ipl-logo

Poem Analysis: The Leaving By Brigit Pegeen Kelly

807 Words4 Pages

People have the need to always prove their self worth to everyone. In the poem The Leaving, Brigit Pegeen Kelly demonstrates how an individual’s environment and expectations of others encourages a person’s actions. In the poem the girl is so dedicated to her work that she’s willing to stay late even when her father doubts her. The speaker takes on the challenge to prove to her father that she can complete her task, and she successfully proves to him that she can do it. By proving her self worth to her father, the speaker faces new challenges along the way that test her own thoughts and decision making which ultimately determines the pursuit of her hard work. Responsibilities that are set out by other individuals who have their own purposes and expectations that affects the independent decision of an individual’s action as more pressure to succeed is being placed on them. The girl in the poem is trying to finish her own task of picking the peaches. She’s tired and sore but she still …show more content…

In the poem, the speaker lived on an orchard farm where work ethic had been developed and strengthened. The speaker has developed a strong work ethic that drives her to stay up all night picking peaches. This strong work ethic encourages the girl to complete her responsibilities. “and the pond was—I could see as I laid the last peach in the water—full of fish and eyes.” The fish in the pond represent how the unseen events can rupture a person’s success within time with people challenging and downplaying one’s hard work and success. Also, the fish represent the obstacles that one may face while trying to reach their goal and shaping their ability to achieve it. This ultimately challenges them to decide whether to accept the task and grow or abandon their dreams by giving up. The girl’s the environment around her influenced her hard work ethic and her decision to have patience to accomplish her

Show More
Related

  • Poem Analysis: Eating Alone By Li Young Lee

    831 Words  | 4 Pages

    Poetry Essay: Eating Alone by Li Young Lee Sharing meals with others is common tradition ritual for humans. So, traditional, in fact, that eating alone conveys a reputation of social embarrassment for example, look at that guy at a table by himself he in fact must be lonely. Where is his loved ones or anyone who knows and cares about him? Why has every left him by his lonesome?

    Read More

  • The Transformation Of Water In Big Fish By Daniel Wallace

    96 Words  | 1 Pages

    Water- an everyday need so simple that nobody ever thinks about it. Daniel Wallace’s novel Big Fish uses water as a way of symbolizing life. In the book, a father called Edward Bloom tells stories to his son, William, but this is all he ever tells to Will. When Edward starts dying, Will ends up taking him to a river and Edward magically turns into a fish. In Edward’s stories and his transformation, water symbolizes life.

    Read More

  • Lysandra's Poem Analysis

    189 Words  | 1 Pages

    In the short story “Lysandra’s Poem”, by Budge Wilson, Lysandra is justified in taking revenge on Elaine. This is because Elaine was never a good friend to begin with. Elaine mentions that Lysandra was always made fun of as a child, being given the nickname “Pigeon-Toed Cochrane”. Elaine had never stood up for Lysandra, not even once. If they truly were best friends, Elaine would have tried to stand up for Lysandra.

    Read More

  • Imagery In Amy Tan's Fish Cheeks

    134 Words  | 1 Pages

    Amy Tan uses imagery in the short story “Fish Cheeks” in order to let the reader feel the way Amy felt at the table on Christmas Eve. For example, in the story it states, “ My relatives licked the ends of their chopsticks and reached across the table dipping them into the dozen or so plates of food.” This explains that Amy felt embarrassed that her family wasn’t realizing the fact that they had no manners at the table. Amy was completely embarrassed with the fact that, that was the way her family had acted while they ate. Everyone is put into a situation where they wished their parents or family members had not acted the way they did in front of them, and Amy Tan writing this story makes you remember those times.

    Read More

  • Cultural Symbolism In Madeleine Thien's Simple Recipes

    1223 Words  | 5 Pages

    The four different environments are: “[the] plastic bag filled with water” (339), the sink, the wok, and the dining table. In addition, the different environment and the time before it was placed onto the dinner table signify the tension built within the family. When the fish was in the plastic bag and the sink, it implies the trapped Malaysian culture within the family. The narrator was able to see and touch the fish’s “gills and the soft muscled body” (339), indicating that she’s able to feel her cultural roots. When the fish was placed in the sink full of water, it fish hopelessly tries to survive.

    Read More

  • Poem Analysis Of 'A Story' By Li-Young Lee

    793 Words  | 4 Pages

    The poem “A Story” by Li-Young Lee depicts the complex relationship between a boy and his father when the boy asks his father for a story and he can’t come up with one. When you’re a parent your main focus is to make your child happy and to meet all the expectations your child meets. When you come to realize a certain expectation can’t satisfy the person you love your reaction should automatically be to question what would happen if you never end up satisfying them. When the father does this he realizes the outcome isn’t what he’d hope for. He then finally realizes that he still has time to meet that expectation and he isn’t being rushed.

    Read More

  • Analyzing The Poem 'Dusting' By Julia Alvarez

    246 Words  | 1 Pages

    In the poem, “Dusting,” by Julia Alvarez, the speaker is being rebellious against her mother and wants to do different things than what her mother wants her to do. In the first stanza, the poet writes that the speaker writes her name many times on dusty furniture “each morning” while the mother followed her to dust the furniture and the mess by the girl. This is an example of the speaker rebelling her mother since this is a metaphor meaning that the girl wants to accomplish different things than her mother but her mother keeps on erasing her accomplishments and wants the girl to be just like her. Another evidence in the poem is at the end of stanza two, where the speaker says “But I refuse with every mark to be like her, anonymous.” This phrase

    Read More

  • Useless Boys Poem Analysis

    1113 Words  | 5 Pages

    The poem, Useless Boys,is one that portrays a feeling of indignation, rebellion and finally, understanding by two boys who grew up with bitter views of their fathers’ onerous jobs. The narrator believes that the only reason his father stays at his job is for the money. In his naivety the son does not realize that at times living selfishly is the way things have to be. Sometimes commitments are made in a self-sacrificial and cowardly manner. No matter how “wrecking” his father’s career, he stays in order to provide for his family.

    Read More

  • Poem Analysis: Alzheimer's By Kelly Cherry

    839 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Silent Killer Explication: “Alzheimer’s” by Kelly Cherry was published in 1997 during a time of personal struggle for Cherry and her dad. This short, free verse poem consists of twenty nine perplexing lines. The poet’s nontraditional placement of line breaks cause some ideas to fall off in mid-sentence, while others never complete the thought. This creates enjambments which mimic the disease’s confusing nature.

    Read More

  • Shaun Tan Water Buffalo

    467 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Water Buffalo” represents the need for the young and inexperienced need to find direction and guidance through life until one day they become the wisdom givers. The allegory is about life, unexpected and unexpected experiences and life are presented using images and text in this story. An allegory is a poem, story or a picture which portray a different or

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Fury Of Overshoes

    1433 Words  | 6 Pages

    The Fury of Overshoes Anne sexton The poem is written in first person and in a free verse. The poem does not have a specific order, and the reader cannot find a pattern, in which the author organizes the poem. The rows do not rhyme and they are short.

    Read More

  • Poem Analysis: On The Subway By Sharon Olds

    869 Words  | 4 Pages

    “On the Subway,” written by Sharon Olds, is written from the perspective of what is presumed to be an upper class white woman, who finds herself on a subway with a lower class black boy. In “On the Subway”, Olds focuses on the controversial issue of racial conflict, and the theme of White v. Black. She does so by use of contrast between whites and blacks, by using harsh enjambments, powerful imagery, and by using the tone to convey the purpose. A major strategy used by Olds throughout the poem is contrast; in this case, the contrast between blacks and whites.

    Read More

  • The Changeling Poem Analysis

    944 Words  | 4 Pages

    The poem, in brief, is about the struggle the speaker faces as he prepares for war and attempts to explain to his lover how important honor is to him, surpassing even his feelings for her. It is written creatively, with a unique style. The poem is also personal and temporal, a trait of poems of this era. The poem is written in a conversational tone and is read as if by a male writer to a female lover. Lovelace weaves poetic techniques such as assonance, and metaphor together to create a good rhythm, and a theme based upon honor.

    Read More

  • Adversity In Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man And The Sea

    1067 Words  | 5 Pages

    The novel, The Old Man and the Sea, is a story about an old man, Santiago, who experienced great adversity but did not give up. The author, Ernest Hemingway, describes how an old man uses his experience, his endurance and his hopefulness to catch a huge marlin, the biggest fish he has ever caught in his life. The old man experienced social-emotional, physical, and mental adversity. However, despite the overwhelming challenges, he did not allow them to hold him back but instead continued to pursue his goal of catching a fish with determination. Santiago’s character, his actions and the event in the novel reveals an underlying theme that even when one is facing incredible struggles, one should persevere.

    Read More

  • A Step Away From Them Poem Analysis

    989 Words  | 4 Pages

    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. A Step Away From Them occurs in one place, New York City. We know this because of the lines, “On/ to Times Square, / where the sign/blows smoke over my head” (13-14) and “the Manhattan Storage Warehouse.”

    Read More

More about Poem Analysis: The Leaving By Brigit Pegeen Kelly

Open Document