Question 1
In the first 5 lines, one can already identify that a mother is longing for her sons to return back to her. She gives a letter to the person addressed in line 1, who she most likely trusts to go and give it to her sons. She is asking him to please make sure it reaches the hand of her sons by saying the following “Stick these words in your hair” “And take them to Polin and Manuai my sons”. She also says “the ripe fruit falls and returns to the trunk – its mother” this is her way of expression her longing for her son's return as the fruit (her sons) should return to the trunk (parents). It is probably a very important act in their culture for their children to return back home after they have left the communities. The older people in the rural communities frequently plead for their children to come back home and look after their parents in the rural environments (Moffet 2013:243).
Question 2
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This suggests how young and ripe the fruit (her sons) is which probably has led to them leaving their rural country and mother. The birds had taken them away from the tree (their rural community) to a different and probably a very far destination. The way birds eat and move around in seasons from place to place to look after themselves. Almost at the end of the poem the mother is comparing herself to a leaf by saying the following “Already I sway like a dry falling leaf”. One tends to immediately think about a dry falling leave as something fragile, old and has served its purpose on the tree. A swaying leaf can still be seen as alive while it’s floating in the air but when it touches the ground it is very vulnerable to external factors. It can easily be crumbled. The simile in the poem implies that the mother is getting older by the day while her sons are thriving. She wants her sons to come back home before it’s too
" This opening sets the tone for the rest of the poem, conveying a sense of melancholy and nostalgia. The poet observes the tree as a symbol of natural beauty and simplicity in contrast
For the first ‘bare’ part of her life, Janie is a mule not to a man but to her own grandmother. In her youth, Janie yearns for relationships and objects that to her symbolize freedom. She is drawn to a blossoming pear tree because of how its “barren brown stems [turn] to glistening leaf-buds; from the leaf-buds from snowy virginity” (10), Here, Janie is awed by something changed from ‘barren’ to beautiful as she struggles with the suppression of her grandmother, who goes on to bash Janie for kissing a boy through a gatepost. It is clear Janie associates the pear tree with freedom, as she was avoiding her chores to sit under it. Thus, the beauty she finds in the turn from stem to blossom is directly correlated with the joy she finds in the escape from her grandmother and discovery of freedom.
The speaker of the poem walks through a reaping setting, alone. Lee uses the image of a bird who flies quickly away before the speaker can catch glimpse of it: “I turn, a cardinal vanishes”. This matches the memory that the speaker rekindles from earlier that morning, when his deceased father’s image seems to appear within the trees, and disappear again just as his child draws near. Lee beautifully uses concrete language to portray the picture, specifically the throbbing emptiness when the vision is substituted by a “shovel…in the flickering, deep green shade” (18-19). The sad, uncanny sensation showed by the event creates the lonely, sorrowful mood of the
The Significance of Words Ever question why some individuals even bother with an apology? This is how Layli Long Soldier must have felt after seeing the contents of the apology to the Tribal Nation, written by President Obama. After reading the apology, one could see the lack of understanding and empathy the United States Government has for Native Americans. All the horrible crimes and tragedies are laid out as simple misunderstandings and mistakes by the United States; the apology makes light of the situation. Despite Obama’s apology on behalf of the United States, Layli Long Soldier uses her poem, “Whereas,” to illustrate instances of her life to connect her reaction to said apology, in turn showing the absurdity and shortcomings of the
The poet of Beginning and many others, James Wright, was born in 1927 in Martins Ferry, Ohio. In 1954, a year after his first child, James studied at the University of Washington (James).Unfortunately, James had a short life but, yet, got recognized to one of America’s finest contemporary poets (Brunner). Grievously, in 1979 he was diagnosed with tongue cancer, but could not pull throught. James died March 25, 1980. During his lifetime, he was successful with his poetry, my favorite being Beginning.
Poetry Analysis Once the poem “History Lesson” was written numerous poetry foundations celebrated it for many reasons. “History Lesson” not only makes an impact on literature today it has also impacted people also. This poem inspires people and moves them to the point to where they can find a personal connection to the poem itself and to the writer. Not only does it hold emotional value for those who were victimized and those whose family were victimized by the laws of segregation, but the poem is also celebrated for its complexity. The poem uses many techniques to appeal to the reader.
When the wife was leaning into her husband, it shows she was just showing passion and friendship towards her husband, and as for the sapling tree leaning into the rock ledge, it describes growth, because as it became bigger and bigger the sapling didn’t have much of a choice but to grow
Both the story and poem agree that the princess is a kind and caring child. In the story, “[the princess] with a sweet and powerful impulse to comfort [the king], she started from her chair and… threw her arms affectionately about his knees.” She was turned to gold because she wanted to comfort him, showing her affection and kindness. This same kindness is shown in the poem when she sings, “A falling leaf in fall’s a thing to mourn.” The princess from the poem is the type of person who is sad over the death of any living thing, including something as seemingly insignificant as a leaf.
The hickory leaf is a representation of how change influences the mind of a young person. Just as the leaf blows away in the wind, the things that the speaker was familiar with at home, like the evening star, are drifting out of her mind and being replaced by the “revelations” being brought to her at college, such as the wonders of astronomy. When the grandmother says, “It’s funny how things blow loose like that”, she means that the speaker’s mind has already been heavily influenced by an uncharted atmosphere, as well as referencing the leaf itself. The poem says that the new, non-traditional things that she learns are as real as a shout of faith form her home church in
The conflicting interests of the mother and the father result in a situation where one must make a sacrifice in order to preserve the connection in the family. The flat depressed tone of the poem reflects the mother’s unhappiness and frustration about having to constantly
The street signs are the marking of a town, a neighborhood, which alludes to the mother saying “it doesn’t look like we’ll be leaving here any time soon”. Trees grow roots, and
“...but the oriole nest the elm was unattended and knocked back and forth like an empty cradle” (Hurst 350). This simile gives a comparison to a tree to an empty cradle. The story goes on and tells how the older brother has watched other parents or relatives grieve over people who struggle
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.
“Then leaf subsides to leaf” and “So Eden sank to grief” are some examples of imagery in this poem. “Then leaf subsides to leaf” in my opinion, means that the leaves have calmed down. I imagine leaves falling slowly and gracefully onto the ground. “So Eden sank to grief” means that Eden or someone else has become sad or depressed. I image a person falling down into a dark abyss.
The agony the writer is feeling about his son 's death, as well as the hint of optimism through planting the tree is powerfully depicted through the devices of diction and imagery throughout the poem. In the first stanza the speaker describes the setting when planting the Sequoia; “Rain blacked the horizon, but cold winds kept it over the Pacific, / And the sky above us stayed the dull gray.” The speaker uses a lexicon of words such as “blackened”, “cold” and “dull gray” which all introduce a harsh and sorrowful tone to the poem. Pathetic fallacy is also used through the imagery of nature;