Shirley Geok-lin Lim is the author of the poem “Learning to love America”, written in 1998. Ms. Lim was originally from Malacca, Malaysia. She did not come to America until after college. Her poem was written to explain what it means to develop an attachment to an adopted country and she uses comparisons such as the attachment between a mother and her children. This helps us understand how attached she truly was feeling, because the attachment between a mother and her children is generally strong. This poet helps us understand her poem by her use of simple language, the tone she gives the author, and her use of repetition. This poem uses simple language, which are words that are easily understood, but still packs different layers of meaning
The language of the poem holds five of the eight languages to poetry. Allegory, personification, symbols, figures, and metaphors. In the beginning of the poem she uses Allegory, Personification and a metaphor. “Allegory- related symbols working together with characters, events, or settings representing ideas or moral qualities” (Sporre). Paula compares the silence in the air to describe how clear the air was. Going on to using personification and a metaphor, “Peaks rise above me like the Gods. That is where they live, the old people say.” Personification is the figure of speech in which abstract qualities, animals, or inanimate objects take into many forms of literature (Sporre). Metaphors, are figures of speech by which new implications are given to words. Metaphors are implied but not explicit comparisons (Sporre). She goes on to imply that the Gods lives above us in the peaks, that’s where the old people say that they live. Using Symbols, “Which is critical to poetry, which uses compressed language to express, and carry us into its meaning (Sporre).” Ending the first line she writes “I listen and I heard”. Going on to explain how she heard the voice in the wind and by giving us the emotion of that feeling set the understanding of what the poem was all about. Following the next line Paula uses a form of Imagery. A verbal representation of objects, feelings, or ideas can be literal or figurative. figurative imagery involves a change in
The essence of this poem is the author’s mastery of sound and rhythm and his excellent use of figurative language. Richard Wilbur purposely chose words that have few a syllables and require little to no change in mouth size and tongue movements to appease to the reader when read aloud. There is an ABAB rhythm scheme
The poem is written in the style of free verse. The poet chooses not to separate the poem into stanzas, but only by punctuation. There is no rhyme scheme or individual rhyme present in the poem. The poems structure creates a personal feel for the reader. The reader can personally experience what the narrator is feeling while she experiences stereotyping.
The poem told the story of a man who is inhibited by language, and has never quite had the ability to articulate his thoughts and feeling through words. It is said that his family members have tried
In the short story “America and I” by Anzia Yezierska, the author talks about a girl who came to America looking for the “American dream” and also trying to escape from Russia, which she calls prison. This nameless girl feels “beaten out of [her heart],” suffocated in Russia, like she couldn’t get out of her impoverished lifestyle there. She tried to adjust to living in America because she’s from a different culture and environment and she asks many questions to help herself out but then she realizes that she is not an American and never will be. She ends up working with a Russian family as a servant. Then, later on she worked in a sweatshop and got fired. She had low thoughts about
TRIANGLE The Fire that Changed America by David Von Drehle The book, TRIANGLE The Fire that Changed America, written by David Von Drehle, is set in New York City primarily in the tenements of the Lower East Side and in Greenwich Village. The story provides a detailed account of life as an immigrant during the early 1900s, the garment workers strikes, the corrupt political structure of the time, several eye witness accounts of the blaze that killed 146, the missing safety procedures that could have saved them, the trial that attempted to bring the owners to justice and finally the political change and work force standards that came about as a result of the tragic event. The book begins by describing participants in a garment industry strike and how any form of challenge to the authority, the factory owners, would be handled. He describes the money-driven political corruption that allowed the owners to thwart any upheaval by sending out the muscles of the not-so-underworld to beat the strikers, women included.
The informal language and intimacy of the poem are two techniques the poet uses to convey his message to his audience. He speaks openly and simply, as if he is talking to a close friend. The language is full of slang, two-word sentences, and rambling thoughts; all of which are aspects of conversations between two people who know each other well. The fact that none of the lines ryhme adds to the idea of an ordinary conversation, because most people do not speak in verse. The tone of the poem is rambling and gives the impression that the speaker is thinking and jumping from one thought to the next very quickly.
The United States is known as the “land of the free” attracting many immigrants to achieve the “American Dream” with the promise of equal opportunity for all. However, many groups, whose identities differed from the dominant American ideology, discovered this “American dream” to be a fantasy. In the 1960s, movements for civil rights in the United States of America included efforts to end private and public acts of racial discrimination against groups of disadvantaged people. Despite the efforts made to empower the disadvantaged groups, racialization and class differences prevailed leading to social inequality. The novel My Beloved World is an autobiography written by Sonia Sotomayor illustrating her early life, education, and career path, explaining the unresolved contradictions of American history and how they continue on in society. Prejudice against certain socioeconomic classes and races prevented equal opportunity. Sotomayor’s text explicates the racialization and class differences that many Puerto Ricans experience while pursuing a higher education, revealing the contradictions between the American promise of equal opportunity and discrimination against Puerto Ricans.
Americans schools have a tendency to try to reform certain parts in one’s school but chooses to ignore what’s being reformed. Although, once Americans schools do reform it would make it a lot easier for the one who is willing to learn to get the education they need. In the essay “Let’s Really Reform Our Schools” by Anita Garland. Garland explains that there needs to be changes in Americans schools. Garland mentions that Americans school are coming to a disaster and they are in trouble. Their needs to be changes in Americans schools to improve one’s education. For starters, the attendance should not be mandatory for the ones that do not attend. Next, the cafeteria food is revolting and needs to be changed. Last, having that huge dance so called
to the powerful imagery she weaves throughout the first half of the poem. In addition, Olds
Many individuals have been affected negatively by trouble makers in school. Troublemakers have either disrupted classes or bullied other students. Yes, trouble makers may harm one’s learning environment, but should they be kicked out of school? Though many individuals argue that troublemakers will not change and hold the class down, they should not be kicked out because they need help. Most of these kids that are disobedient do not know the distinction between right and wrong. We should not withdraw trouble makers from school, rather, we should help these troublemakers and teach them right from wrong. In the article “Let’s Really Reform Our Schools” by Anita Garland, she states that American high schools are disasters because there are troublemakers (694). She asserts that the withdrawal of troublemakers in schools would make the learning environment peaceful for students who want to learn
He uses powerful imagery and onomatopoeia to achieve the desired effects that make the poem more realistic. All this combined together produces effective thought provoking ideas and with each read, I gradually get an improved understanding and appreciation of the poem.
... since it deals with the growth of the mind. Therefore, the poet uses syntax and form to emphasize on the important matters that occurred in each stanza.
The writer used rhymed the poem which makes it interesting. The vocabulary is simple. The poem is written in the free verse. He uses declarative sentences.
According to Cambridge Dictionary, the definition of “culture” is “the way of life, especially the general customs and beliefs, of a particular group of people at a particular time”. On the other hand, accroding to Raymond Williams, it is more complicated. However, ther is something that is certain: Culture is ordinary, which happens to be the title of an article he wrote to define and explain what culture is.