Poem Analysis: Small Town With One Road By Gary Soto

What is your worth?, what makes you happy?, what makes you sad or disappointed?. Life has ups and downs and turnarounds but do you give up?. Mother and Daughter by Gary Soto is and short little that discuss the hardship of this young girl named Yollie along with her mother. Armitage Street by David Hernandez is a short poem that is about a narrator whose’ waiting on a train to leave Armitage Street their favorite childhood street. Both of these authors shows there's no need to have it all just make the best of what you have. Gary shows this through Metaphor and Character actions and David did this through First Person and Description.

This poem's literary techniques and imagery gives the readers an insight into the environment and the surroundings that are seen vividly even though they are described through the use of foreshadowing. Each stanza gives the readers a different understanding on what is going on during the poem. Each stanza also makes the readers question their opinions and their understanding of the poem and the street.

James Dickey’s poem, Cherrylog Road, is clearly an exhilarating, narrative poem. The speaker of this piece is a young man reminiscing of a past love affair that was forbidden. This is a provocative poem, told in the first person and is full of figurative language and symbolism.

The poem “Selma 1965” was written by Gloria Larry house who was a African American human rights activist. She was able to describe with the poem conditions and occurrences during the march. There are many poetic devices used to better explain the situation such as similes “ripped hem hanging like a train”. Other devices used include metaphors, rhythmic words and imagery. An example of metaphor “ tattered angels of hope”, rhythmic words "Before I 'd be a slave, I 'd be buried in my grave", and imagery “Dancing the whole trip”. Words being used such as ripped, ghosts, and rain-rutted gives the poem an ominous tone. The poem helps better understand conditions at the march because it gives from first point of view.

Gary Soto brings the impoverished, crime filled streets of the Mexican-American communities where he grew up to life by “evoking the harsh forces that often shape the life for Chicanos” (“‘Gary Soto’: Poetry Foundation” p. 1). He combines an archetypal young love poem with the concept of poverty to create the powerful poem: “Oranges” (1985). Soto also works with the notion of old age and the importance of life in his somber poem: “The Seventieth Year” (1986). Finally, he portrays the result of a young death through the affected family’s mourning in the solemn poem: “Avocado Lake” (1975). Through the use of powerful imagery, precise descriptions, and free verse poetry, Gary Soto’s poems evoke a sense of sympathy for the underprivileged Mexican-American community where he grew up, while telling a beautiful story.

El Olvido by Judith Ortiz Cofer, covers the dangers of forgetting yours roots and culture. It emphasizes the idea that forgetting where one comes from and creating adjustments in a new setting, may be dangerous to the person. Many people are able to relate to this text, but Cofer was able to direct this to the hispanic race, as the common spanish names Jesus, Maria and Jose are used.

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.

The poem fully develops the idea of the limited of privileges that some might have according to the their races and the racial division. The “borderlands” is the division of a place, but in the eyes of Gloria she makes the character grow up in a place where there is a racial division. The character is in the middle of how of her race is important as her cultural ways get in the way of trying to practice each one of them. The poet writes in both english and spanish to explain how she speaks to the different races she carries. As you read the poem you can feel how the tone changes as the author is speaking of the different events that she goes through in her life. The poet uses visual imagery to illustrate to the reader how tough it is for a young person to pursue a specific tradition or religion without upsetting someone of their family.

one of the many times he uses imagery throughout this story is when the narrator says, “on his way he would see the cottages and homes with their dark windows, and it was not unequal to walking through a graveyard where only the faintest glimmers of firefly light appeared in flickers behind the windows” (Pg 1). By using imagery to compare walking through the neighborhood as walking through a graveyard shows that it is completely silent and there is no activity in any of the houses. Most people wouldn't describe their neighborhood as a graveyard, this also develops the mood. Another time he uses imagery is when the narrator says, “The street was silent and long and empty, with only his shadow moving like the shadow of a hawk in mid-country” (1). This shows mood because the narrator describes him as a hawk in mid-country, that means that he is all alone in what he feels to be like a barren or abandoned place.

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. She realizes how her feed affects everything she does and how without it, she would be incapable. Based on her experiences, thoughts, and actions, I can infer that Violet

Still I Rise, written in 1978 by African American poet and civil-rights activist Maya Angelou, is a resoundingly courageous and unearthing poem with an inspiring invited reading directly related to the time period it was written in: during the declaration for Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). The poem discusses an African American woman’s struggles against racism and hatred from the society. It consists of nine-stanzas, offering words of inspiration to those who have been oppressed. It sends a message of hope that even in the midst of adversity it is possible to overcome obstacles and find the inner strength and confidence to rise above them. This poem is very straightforward making the message more meaningful and affective. This poem teaches readers that all humans have strength within them that can help to overcome any obstacles. “Out of the huts of history 's shame…/ I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide…/ Into a daybreak that 's wondrously clear…/I rise…” (29-43) generate a glorious ending and reflection of being the hope and the dream of slaves as reflected in the freedom and opportunity of the present day. The message drives a point that no matter what, the protagonist will be triumphant. The importance of having appreciation of our previous generations for what they have done for us and what they have left is highlighted in line 39, “Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave”. Also, “I am the dream and the hope of the slave” (40) shows how Angelou

Dana Gioia’s poem, “Planting a Sequoia” is grievous yet beautiful, sombre story of a man planting a sequoia tree in the commemoration of his perished son. Sequoia trees have always been a symbol of wellness and safety due to their natural ability to withstand decay, the sturdy tree shows its significance to the speaker throughout the poem as a way to encapsulate and continue the short life of his infant. Gioia utilizes the elements of imagery and diction to portray an elegiac tone for the tragic death, yet also a sense of hope for the future of the tree. The poet also uses the theme of life through the unification of man and nature to show the speaker 's emotional state and eventual hopes for the newly planted tree. Lastly, the tree itself becomes a symbol for the deceased son as planting the Sequoia is a way to cope with the loss, showing the juxtaposition between life and death.

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.

Raymond Carver’s short story “Popular Mechanics” was written in the minimalist style, but that didn’t stop him from using rich and full uses of imagery, symbolism and irony. Carver begins the story up by giving details on the weather outside than slowly comparing it to the drama going on inside his story. By using a mix of imagery and symbolism, the day gets darker as well as the story and gives off a feeling of melancholy. Though the communication is brief, Carver makes every word said important and meaningful. He uses irony throughout the entirety of “Popular Mechanics” and gets the purpose of the writing across while still adding emotion to the argument.

Images of rain invoke the idea of tears, as does the phrase “an interrupted cry.” It is dark in the poem not only because it is night but also because the speaker has “outwalked the furthest city light.” The speaker is engulfed by their overwhelming sadness, symbolized by the dark night in which they walk, and they have turned away from the light --the happiness-- of the city. It is bitterly ironic that, even in the city, Frost’s speaker is utterly alone. They even hear and see other people, yet they know that everyone else is totally disconnected from their solitary