a more meaningful message of the relationship between self-doubt and trying to discover himself, and a more impactful tone of darkness. In light of this “Queries of Unrest” becomes the more impactful and effective poem.
This statement exemplifies no matter what audience or situation comes about, they will stay empowered with their confidence and resilience. In society, people who display these characteristics are very well respected. The message across this poem is to stay resilient and people in society will respect
Culture: the beliefs, customs, art, etc. of a particular society. Being a part of a culture is amazing, diverse, and interesting until the conflict from being a part of more than one culture becomes involved. This type of conflict can even change the way you see your culture. In the poem, “Legal Alien”, by Pat Mora, Pat Mora depicts her culture colliding with another, causing cultural conflict.
“On the Subway,” written by Sharon Olds, is written from the perspective of what is presumed to be an upper class white woman, who finds herself on a subway with a lower class black boy. In “On the Subway”, Olds focuses on the controversial issue of racial conflict, and the theme of White v. Black. She does so by use of contrast between whites and blacks, by using harsh enjambments, powerful imagery, and by using the tone to convey the purpose. A major strategy used by Olds throughout the poem is contrast; in this case, the contrast between blacks and whites.
In “Queries of Unrest,” Clint Smith uses imagery, repetition, and oxymoron to describe what he knows of himself. In his poem, he describes where he comes from, whether it were his parents or his neighborhood. He uses his experiences and upbringing to reflect on himself now, as a writer. By using figurative language, Clint wrote a poem that conveys the complexity of his feelings. Repetition is a very strong device in Clint’s poem.
How would you feel if someone could control what you were thinking? In “The Feed” written by M.T Anderson, everyone living in the community had a feed in their brain that was controlled by one large organization. Violet, the main character, suffers through a malfunction in her feed that changes the way she sees her society. Most people’s opinions can be changed when they have experienced the benefits and the disadvantages of something. Since Violet is aware of how life is with and without the feed, she becomes hesitant to believing that her community is being run efficiently.
Rina Morooka Mr Valera Language Arts Compare and Contrast essay on “The poet’s obligation”, “When I have fears that I may cease to be”, and “In my craft of sullen art” The three poems, “The poet’s obligation” by Neruda, “when I have fears that I may cease to be” by Keats, and “In my craft of sullen art” by Thomas, all share the similarity that they describe poets’ relationships with their poems. However, the three speakers in the three poems shared different views on their poetry; the speaker in Neruda’s poem believes that his poems which were born out of him stored creativity to people who lead busy and tiring life, and are in need of creativity, while the speaker in Keats’ poem believes that his poems are like tools to write down what
The poem A Step Away From Them by Frank O’Hara has five stanzas written in a free verse format with no distinguishable rhyme scheme or meter. The poem uses the following asymmetrical line structure “14-10-9-13-3” while using poetic devices such as enjambment, imagery, and allusion to create each stanza. A Step Away From Them occurs in one place, New York City. We know this because of the lines, “On/ to Times Square, / where the sign/blows smoke over my head” (13-14) and “the Manhattan Storage Warehouse.”