Grace Leven Prize for Poetry Essays

How does the poem explore its key themes? The poem “Drifters” by Bruce Dawe explores how sacrifice is needed to belong in a family, the effects of moving communities, and how maturity is largely related to age. Through exploring these themes, Dawe shows the complex nature of identity and belonging in a family. The poem, “Drifters” explores how sacrifice is essential to belong in a family through examining the sacrifices made by the mother and the eldest daughter when moving out. The conflicting

Social ideas represented by Langston Hughes in poem “Mother to Son” The poem Mother to Son, by the African-American poet Langston Hughes is showing the feelings of a relation between mother and son. By starting with word “well” the mother sounds as though she is reacting to an inquiry from her son, while the utilization of the non specific word son sounds (humorously) warmer than if she had utilized the son's legitimate name. By using son, the mother additionally makes their relationship appear to

his twin brother, who died in high school on a drug overdose, also grew up on several army bases in Hawaii, Alabama, Ethiopia, and Texas. The different places and lifestyles he observed gave him a cultural perspective that reflects in his poetry. He found poetry as a young and troubled adolescent because it was deeply mysterious and puzzling, which he found pleasing because, to him, it seemed like trying to solve the problems of human nature and staying alive, which related to him at the time. As

Poetry is a universal form of art. People belonging to different cultures have their own forms of expressing poetry. Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken,” and Gary Soto’s “Saturday at the Canal,” demonstrate two of the many styles of poetry. Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” symbolizes an individual’s decisions. The factors leading up to that decision, as well as the consequences that follow, are always unknown, as elaborated in the poem. Gary Soto’s “Saturday at the Canal” expands on a person’s

The clip begins with the tranquil sound of spa-like music. Cognitively, this captures attention and urges hearers to imagine contexts associated with the senses. Speaker A opens the discourse and makes full use of phonologic and semantic features to guide hearers into the context of a perfume commercial. For example, “rose petal eau de parfum” (L.2) resembles a perfume slogan by means of its phrasing and semantically related words. The French term ‘parfum’ means perfume in English and is synonymous

Society attempts to strip away strength and self love. It judges people based on what is on the outside which weakens them so they are no longer able to fight back. This poem is an attempt to rally the citizens of the world and bring them strength back. In “Still I Rise” Maya Angelou portrays the idea of persevering and discovering self worth through battling the hardships of society’s views. The world is strict in what it believes, if someone chooses to go against its ideals then society will

Have you ever experienced both happiness and sorrow at the same time? Walt Whitman, in “O Captain! My Captain!,” incorporates sadness over the death of President Lincoln and happiness about the victory of the North and the end of the Civil War. The Civil War (1861-1865) was set on American soil where Americans fought against Americans. The North (Union) wanted unity of the country and the end of slavery, while the South (Confederacy) wanted separation and the continuation of slavery. The war ended