Jimmy Santiago Baca is an ex-convict turned poem writer. During his stay in prison, he developed a love for poetry and literature. This poem, “Cloudy Days” was written to show his strength in the face of adversity and hardship, both in and out of the prison. That strength is something he’s needed all his life since his abandonment from his parents and grandmother, through the U.S. prison system, and after, in getting back on his feet. Through the use of metaphors and repetition, Jimmy Santiago Baca effectively conveys this. Repetition is shown multiple times throughout Baca’s poem and is generally used to convey disbelief and hope. In stanza six Baca writes, “Sometimes it is such a dream, a dream, where I stand up in the face of the
When you think of poetry the last thing that pops in your head is this could save lives, but in Rob Baker’s “Jimmy Santiago Baca: Poetry as Lifesaver” he claims that poetry is more tha just a form of writing, it can save lives. Baker used Jimmy Baca’s life to drive his main point in his essay. Jimmys life changed “many times in his life” (893) Baker used these points in his life to display how poetry and writing can change lives. Bacas life had a rough start.
Jimmy Santiago Baca’s Self Revelation Through Poetry A man with nothing to lose could be considered more dangerous than a man with everything to gain. The back and forth, up and down, side to side story of Jimmy Santiago Baca’s life shows that a man fighting for survival yearns more than a man fighting for simple possessions. Prison takes a toll on people differently, but those people have to accept the fact that jail is now their home for the time being. Some may continue along the beaten path, consuming themselves with regret, anger, or denial; but, some may seek a smoother path, digging deep and figuring out how to modify their lives for the better.
During the poem “Hard Rock Returns to Prison from the Hospital for the Criminal Insane” by Etheridge Knight, the inmates spoke very highly of all the bad things Hard Rock has done in prison. Hard Rock was known strictly for his violent behavior. When he returned from the hospital to the prison the atmosphere began to change right before the inmates’ eyes. Hard rock was no longer that powerful source that the inmates could depend on. His mind had been instructed to present pleasant behavior.
The poem I have chose is called “who understand me but me” the name author is Jimmy Santiago Baca. To me this seems like some that was in jail and got out. I also this this story can be about a man that just go locked up and he is reminding him of what is it is like on the outside. I also think that can be about a man who is in jail and feel like he has know one to talk you. It can be one of those there idea’s.
After encountering life in prison, he became a heroin addict. Through harsh experiences, Piñero became highly influenced his poetry. Piñero establishes pathos by using the words “I” and “sin” to evoke strong emotion. To make the reader fully understand his point of view, Piñero incorporates small clips of his experiences to illustrate his licentious life of petty crime.
In today's world, many people are very ungrateful for their current state they are in and complain without taking any action, only adding negativity to their lives. In the slam poem "Complainers" by Rudy Francisco, it demonstrates that one's constant focus on negativity and complaints towards life with no action results in failure to recognize the joys life has to offer. Throughout the slam poem, the author makes effective use of allusion, metaphor, and repetition to inspire and encourage readers to make positive changes in their lives and to strive towards self-improvement. Firstly, the author uses allusion to draw on the reader's pre-existing knowledge of the subject matter and establish the context of the discussion. " May 26th 2003 Aron Ralston was hiking, a boulder fell on his right hand.
During the time Baca was in prison, he taught himself to read and write. He then realized that he had a talent for poetry. His poetry consists of “rich imagery and lyrical language” (Jimmy). “Baca unlike a growing number of “prison writers” who injects their
People of any and every background face difficulties. Many people do not even know how many people support and care for them. For example, when a family's house in a community burns down, it is reassuring to see their neighbors, friends, family, and even strangers, come together in order to protect and help the family in a time of need. In Naomi Shihab Nye’s poem “Shoulders,” she shows just how important protecting loved ones is. “Shoulders” is about a father who needs to protect his son from the rain in order to let him sleep.
Julia Alvarez, in her poem “’Poetry Makes Nothing Happen’?”, writes that poems do play a role in people’s lives. She supports her idea by using relateable examples of how poems might change someone’s life. Her first example is simple, poetry can entertain someone on long drives. This does not only aply to long dirves however, Alvarez uses this to show that poetry does not have to have a big influence on someone’s life, instead it can affect a person in the smallest of ways, such as entertainment. The second example describes poetry comforting someone after the loss of a loved one.
For different people, comparable situations do not always reproduce the same end results or leave the same impressions. Rather, the resulting conclusion is often highly variable. As is the case of two labors featured in the poems, My Father’s Lunch” and “The life of a Digger”. While Erica Funkhouser’s speaker, Henry, experiences injustice and lack of reward for his hard labor in “The Life of a Digger,” Margarita Engle’s speaker experiences prosperity and remuneration for their father’s hard work in “My Father’s Lunch.” Each author uses the setting of a laboring man’s lunch break to demonstrate the ramifications of a hard day’s work and the rewards or lack thereof for their efforts.
Poetry Analysis Once the poem “History Lesson” was written numerous poetry foundations celebrated it for many reasons. “History Lesson” not only makes an impact on literature today it has also impacted people also. This poem inspires people and moves them to the point to where they can find a personal connection to the poem itself and to the writer. Not only does it hold emotional value for those who were victimized and those whose family were victimized by the laws of segregation, but the poem is also celebrated for its complexity. The poem uses many techniques to appeal to the reader.
Arna Bontemps had written many poems, out of all the poetry he had written three famous poems one of those poems is called “Day-breakers”. His poem Day-Breakers express the African American rich history thought the community. His poem expresses its history from beginning of slavery and their freedom later on though out the years. Bontemps poem had a reflection on the bravery and valiance that African American people in Harlem had during that time. The overall tone of the poem is bold and courageous, the tone speaks for the emotions for the African American
The poet slave describes the life of a boy as a slave. She puts the book into many little poems describing how he was kept like a pet and shows how people were treated back then. “Now my owner is ghostly inside her skeleton of powder but I, being only a poodle, can watch I am allowed to know these truths about shadow and light”(The Poet Slave of Cuba).This quote shows how broken he was at the time. It also shows how many were treated at this time to make the reader realize just how hard times were.this book impacted the history part of Cuban past times.
‘Morning Rain’ by Hisaye Yamamoto and ‘Chang’ by Sigrid Nunez are short stories in the center of which remains a father – daughter relationship motif. It is not a very common topic in Asian American literature, and according to Wong and Santa Ana its representation in a literary texts is ‘a fairly recent phenomenon.’ Both Yamamoto and Nunez are creating the picture of the fathers through the eyes of their daughters. In these short stories, the children are discovering various parts of their dads’ identities by looking at their words and silences. The latter aspect of their behaviour becomes especially important, in understanding the true selves of the fathers, as they are an extremely quiet characters.
Poetry is an effective means used to convey a variety of emotions, from grief, to love, to empathy. This form of text relies heavily on imagery and comparison to inflict the reader with the associated feelings. As such, is displayed within Stephen Dunn 's, aptly named poem, Empathy. Quite ironically, Dunn implores strong diction to string along his cohesive plot of a man seeing the world in an emphatic light. The text starts off by establishing the military background of the main protagonist, as he awaits a call from his lover in a hotel room.