How Does Naomi Shihab Nye Use Imagery In The Traveling Onion

Contemporary poet, Naomi Shihab Nye, illustrates the modern time period from 1985 to present in her poem, “The Traveling Onion” using imagery, symbolism, and personification to capture the diversity of culture in America. In her poem, Nye wrote, “the way the knife enters onion/and the onion falls apart on the chopping block,/a history revealed.” This quote illustrates the imagery Nye uses in order to create an image in the reader’s head that may have never been thought thoroughly before and can evoke a new perspective of onions, which are used in many cultural dishes. Nye also wrote, “And I will never scold the onion/for causing tears./It is right that tears fall/for something small and forgotten.” in which the onion can symbolize immigrants that fall into

Dickinson wrote in her poem, “We passed the School…/…/We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain-/We passed the Setting Sun-“ In this quote, the School would represent childhood, the Fields of Gazing Grain would represent adulthood, since it is grown and than harvested, and finally the Setting Sun represents growing older, which is the final prominent landmark Death and the speaker pass. This emphasizes Dickinson’s perception of how life passes by quickly and how death is reached. Dickinson also write, “For Only Gossamer, my Gown-/My Tippet-Only Tulle-“ This quote uses words such as “Gossamer”, which means fine like cobwebs;“Tippet”, meaning a scarf women wear; and “Tulle”, which is silk, in order to embody funeral attire which adds on to her thematic message of death being a peaceful experience. Dickinson included in her poem, “I first surmised the Horses’ Heads/Were toward Eternity-“ in which she concludes her poem with the speaker leaving the reader to interpret what death really