Figurative Language In Naomi Shihab Nye's 'Shoulders'

A child leaves in the morning to work endlessly until midnight. She arrives home with work-torn hands and tired eyes as she prepares for another day of weaving, spinning, sewing, braiding, and knitting. This image of a child having her life toiled away in a factory is one that Florence Kelley does not tolerate. In her speech for the National American Woman Suffrage Association, she opposes the unfair and immoral treatment of children in labor. Kelley applies figurative language and pathos in her speech in order to push women to encourage men to vote for strict child labor laws, and to convince women of the need for their suffrage.

One example of figurative language in Laurie Hale Anderson’s book “Speak” is when Melinda decides to rid her garden of all weeds, and does some spring cleaning after it finally stops raining during May. Around the same time, Melinda is realizing that she wants to make some new changes in her life and in this figurative language example, Melinda’s life is her garden. She decides first to rake the leaves “suffocating the bushes” ; Melinda is ridding the demons from herself on the first layer of her skin. She says that she has to “fight the bushes (her problems)” and the bushes don’t like getting cleaned out but it is something one has to do if one makes the

Soto’s “Small Town with One Road” is a poem that deeply touches upon the issues of Latin Americans stuck in small towns. With the use of literary devices such as similes and imagery it illustrates the deep pain in the townspeople’s hearts. In line 24 the speaker thinks “Papa’s fields wavered like a mirage”(Soto “Small Town”) which shows the illusion of a perfect life in small town fading away. This is a simile that hints at the imperfections hidden in the small town of the speaker’s upbringing. The imagery in the poem such as "And its black strip of highway, big-eyed With rabbits that won't get across"(Soto “Small Town” 2-3) paint a picture of what the quality of life is in the town. The people in the town are caught in a cycle that keeps them in the town with only a few who make it through(Soto). The town is reminiscent of an old western town seen in movie that give an air of poverty and misfortune (Davis). The rabbits can also be perceived as a metaphor for all the young hopefuls in the town who have no way out.

Poetry is an effective means used to convey a variety of emotions, from grief, to love, to empathy. This form of text relies heavily on imagery and comparison to inflict the reader with the associated feelings. As such, is displayed within Stephen Dunn 's, aptly named poem, Empathy. Quite ironically, Dunn implores strong diction to string along his cohesive plot of a man seeing the world in an emphatic light. The text starts off by establishing the military background of the main protagonist, as he awaits a call from his lover in a hotel room. After his significant other finally calls him, presumably to end the relationship, he then aimlessly goes to the zoo. Empathy, by Stephen Dunn exponentially displays the interplay of empathy and self interests, as the main protagonist seeks out his individualistic desires by searching for an empathetic connection through other living vessels.`

Poetry is a very important and respected type of literature, and one that covers a vast range of topics. Some of the most impressive and response-invoking poems are those that cover more sensitive topics, such as discrimination and racism. Discrimination is a topic not overwhelmingly seen in poetry, but often very interesting to read. Author Sekou Sundiata creates a prime example of this in “Blink Your Eyes.” In the poem, he speaks about racism in the law, as well as how you are treated in society depends on your skin color. The poem is not good to read only because of its subject, however. The use of repetition and symbolism in “Blink Your Eyes” adds more depth to the poem, and highlights the societal issues that the author and others of his race have felt.

“Incident” by Natasha Tretheway brings to life the horrors African Americans faced during the time the Ku Klux Klan was rampant in the United States. Fear and secretiveness was an everyday part of African American lives. They were unable to live like white Americans were due to the racism they faced. This poem, however, symbolizes the idea that life continues through the fear of it crumbling. The narrator is still alive to tell his or her story; therefore, this is evidence that life continues. 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.

Question 1: Night is a text with a significant amount of figurative language. Select 3 examples from the text to analyze. In analyzing each example, be sure to explain how the specific example impacts the text. (How does it affect the reader?, how does it affect the reading experience?, why did Wiesel make that specific choice?) Please use a different type of figurative language for each example.

The poem "Kindness" by Naomi Shihab Nye speaks about how you experience kindness and what it really is. The main point in this poem is that in order to experience people's kindness you need to experience hurt, sorrow, and loneliness. The author says that when you loose everything and have no one or thing that when kindness comes along it lifts you up "and then goes with you everywhere/ like a shadow or a friend" (33-34). When portraying this message the author uses a sad but hopeful tone to send the message she wants to say. This tone helps portray the message because you can feel how sad someone is when they are lonely and they have nothing. Then when the author changes the tone at the end of the poem in the last stanza to hopeful tone the reader can feel the hope and happiness that a person feels when they are down and they are given kindness.

Langston Hughes uses images of oppression to reveal a deeper truth about the way minorities have been treated in America. He uses his poems to bring into question some of Walt Whitman’s poems that indirectly state that all things are great, that all persons are one people in America, which Hughes claims is false because of all the racist views and oppression that people face from the people America. This oppression is then used to keep the minorities from

Throughout the following essay, Cynthia Zarin’s poem “sSong” will be critically analysed and assessed. Cynthia Zarin is an American poet born in 1959. She published a poem named “Song” in 1993 to show her compassion to her lover. The poem consists of 3 stanzas whereby each stanza is contains 3 lines. The poem is written about a woman’s love relationship towards with a man. The poem consists of words that have symbolic meaning which depicts how the relationship is. The relationship is depicted as a very loving and caring relationship while the disadvantages of the relationship are discussed as well. In essence, the poem implies that the advantages in a true love experience overpower the challenges in a true love experience.

During the 1900s, there were many famous authors who wrote about African Americans and Civil Rights. This was what was going on during this time period. Segregation and discrimination towards blacks was increasing. Two famous authors were Langston Hughes and Maya Angelou. Langston Hughes wrote the poem “I, Too, Sing America.” Maya Angelou wrote the poem “Still, I rise.” These two poems both have their own meaning but are still similar in many ways.

On Friday, March 3, 2017, the students at Montevallo High School had a special speaker visit. His name is Jesse Jackson. The name sounds familiar because Jackson worked closely with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement. Jesse Jackson was born on October 8, 1941 in Greenville, South Carolina. When his mother was sixteen he was born out of wedlock to professional boxer and well-known figure in the black community, Noah Louis Robinson. However, when his mother married, he was adopted by Charles Henry Jackson, his step father. During high school he experienced segregation and Jim Crow laws. After high school he attended the University of Illinois on a football scholarship. He then transferred to North Carolina A&T. At North Carolina A&T he became involved in local civil rights protests. He then attended Chicago Theological Seminary but dropped out to focus directly on the Civil Rights Movement. He worked closely with MLK Jr. and was even present when he was shot. After the assassination he made is his own Civil Rights operation named People United to Serve Humanity. He ran for president twice. Needless to say, he is a very remarkable and astounding man.

The poem ‘Morning Praise of Nightmares One’ which is written by Lauire, Ann Guerrero depicts a strong notion about abuse and elements of despair when children at tender age are dealt with extreme abusive behavior. The overall theme of the poem is around the narration of a young girl who is living a life of pain in a house where she is inflicted with torture, pains and bruises. Despite of her miserable condition nobody is helping her. She is facing each morning with screams of nightmares which are never ending and no one is there to comfort her.

Asian American Cathy Song drew closer to her Korean-Chinese ancestry, and was able to describe in a clear image of the two women she represent, one being the industrial American women and the other one being the Chinese caretaker. Cathy Song was born and raised in Hawaii making her an American by birth right. This fact did not keep her from engulfing her Korean-Chinese heritage. In the poem “Lost Sister”, Song isolates a young girl who struggles to find who she truly is in China, because of all the restrictions. The young girl wants to go to America to seek a needed fulfilment. The analysis of the young girl in “Lost Sister” is no doubt an effort to link Cathy Song’s two worlds together. Cathy Song wanted acceptance of her culture, using it as a release and that freedom is within.

“I write… For youth who hide inside when the teacher ask for volunteers to read out aloud” as I read this line my heart skipped a beat because I know that feeling to well. This line alone sucked me in, I knew I had chosen the perfect poem. As I read this poem by Al Mills my feeling grew deeper and more complicated as the words developed onto the page. Addressing so many issues, and stereotypes that are within our community. It just so happens I read this on a day where I didn’t know if I would make it thru this long journey of school to fight for change in my community. But Al ‘s words proved me to continue.