ipl-logo

On Not Shoplifting Louise Bogan's The Blue Estuaries By Julia Alvarez

709 Words3 Pages

“On Not Shoplifting Louise Bogan’s The Blue Estuaries” Julia Alvarez’s poem “On Not Shoplifting Louise Bogan’s The Blue Estuaries” talks about a girl who has just discovered a poetry book that has made her want to also write poetry. Alvarez uses many different poetic devices to show how the poetry book made the speaker want to become poet even though she is a girl. Alvarez uses imagery and diction to convey the speaker’s realization of wanting to become a poet and not being a thief. Alvarez uses imagery to convey the speaker’s realization of wanting to become a poet and not be a thief. After deciding to read this book of poems Alvarez says “Page after page, your poems/ were stirring my own poems words rose, breaking the surface;/ shattering …show more content…

The speaker finishes the book and stares at the closed book “as if it were something else, a mirror reflecting back/ someone I was becoming.” showing the speaker is accepting this new life of a …show more content…

Throughout stanzas 1 and 2 the speaker uses “you” and “your” to show she is reading the poetry book and the author’s work is appealing to her. In the third stanza after she has opened the book and read she uses words such as “breaking” and “shattering and old silence” followed by the use of “I” and no more “you”. This diction shows us how the poetry book has opened up the speaker to the idea of becoming a poet and writing their own poetry despite men usually being poets and not women. The change from “you” to “I” shows that the speaker is going to become a poet and write poetry as well stating “my own” when talking about her writing poems as she read. When the speaker is reading the book she uses words such as “question” and “thinking” to show confusion on what to do with this new idea of becoming a poet in her and whether or not she should steal the book. This is followed by the use of words such as “reflecting”, “becoming”, and “answered” which shows that the speaker has finally accepted this new life that has been brought to her by reading this book of poems and decided to not steal the poetry

Show More
Related

  • Mistakes In Anne Bradstreet's Hard Work

    598 Words  | 3 Pages

    Anne Bradstreet’s poetry was intended to be apprehended by the public world, not only to her family as interpreted in her poems. Anne Bradstreet is an illustrious English poet, who is notable for writing poetry only to family and never intended to publish her works. In her well-known poem, “The Author of her Book”, she discloses that her “offspring of [her] feeble brain”(1) was not meant to be “expos’d to public view”(4). Anne makes lectors understand that her poems were never intended to be seen by other persons rather than her family, however they were “snatched from [her] by friends”(3). Anne also reveals her poems were made “in raggs”(5) and were not good enough and that every time she fixed them, she found more mistakes on them.

    Read More

  • Internal And External Conflict In Czeslaw Milosz's Poems

    911 Words  | 4 Pages

    Everyone suffers with some type of conflict on a day to day bases. The conflict may not be outwardly evident, yet it is still constantly happening. However, the conflict a person may be suffering outwardly is being caused by the people surrounding this person who are suffering with some sort of conflict. This means that people can suffer with both internal and external conflict. In the same fashion, European authors saw this conflict and decided to put it in writing to show and describe them to their readers.

    Read More

  • Thomas Lux's The Voice You Hear When You Read Silently

    745 Words  | 3 Pages

    Thomas Lux’s “The Voice You Hear When You Read Silently” is a poem that speaks about the inner voices that you hear when you are reading. Then it will speak about the words that you remember can trace back memories. Throughout this poem, Lux demonstrates tone, figure of speech, theme, structure, and imagery to make his audience to impart in the message that your own voice truest. When Lux wrote this poem, he wanted his audience to understand the tone of voice that he was speaking with.

    Read More

  • Story Of My Life Hellen Keller Rhetorical Analysis

    997 Words  | 4 Pages

    In detailing the events that led up to her change in perspective, she made note of the honeysuckle that covered the walls of the well-house, the warm sunshine that accompanied going outdoors, and the cool stream of water that she felt as she placed her hand under the spout. These details kept the reader with her in the moment as she felt something less simple, but still universal; the returning of a, “ misty consciousness as of something forgotten.” In using rich diction, she maintained a sense of intimacy with the reader which allowed her to call on personal details from her own life and theirs. Later in the passage, she described how, once the reality of language was opened to her, and she returned to the house, “every object which I touched seemed to quiver with life.” She had gone through a complete shift of perspective, one that, to her, was felt entirely through senses other than sight or sound.

    Read More

  • The Road Syntax Poem Summary

    609 Words  | 3 Pages

    This poem expresses his experience in being treated differently racism wise. It is About what it was like to be different a different color that wasn't white. He used a variety of connotation, syntax, and imagery to strengthen his piece of writing. His writing brings a sense of what what it was like for him just to go get some groceries by using lots of syntax, imagery, and connotation. One element where he focused in, is syntax.

    Read More

  • Summary Of Natasha Trethewey History Lesson

    1215 Words  | 5 Pages

    The poem begins with the speaker looking at a photograph of herself on a beach where the “sun cuts the rippling Gulf in flashes with each tidal rush” (Trethewey l. 5-7). The beach is an area where two separate elements meet, earth and water, which can represent the separation of the different races that is described during the time that her grandmother was alive and it can also represent the two races that are able to live in harmony in the present day. The clothing that the two women wear not only represent how people dressed during the different time periods, but in both the photographs of the speaker and her grandmother, they are seen standing in a superman-like pose with their hands on “flowered hips” (Trethewey l. 3,16). The flowers on the “bright bikini” (Trethewey l. 4) are used to represent the death of segregation, similar to how one would put flowers on a loved one’s grave, and on the “cotton meal sack dress” (Trethewey l. 17) it is used to symbolize love and peace in a troubled society.

    Read More

  • Abject In Patience Agbabi's About Face

    1329 Words  | 6 Pages

    5,6) the issues that have been mentioned above are expressed. Since, especially black women, are considered to be living in the shadow this passage exposes the feelings and representation of black women in society. Their existence in the world which is not considered and respected. Considering especially the fact that the lyrical I is a black maiden, she seeks for recognition and acceptance among the other figures of the poem. Referring to contemporary issues, the lyrical I would be classified as a lower ranked person since she is black and being occupied as a maid, which clearly makes her powerless and voiceless in society.

    Read More

  • Literary Analysis Of Elizabeth Bishop's 'Exchanging Hats'

    1809 Words  | 8 Pages

    The different key features also plays an important role for example the tone that is being formed by the lyrical voice that can be seen as a nephew or niece. This specific poem is also seen as an exposition of what Judith Butler will call a ‘gender trouble’ and it consist of an ABBA rhyming pattern that makes the reading of the poem better to understand. The poem emphasizes feminist, gender and queer theories that explains the life of the past and modern women and how they are made to see the world they are supposed to live in. The main theories that will be discussed in this poem will be described while analyzing the poem and this will make the poem and the theories clear to the reader. Different principals of the Feminist Theory.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Imagery In 'Red Clowns'

    802 Words  | 4 Pages

    Prompt 1: Identify an instance where Cisneros uses powerful imagery. Explain the effect of that imagery upon the reader. Remember that imagery can appeal to any of the senses, including sight, sound, taste, smell, or touch. Throughout this book, there are many instances where the author, Cisneros uses powerful imagery.

    Read More

  • Bethany Miller Analysis

    722 Words  | 3 Pages

    One of her favorite things in her room was her mirror, that her neighbor had given to her when they had first moved out. She loved it very much, and she often spent hours just gazing at her reflection in it. She had even made up a friend in the mirror once. Her friend was an image of herself, but was even more beautiful than Bethany.

    Read More

  • The Journey By Mary Oliver Essay

    714 Words  | 3 Pages

    Is it necessary for individuals to change themselves for the better? Although both “The Journey” and “Wild Geese” are both written by Mary Oliver, the latter takes a more open minded approach to the question. “The Journey” by Mary Oliver addresses theme of self through using second person pronouns, creating a stronger connection with the reader. Throughout the poem, the speaker never identifies themselves through first person pronouns. Instead, lines such as “One day you finally knew / what you had to do,” and “you felt the old tug / at your ankles,” narrates the thoughts of a “you” throughout the poem.

    Read More

  • What Does Kipling Mean By 'A Female Of The Species'?

    1247 Words  | 5 Pages

    Throughout the poem, the phrase “The Woman that God gave him” is repeated; the use of male possessive pronouns in reference to the female establishes a continuation

    Read More

  • The Drought Poem Analysis

    797 Words  | 4 Pages

    Gary Soto, an American-Mexican Poet born in 1952, published an array of pieces that recount the realities of his upbringing. Growing up in San Joaquin Valley, ensured his involvement in the fields. Living in a drought prone region, droughts were inevitable, and the community remained vulnerable to hardships that came along with the drought. These hardships experienced were transformed into a visible theme found throughout this poem. Weather conditions can make people vulnerable to the effects experienced.

    Read More

  • Emily Dickinson Research Paper

    1750 Words  | 7 Pages

    They believed that she lacked the qualities that a poet was supposed to have in order to write effective poems. “His requirement” (line 1) could’ve either meant society or her father. Society expected a completed submission from women where as it ignores a man’s role in society. Her tone was satirical meaning she was ridiculing the role of a wife and woman in society. The last stanza spoke about how her dreams remains “unmentioned” (line 9) meaning she did put all of her writings out into the world and given the fact that she only publish seven of her

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Mark Strand's Poem Eating Poetry

    433 Words  | 2 Pages

    Poetry Essay Loving something so much is one thing, but loving it until the point of consumption is another. In the poem “Eating Poetry” by Mark Strand, the speaker consumes poetry against the librarian’s wishes, acting in an animal-like manner. The librarian does not understand his messy desire for poetry, as it brings her anger and confusion. His joy for poetry is so intense, he becomes as wild as a dog.

    Read More

More about On Not Shoplifting Louise Bogan's The Blue Estuaries By Julia Alvarez

Open Document