ipl-logo

Natasha Trethewey's 'Out, Out'

628 Words3 Pages

Poems can be difficult to understand. If readers would learn the different literary devices, what they are, and how they are used in poems, they will have a better understanding of the poems they read. Learning how to pick out the meaning of a poem and the tone of a poem go hand in hand in understanding what the poem is about. There are two meanings to a poem, which causes confusion for readers. The first meaning, is the total meaning. The total meaning is the overall concept of experience. The second meaning, is the prose meaning. The prose meaning is what can be understood and paraphrased. The tone of the poem is the emotional meaning that displays the poets attitude toward the topic or audience. The meaning of the poem “Out, Out” by Robert Frost is about a young boy that is using a buzz saw and ends up cutting his hand off. In result, the young boy dies. The family seems to not care and just goes back to their affairs. Robert Frost wrote a lot about war, this poem could also have a meaning about war. Young boys were sent off to war and often died. The soldiers would have to keep …show more content…

This poem was quite easier to understand. The meaning of this poem is to give the readers a history lesson about segregation and how things do change over time but some things remain the same. This is shown through the photograph of the Grandmother and the photograph of the young girl. They both were taken on the beautiful Mississippi beach, which remained the same. The Grandmothers were taken during segregation where she had to stand on a narrow plot of sand labeled colored. The young girls were taken after the beach was opened to everyone and there was no longer a segregation, which shows the readers things do change over time. The tone of the poet seems to be happy and peaceful. The poet tells about the characters smiling and being on the beautiful beach and how there is no longer

Show More
Related
940 Words | 4 Pages

She is reminded of the violence that torn not only communities apart but families as well. How the social norms of the day restricted people’s lives and held them in the balance of life and death. Her grandfathers past life, her grandmother cultural silence about the internment and husband’s affair, the police brutality that cause the death of 4 young black teenagers. Even her own inner conflicts with her sexuality and Japanese heritage. She starts to see the world around her with a different

Read More
563 Words | 3 Pages

The first section deals with hard headed African American women. Using prominent historical figures like Rosa Parks and Condoleezza Rice to help push the narrative along. The first poem in the section was “Red Velvet” in which she narrates the struggle of one one seamstress that became an important figurehead of a movement. She goes from there to poems about victims of hurricane Katrina in “Left” and finishing off the section with some choice words about George W. Bush in “Plunder” and one of the people under his command in the “Condoleezza Suite”. all the poems in this section

Read More
1265 Words | 6 Pages

The question of why someone would write about a wheelbarrow, what could it possibly mean, and what was the writer trying to capture when they wrote the poem, all come to mind. The same could be said for “Blurry Cow” (swapping in a wheelbarrow for some cows, of course), however, after pondering these questions a conclusion or interpretation can be made. Not to say that someone could not create some interpretation of, “The Red Wheelbarrow”, but it would be far more difficult than creating an interpretation of, “Blurry Cow”. A difficult to interpret poem does not necessarily make for a good, or even decent poem. Conversely, a poem that is too easily interpreted does not always make for a good poem.

Read More
1228 Words | 5 Pages

Poetry is an important part of literature which conveys an author 's ideas across to the reader through the use of descriptive language. Poetry helps an author to express their inner emotions and often incorporates various poetic devices which enriches the text. Poetry gives the reader a different perspective and when read closely, can give the audience a look into the authors imagination. Likewise, poetic devices enhance the writing and can drastically change the mood of the poem, as well as, how the reader interprets the poem. Poetic devices are important in literature because they help to convey a message, add spontaneity to a poem, and give the reader a strong visual.

Read More
498 Words | 2 Pages

Natasha's poem just reveals to the audience of how racism back then influenced some of the black youth living in that

Read More
764 Words | 4 Pages

In the novel, August and her sisters allow Lilly and Rosaleen to stay at their house. This small act of kindness changed Lilly’s point of view of African Americans and her point of view of her

Read More
686 Words | 3 Pages

The tone of the poem “Tableau” is bold and careless. In lines nine and ten, Cullen says that the African American boy is “Oblivious to look and work/ They pass, and see no wonder.” The poet means that the white boys do not pay attention to the blacks walking along side them and do not realize the potential the black kids have. This connects to the theme because The tone of the poem “Incident” shifts throughout the poem. At the beginning of the poem the tone is hopeful and optimistic but, at the end of the poem the tone shifts to depressed and upset.

Read More
490 Words | 2 Pages

This story is about racial segregation in Jackson, Mississippi. The beginning of the story was quick-paced but not rushed due to Aibileen’s descriptive narration. Her words set the scene for the book so the readers could understand the era the novel took place in. Although the conflict wasn’t immediately addressed, it became more prominent throughout the story. There are several characters that are relatable, like Minny, a sassy, colored maid who found a creative way to take revenge on her former white employer, Miss Hilly.

Read More
635 Words | 3 Pages

The interpretation of poetry is an active process in which the reader discovers the pleasure of understanding what the poem means to him or

Read More
521 Words | 3 Pages

Jacqueline Woodson’s Brown Girl Dreaming is a delicate collection of poems based off her childhood in Ohio, South Carolina, and New York. She refers to the various places as home, but specifies that she does not know where home truly is. In the short poems, she shares her experience as an African American child in the 60s and 70s and how the civil rights movement, marches, and the Revolution affected her family. While each poem is childlike and emotionally driven, Woodson’s persona as a narrator remains the same as the poems themselves search for her belonging. Through-out her reflections, she begins as the baby of the family, who remains the “other” Woodson girl, until she finds her inner passion for words and writing.

Read More
1075 Words | 5 Pages

A poem is a literary work that expresses ideas, thoughts, and beliefs written by the author. They can be written, sung, and spoken to get one’s opinion across. The beauty of poetry is that it is so diverse. Since it can be expressed in more than one way, it can also be interpreted in many different ways. Robert Frost in the poem, “The Road Not Taken” and James Bay in his song, “Let it Go” express their ideas in two different ways.

Read More
1357 Words | 6 Pages

What is the situation of the speaker or the speaker’s story? How does this situation or speaker contribute to the ideas of the poem? What is the tone/attitude of the poem in relation to its subject? What emotions are expressed or implied? Where is the poem using vivid or concrete details to help us picture the subject conveyed?

Read More
409 Words | 2 Pages

Poetry is a very unique type of writing. Poetry allows people to express their emotions in a way they feel comfortable. Every poem has a meaning to it, whether it is talking about food, interest, or a moment in their lives. Readers often mistake the poet as the narrator, although in many cases this is true. Many poets are the narrators and the poems are about their personal life.

Read More
811 Words | 4 Pages

I see poems like riddles, that readers try to figure out, and interpret in their own way. Writers tend to write in code, they write in a way that can be interpreted as many things, and it’s all about how the reader understands it and to me that is so interesting. There are two things specifically to me that help a writer hide the true meaning of the piece, and that is symbolism and figurative language. Symbolism is so important in poetry because it allows the writer to tell a story without outright saying it. Symbolism helps hide the true meaning, however figurative language helps the reader get a better understanding of what the author is describing.

Read More
1215 Words | 5 Pages

Contrasting images are used between the beginning and end of the poem. At first, the speaker is described as standing on a “wide strip of the Mississippi beach,” (Trethewey l. 2) while her grandmother is standing on a “narrow plot of sand.” It symbolizes the freedom the speaker now compared to the confinement and limited opportunities her grandmother experienced. Natasha Trethewey uses mood, symbolism, and

Read More

More about Natasha Trethewey's 'Out, Out'

Related Topics

Open Document