Poem Analysis: The Minefield By Diane Thiel

The poem I will be analyzing will be “Uncoiling” by Pat Mora. The theme the author is portraying is the personification of a tornado . It has a dark/fearful/grim tone as she describes the storm that is accruing. The author is using similes, and personification to convey the theme.

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

Chainsaw We scratched our names In that oak tree 'Cause I loved you And you loved me A jagged little heart so the whole town knew it Carved in the bark with an arrow through it Well I came out here to see it one more time And I got my chainsaw Oh you know it's got to go, it's such a shame y'all But I ain't gonna be happy 'til those names fall And I'm sittin' on a stump Love is shady Love is tragic It's hard to bury the hatchet Holdin' a chainsaw I guess all those years They don't mean a thing Now I can't wait To count those rings Nothing left of us but dust and splinters A big pile of wood to keep me warm through the winter 'Cause I don't have you But I got my chainsaw Oh you know it's got to go, it's such a shame y'all But I ain't gonna

‘For What It’s Worth’ by Buffalo Springfield has a logical message because it is referring to the Sunset Strip Riots that took place in Hollywood during the 1960’s. People protested when they lost their civil rights due to a curfew law that was put into place. The song says, “Stop, children, what’s that sound. Everybody look- what’s going down?” Community members were angry at the young people going to clubs at night because they were “loud” and “disruptive”. The curfew law was put into place after the complaints and the youth became outraged. They believed their civil right were being taken away. There were riots along the sunset strip, where all these clubs were located, to protest the law. Police were at these riots and many people were handcuffed and hauled off to jail. They are referring to children because these protests were from the younger generation. Even though the overall message is logical, the support within this song is not as strong. ‘For What It’s Worth’ is often mistaken as an anti-war song since it was released during the Vietnam War era. When most people hear this song that is what they think of. The song can be heard in several war related movies. Some even believe it is about the Kent State Shootings although the song was released years before that event occurred. Even though there is not strong evidence to back up this song's true meaning, it

Toward the beginning of the story, the sick friend jokingly references Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, who devised the five stages of grief, stating, “I can’t remember… What does Kubler-Ross say comes after denial?” to which the narrator inwardly responds that anger must be next (41). This shows that while her friend may be closer to the final stage of grief, acceptance, the narrator is still deeply in denial, and although she knows the answer to her friend’s question she cannot bring herself to say it out loud. She cannot contemplate losing her friend, and even the joking mention to the stages of grief is too much for her to handle, rendering her speechless. This interaction also seems to be foreshadowing an incident that transpires between the

In the poem “Nikki-Rosa,” Nikki Giovanni incorporates diction and imagery to prove that her childhood was happy in spite of her hardships. She writes about how throughout her life, her childhood was viewed as a hardship due to her race. However, “Black love is Black wealth” (22), implies that there was a strong community of people that was often dismissed when speaking of her childhood and she implies heavily that it wasn’t as awful as most people perceived it to be.

The short story “The Lie” by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. follows the Remenzel family and the secret Eli has been hiding from his parents. Eli was born into a high class family, all of whom have been accepted to the prestigious school Whitehill. Eli however, did not pass the entrance exams and has hid this fact from his parents. Due to this they believe he was accepted and when they learn the truth both parents change their opinions about entitlement. A lesson this story suggests is that those who believe they are entitled will deny it until they don’t get what they want.

This poem its mainly about a women , whose personifying her self on a diamond. She thinks its funny how a diamond can come from flames and still be something beautiful . In the poem she is a diamond whom society is trying to break down despite her natural brilliance. Audre Lorde wrote this poem to open her self and to let the world know how words sometimes can hurt people. She definitely feels that words are very important and sometimes they can have different meanings.

“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.

“On the Subway”, by Sharon Old, a woman encounters terror and presents certain stereotypes when profiling a young boy based on his appearance. The narrator explores her insight in the subway alone with the young boy. By contrasting their opposing characteristics, the author portrays literary techniques such as tone, imagery, and organization to illustrate these differences throughout the poem.

Back in the day, children were being abused by their parents, but it is still happening in today’s society. “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke explains his life when he was still a child back in the 1900s. Theodore Roethke was born on May 25, 1908 and lived until August 1, 1963. He had an abusive father growing up and the poem gives the reader a taste of what he had to go through, in the form of waltzing. Roethke uses literary devices, such as metaphor, imagery, and rhyme to allure the reader into his poem.

Although the Landmine and the Rope in Melissa Range’s poems are both made to participate in horrifying violence against the innocent, the Landmine reveals its boastful indifference by twisting imagery of life and hope into a grotesque threat to haunt the world of peace long into the future, while the Rope reveals its humble sympathy by longing for a future that redeems violence by affirming life and beauty.

Back when there was just one somebody to be waiting for me every day, I knew every time I went to school would be a happy day. All my hope was pushed on that one friend; happy if she was present, upset when not. This, of course, did not last. On the first day of school, one year, she left without a word. Like said in the poem: “Her early leaf’s a flower, but only so an hour.” My first 4 years in Elementary blossomed as we grew closer, but that year she did not come back. Again, as in the poem “Nothing gold can stay.” Though I held onto the memories for some time, life is always changing, and I moved on. Those golden days were gone, and so I eventually thought about it less and less. And as hard as I tried to hold on, my grasp loosened day by day. It wasn’t expected, so, yes “Eden sank to grief”. But the world went on, and so did my choice.

In this poem, Ruth Belknap contrasted the perceived, romanticized pleasures of country life against its difficulties. I selected this document because I thought that it was interesting how she detailed the challenges of country life; she needed to constantly work and if she didn’t, she wouldn’t be able to provide for herself or for her family because they produced their own food and clothes. I found the verse “If with romantic steps I stray/Around the fields and meadows gay,/The grass, besprinkled with the dews,/Will wet my feet and rot my shoes” (28) to be especially interesting because even if there were pleasures of life in the country, she could not enjoy them because she was too preoccupied with her work and accomplishing what she needed

The simile “But I hung on like death” (3) in Theodore Roethke’s poem allows the writer to clearly set the darker tone of “My Papa’s Waltz”. In this poem, the poet describes his father’s odd behavior. He also defines that alcohol was a factor and, consequently, his mother’s disapproved of the father’s actions. Also, the metaphors “such waltzing was not easy” (4) and “then waltzed me off to bed” (15) set the stage that there is an awkward physical exchange between the father and son. In addition, the second paragraph sets the mood with the imagery found in the description of the mother. “My mother’s countenance /could not unfrown itself.” (7-8) The comparisons used in the metaphors & the simile clearly express the anger and hurt involved