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The 1990 poem “I Am Offering This Poem” by Jimmy Santiago Baca is themed around the life of a prisoner who has nothing else to offer except poetry. As one learns, more about the author’s background, the context of the poem becomes clearer. Examine this piece of information taken from the biography of Baca, “A Chicano poet, Baca served a ten-year sentence in an Arizona prison and his poetry grows out of his experience as a convict” (Baca). Baca’s experience as a prisoner reflects in his writing in that prisoners are often deprived of their rights and many of their possessions while serving a sentence. In his poem, “I Am Offering This Poem”, Baca speaks from the point of view of a prisoner having nothing to offer his love interest except the …show more content…
The first lines set the tone for the rest of the poem. Considering his biography, Baca appears to be telling the story from his point of view. He describes his poem as “Like a warm coat when winter comes to cover you” (Baca 3-4). He appears to be implying to readers that the poem should be cherished as one would cherish a warm coat in the winter. Furthermore, in the final two sentences of the stanza continuing from line 4, Baca states: “Or like a pair of thick socks the cold cannot bite through.” (Baca 5-6). In this line Baca is saying the same thing as line 3-4 just in different words, in order to stress the significance of the poem keeping one warm. By keeping one warm, Baca is meaning to keep one’s heart warm. The first stanza of the poem sets the context of the rest of the poem, while the second stanza is where the readers discovers a significant amount of vivid …show more content…
Consider the first few lines, “I have nothing else to give you, so it is a pot full of yellow corn, to warm your belly in the winter” (Baca 8-10). The imagery here is clear. The author invokes the images of yellow delicious corn while stressing the importance of his poem in relation to food. The speaker cannot give the recipient food, so he gives the only thing he can, poetry. This imagery is strong in demonstrating the importance of the poem in comparison to food. Not only was imagery strong in this line it, it is also a metaphor: Thing A = Thing B. The author appears skilled in using both imagery and metaphors in this poem. Consider these lines, “It is a scarf for your head, to wear over your hair, to tie up around your face” (Baca 11-12). The author uses again both imagery and metaphors in this line. He is stating that his poem is as important to his love interest as a “Scarf for your head”, and that it should be valued. The imagery used within this stanza appears to be coordinating with Santiago’s message quite well. The second stanza invokes warm images of kindness, while the third stanza is more mysterious and
There are multiple examples of visual imagery in this poem. An example of a simile is “curled like a possum within the hollow trunk”. The effect this has is the way it creates an image for the reader to see how the man is sleeping. An example of personification is, “yet both belonged to the bush, and now are one”. The result this has is how it creates an emotion for the reader to feel
The poem “ Who understands me but me” by Jimmy Santiago Baca. Is about being locked away in jail because in the poem it repeatedly saying how they take or more specifically “ They stop each hope so I have no passage out hell. Then the poem has a change in outlook it goes from feeling down to looking at the brighter side. It says “I can live
Kim Addonizio’s “First Poem for You” portrays a speaker who contemplates the state of their romantic relationship though reflections of their partner’s tattoos. Addressing their partner, the speaker ambivalence towards the merits of the relationship, the speaker unhappily remains with their partner. Through the usage of contrasting visual and kinesthetic imagery, the speaker revels the reasons of their inability to embrace the relationship and showcases the extent of their paralysis. Exploring this theme, the poem discusses how inner conflicts can be powerful paralyzers.
The next literary device to be discussed is imagery. As previously stated, many sentences could serve as excellent example of imagery, however the sentence that most portrays an idea is on line 40; “The slop was sweet and gold-colored in the afternoon sun.” The line tells you how messy the pie was (slop), and then to tell you exactly what the pie mess looked like, it tells what color it was, and if the environment affected its color (gold-colored…afternoon sun). The idea behind Mr. Soto’s usage of imagery may seem simple, but it makes sure that the point is carried across to the reader.
In Drea Knufken’s essay entitled “Help, We’re Drowning!: Please Pay Attention to Our Disaster,” the horrific Colorado flood is experienced and the reactions of worldly citizens are examined (510-512). The author’s tone for this formal essay seems to be quite reflective, shifting to a tone of frustration and even disappointment. Knufken has a reflective tone especially during the first few paragraphs of the essay. According to Drea Knufken, a freelance writer, ghostwriter and editor, “when many of my out-of-town friends, family and colleagues reacted to the flood with a torrent of indifference, I realized something. As a society, we’ve acquired an immunity to crisis. We scan through headlines without understanding how stories impact people,
Within “Thanatopsis” by William Cullen Bryant, he states “She has a voice of gladness, and a smile/And eloquence of beauty, and she glides/Into his darker musings, with a mild/And healing sympathy (Bryant, 4-6).” The “she” Bryant is referring to is Mother Nature, which makes his statement that nature can take away a man’s pain that much more powerful. By personifying nature, the reader feels as though they can relate to “her” in a different way. A poem that uses powerful metaphors is “The First Snowfall” by James Russell Lowell. Within his poem, he states, “From sheds new-roofed with Carrara/Came Chanticleer’s muffled crow/The stiff rails were softened to swan’s-down/And still fluttered down the snow (Lowell, 9-12).” The line “from sheds new-roofed with Carrara” is referring to how pure and white the snow that had just recently fallen looks. Carrara is an expensive white marble. So, Lowell is comparing expensive items to the snow, which helps put an image of a beautiful snowfall into the reader’s head. By using both personification and metaphors, the reader can relate to the words being said in a completely different way, and thus understand the abstract ideas that the authors are trying to convey in their Romantic
The purpose of this essay is to analyze and compare and contrast the two paired poems “My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning and “My Ex-Husband” by Gabriel Spera to find the similarities presented within the pairs. Despite the monumental time difference between “My Last Duchess” and “My Ex-Husband”, throughout both poems you will see that somebody is wronged by someone they thought was a respectable person and this all comes about by viewing a painting on the wall or picture on a shelf.
Pablo Neruda is using symbolism to compare his love for nature to the love he has for his significant other. His figurative language helps bring the poem to life, by forcing you to use your imagination. In my personal opinion, the more symbolism and sensory details used the better because it holds my interest while reading since poetry is not something I particularly enjoy. There were some lines and stanzas within the poem that stood out to me in particular.
Imagery is a key part of any poem or literary piece and creates an illustration in the mind of the reader by using descriptive and vivid language. Olds creates a vibrant mental picture of the couple’s surroundings, “the red tiles glinting like bent plates of blood/ the
"Poetry is the revelation of a feeling that the poet believes to be interior and personal [but] which the reader recognizes as his own." (Salvatore Quasimodo). There is something about the human spirit that causes us to rejoice in shared experience. We can connect on a deep level with our fellow man when we believe that somehow someone else understands us as they relate their own joys and hardships; and perhaps nowhere better is this relationship expressed than in that of the poet and his reader. For the current assignment I had the privilege (and challenge) of writing an imitation of William Shakespeare’s "Sonnet 87". This poem touched a place in my heart because I have actually given this sonnet to someone before as it then communicated my thoughts and feelings far better than I could. For this reason, Sonnet 87 was an easy choice for this project, although not quite so easy an undertaking as I endeavored to match Shakespeare’s structure and bring out his themes through similar word choice.
The poem “Always Something More Beautiful” by Stephen Dunn is certainly about running a race, but the speaker is also arguing that pursuing something beautiful can help guide us through life. Through the title, we can see that we should constantly look for more beautiful things in life. The poem begins with the speaker describing his experience before a race. He uses words like “best” and “love.” The tone is extremely enthusiastic. In the first line, he talks about coming to the starting place. This can be a metaphor for beginning our lifelong journey. The speaker also implies that we need to approach it with a positive attitude. In the next few lines, the speaker indicates being tested in excellence
Imagery is an important literary device that allows the reader to imagine the scene and for the reader to understand the theme. There are several examples of imagery in the poem. He uses words like air and earth to show the surroundings and to allow readers to put themselves in the scene. More complex
Poetry 247 gives local artist; whether they're poets, singers, rappers, or comedians, information of all the local open mic events that are around them, while also giving them the opportunity to display their art and perfect their craft in front of a live audience. What's interesting about Poetry 247 is that they've promoted a plethora of open mics throughout the tristate area & in the DMV, such as Pecola Breedlove & The Freedom Party, Jus' Words, Busboys and Poets, Sounds In A Gallery, & Urban Juke Joint, but it never had an open mic event that was created by Poetry 247 themselves. But that all changed Friday, 3/4, when the first ever "The Poetry 247 Open Mic" was presented to the city of Brotherly Love at The Irish Pol located at 114 Market St, Philadelphia, PA.
Poems I have read have always given a mental image through there descriptions, metaphors, and symbols. One of things that I find interesting is that many great poets have utilize imagery in their poems to get it across to their readers. Using in-depth descriptions in poetry better depicts to the reader your views. Some of my favorite poems has the best imagery, I was able to imagine the smells and see the backgrounds they describe. I found it amusing how roses are consider such a cliché in poems because when I was little I would always write my poems with “Roses are red, Violets are blue...” now I shall definitely avoid using roses as the theme of my poems. While reading “If the Tabloids Are True What About You” by Matthea Harvey, she gives
The three poets convey the feelings of seriousness, happiness, and failure. In the poem “Simile”, Scott Momaday explains how people and the actions we do are similar to animals in which the comparison was towards deer. In “Moon Rondeau” by Carl Sandburg he illustrates that working together in a relationship, you may be able to accomplish a task and generate a strong bond. In the final poem “Woman” by Nikki Giovanni she displays how one may want to grow and be someone special to your significant other but they may not care of what their other may want. The three poets are illustrating the theme of humans being similar to animals in which case they either work together or they just ignore each other within the literary similarities and differences of the three poems.