For A Girl Becoming Poem Analysis

The poem, For a Girl Becoming, comes from a young adult book of the same name that Joy Harjo wrote in 2009. The poet, who was born in Oklahoma, and is a member of Mvskoke Nation and pulls from their rich cultural heritage in her poetry. The poem For a Girl Becoming was included in an book of poetry titled: Poetry Speaks: who I am. This poem spoke to me in multiple ways. For example, I connected to the theme of growth and maturity. The title leaves open the possibility of what the girl is becoming. All the reader knows is that she is leaving one place for another. In this way, the poem can relate to many children across the globe, because we all experience the feeling of growth everyday. Our bodies are growing, but we also approach things in different ways as we meet each new day. This is true for me, people in my family, and people all around the world. While the title of the poem references a girl, as does the dedication, the message of the poem applies to everyone, especially as they are growing up and “becoming” someone in the world.This poem has affected my life, even though I have just known it for a week. It made sense to write about it because it can mean so many things, fit many different stories, and speak to anyone going through this process of growth, maturity and adventure.

The author explains the journey of

I have started to like poetry a lot because of this poem, it has showed me that poetry does not always have to be in similar stanzas with a average rhyme scheme, it has changed everything i have known because of its format, it has a very confusing non-repetitive outline which makes it not at all similar to most other poems i have read. As Well, being a letter the poem has some demands which take up only two words and then there are some that take up seven to eight lines. these types of out of the ordinary poems pull me in and make my thoughts on poetry a lot more