ipl-logo

Summary Of 'Address To Polin And Manuai/My Sons'

1040 Words5 Pages

The speaker instructs the addressed to deliver a message to her sons, this can be seen in lines 1, 2 and 3: ‘Stick these words in your hair/ And take them to Polin and Manuai/ my sons’. Line 1 gives an unusual command – as it orders the addressed to ‘Stick’ the speaker’s words in his or her hair. The hair of a person is on the top of their head, where it is close to the brain. The command could imply that message should remain close to or on the mind of the addressed while he or she delivers the message to the recipients. Line 4 and 5 could be seen as a summary of the content of the message. It portrays a scene out of nature- ripe fruit fall from a tree and decomposes on the floor where it fertilises the soil and nourishes the tree. This could be seen …show more content…

It therefore creates a visual representation of the scenario that the speaker is referring to and mourning over in the poem. Line 16 ‘my hands are like broomsticks’ is a comparison of the speaker’s hands to broomsticks. This simile could imply that the speaker’s hands have no fingers metaphorically, and that she is unable to use them properly. This could lead to the assumption that the speaker might have arthritis due to old age, which explains why the use of her hands is limited. Another meaning of the simile could be that she cannot do anything about her sons’ actions of not returning to her – her hands are chopped off or tied, like broomsticks. This simile contributes to the overall meaning of the poem as it is a depiction of the growing deterioration of the old woman’s health; which is one of the main reasons the speaker requests her sons to return to her urgently.‘Let them keep the price of their labour / but their eyes are mine.’ This can be interpreted as the speaker’s warning of regret or consequence to her

Show More
Related

  • Theme Of Oranges By Gary Soto

    199 Words  | 1 Pages

    The overall theme of the poem is sacrifice, more specifically, for the people that you love. Throughout the poem color and personification are used to paint a picture in the reader's head. “Fog hanging like old Coats between the trees.” (46) This description is used to create a monochromatic, gloomy, and dismal environment where the poem takes

    Read More

  • Mary Oliver And The Black Walnut Tree Comparison

    1110 Words  | 5 Pages

    As the tone of the speaker becomes more passionate with the connection of the tree throughout the poem, it is evident that this poem shows the related emptiness in the heart but a mind filled with memories, of their loved and recently

    Read More

  • Sacrifice In Bruce Dawe's 'Drifters'

    1833 Words  | 8 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • The Fury Of Overshoes Analysis

    878 Words  | 4 Pages

    In order to transfer her theme the author also uses simile, for instance, ' 'the tears running down like mud ' ' to emphasize that those tears are not positive tears, but negative tears like mud, which is unpleasant. It makes the reader understand that the protagonist 's childhood period is not easy and depressing. She also uses personification in her writing, for example, ' ' The Fury of Overshoes ' ', the title describes a fury, which is an emotion. Emotions are human qualities, and overshoes cannot express fury.

    Read More

  • Sign For My Father Who Stressed The Bunt Poem Analysis

    815 Words  | 4 Pages

    This simile demonstrates the care with which the father tries to teach the son how to bunt. The only other simile compares the son’s sign to his father, the poem itself, to “a hand brushed across the bill of a cap” (21). Once again this figurative comparison connotes a tender love and mutual respect between the father and son, especially considering that this simile compares the poem to the baseball equivalent of a salute. Overall, through the use of symbols and figurative comparisons, the poem conveys the tender admiration shared between the father and son, despite their lack of

    Read More

  • What Is The Metaphor In Audrey Lorde's Afterimages

    850 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the poem “Afterimages,” Audrey Lorde compares two seemingly different concepts in a metaphor in order to create a specific and significant feeling or idea. This expresses a distinctive identity when the cohesion of two different objects are used in a metaphor. Although most metaphors are commonplace and their meanings easily identified, such as “time is money” in which one “spends” or “earns” time, some metaphors require more thought and analysis in order to convey a specific meaning. In “Afterimages,” Lorde uses the equation EYES =

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of Lord Chesterfield's Letter To His Son

    631 Words  | 3 Pages

    The power to persuade is a valuable tool for everyone on the Earth. It is vital for every leaders, activists and even teachers to know how to sway and individual or audience. The ability to convince is the most important for a parent however, especially as their children grow older. Lord Chesterfield’s letter to his young son is a wonderful example of this. He is trying to tell his son to succeed and make good decisions without coming across as overbearing or domineering.

    Read More

  • Symbolism In 'From Blossoms' By Li-Young Lee

    623 Words  | 3 Pages

    This also state that by eating the peach you get memories of great moments and not so great moments. I think the author is trying to represent that life is how you make it. In total the author Li-Young Lee, uses symbolism to point out the happiness and the sadness that comes from simple things. By using repetition and symbolism, Li-Young Lee the author of “ From Blossoms” shows that the end of something can lead to joy and happiness through memories.

    Read More

  • What Is The Tone Of My Papa's Waltz

    531 Words  | 3 Pages

    In this poem all the son sees is battered knuckles on his father with “palms caked hard by dirt.” This paints a description of an abusive father that does not love his son because if he did love his son he would not hurt him. The father is first introduced with “whiskey on his breath” (line 1) which can be inferred that he is an alcoholic and this creates a negative image that the reader can see and even smell. The son though seems to notice all this, but still seems to love his father and admire him. The waltz represents a repetitive step and in the poem the waltz is his father’s constant abuse and interrupts the sweet idealistic dance.

    Read More

  • Parent Pantoum Analysis

    584 Words  | 3 Pages

    In stanza one, the speaker uses paradox to establish the fact that she is in awe about how fast her children have grown up. She portrays her daughters as “enormous children” and seems to be mesmerized with the contrast between their appearance and their age (1). The speaker’s thoughts reveal a bewildered tone towards her children and initiate a thought process on how and why they behave and appear older than they are. In stanzas two and three, the speaker reveals the irony of her children’s

    Read More

  • A Dream Deferred By Langston Hughes Analysis

    417 Words  | 2 Pages

    For example, look at this line: "Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or does it fester like a sore-- and then run?" Doesn 't that put a sour feeling in your stomach? Similes like this are how Hughes helps the reader understand the intensity of what can happen if a dream never comes to life. Using words like "fester," "sore," or, "drying up" evoke an image of the life being like an infection and festering.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Othello's Jealousy In 'The Awakening'

    500 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the play “Othello” by William Shakespeare showed how the lies and the jealousy of others can ruin a relationship . Throughout the history of this play people have understood it as a “triad of nobility,purity, and villainy.” A literary critic, Michael Andrews noted the significance of the handkerchief that was used in the play. “Othello tells Desdemona that the handkerchief is a love-controlling talisman his mother received from an Egyptian "charmer.” The gift that Desdemona receives is used to represent a symbol of Othello’s love.

    Read More

  • Funeral Blues And Remember Analysis

    1774 Words  | 8 Pages

    The term “remember” runs, like a refrain throughout the sonnet. However, its power seems to decrease through the poem, rather as if the voice and memory of the speaker is fading from life. The word “remember” is repeated six times within the poem, which expresses the desire of a speaker whose hope is that her lover, will keep her memory alive beyond death. The repeated use of “remember” and “remember me” indicate the strength of the speaker’s desire to not be forgotten, although this forceful plea is relaxed at the end of the poem when the speaker acknowledges that the happiness of her beloved is ultimately the most important thing. This is the general message of the poem, the happiness of others are ultimately more important than keeping the memory of a loved one alive as it will inevitably pain you too much to do.

    Read More

  • Alliteration In Wilfred Owen's Anthem For Doomed Youth

    1433 Words  | 6 Pages

    This connects to the theme because they are not treated individually once they die, but treated only as one of the people died, which is forgotten. “And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds” is from fourteenth line in second stanza. Owen ends the poem by giving you the image of weak lights coming through the blinds on twilight. It does not give you any violent, and rough image, but instead calm image of a new day. By using the word

    Read More

  • Standing Female Nude Analysis

    904 Words  | 4 Pages

    Standing Female Nude, written by Carol Ann Duffy, is a poem which describes the condition of a prostitute who is struggling to make a living. Duffy, as with a majority of her other works, attempts to give a voice to voiceless women in the middle and lower economic classes in an effort to promote her feminist agenda. This poem is in fact very layered and explores multiple aspects which may not be spotted on a superficial level, and enables her to transmit her ideas to the readers. Duffy puts across her main ideas of society’s treatment of the prostitute versus the treatment of males, and the prostitutes introspective views. Duffy creates a society, not too distorted from our own in fact, which objectifies the woman and values her purely for her physical assets.

    Read More

More about Summary Of 'Address To Polin And Manuai/My Sons'

Open Document