I have chosen the poem titled Oxygen by Mary Oliver, found on page 373 in the Meyer text for first analysis. This poem is essential about someone who is seriously ill, however, the tone is rather appreciative and hopeful. In line 5-6, the individual–might be the author herself– kneels by the fire, and this may connect to the fuel that is keeping her partner alive. The burning logs correlates to the life within her partner, that as long as they burn, he will be kept alive. The oxygen fuels the fire burning and also keeps her man alive; however, he is ill and “in his usual position, leaning on his shoulder.”
These lines in the poem help show the readers how the author and his brother had a good relationship relationship with their mother and had cared about her to get “good quality” food. To sum it up, the use of connotation in this story was to help the readers understand how the author felt throughout the
A variety of issues are examined in Dawe’s poetry, most of which, aren’t uniquely Australian. In ‘The Wholly Innocent’, the poet utilises the narrator being an unborn baby to express their opinion on abortion. The emotive language; “defenceless as a lamb” and comparisons of abortion to “genocide”, all turn this poem into a type of activism, for pro-life; a concept that is certainly not uniquely Australian; as abortion is only legal (on request) in 4 states and territories. These issues aren’t always directly referenced in Dawe’s poetry, much like in ‘The Family Man’, which chooses to explore suicide and it’s effect. The man who killed himself had no name - he was just a statistic, that had “all qualifications blown away with a trigger’s touch”.
In Eugenia W. Collier’s short story “Marigolds”, Lizabeth and her family experience an external conflict against society when the Great Depression’s burdens fall onto them, creating both emotional and financial stress; in this, Collier reveals that external struggle may lead to reckless actions. Early on, Lizabeth describes poverty as “...the cage in which [her family] was trapped…”, alluding to her desire to be free from the bars of impoverishment (Collier 126). Towards the climax in the story, Lizabeth hears her father crying about his inability to support his family without a steady income, which leads to her “...feelings [combining] in one great impulse toward destruction” (Collier 126). In this, Collier projects the idea that strenuous
One generally invites one’s friends to dinner, unless one is trying to get on the good side of enemies or employers. We’re quite particular about those with whom we break bread.” (Foster, 9) Through the breaking of bread, or in this case the laborious cleaning, cooking, and finally the eating of chitlins is representative of a communion, between the almost sacred bonds between a mother and her daughter. Throughout the exposition of the short story, we constantly see that the other members of her family reject the chitlins for being “country” or smelling strange.
Poem Analysis The poem “Tableau” by Countee Cullen is about two boys of different skin color walking arm in arm defying society at the time. The theme of this poem is filled with the idea of unity and change for the better good, for example “that lightning brilliant as a sword should blaze the path of thunder” (Cullen) is a metaphoric meaning, meaning that the future of this generation will break the barrier of the past to form a path of unity and equality another example is “from lowered blinds the dark folk stare and here the fair folk talk, Indignant theses two should dare in unison to walk, Oblivious to look and word they pass and see no wonder” (Cullen) and imagery example vividly describing how the people disapprove of these two boys
Moody described her economic status and states, “Often when Mama didn’t have enough money for food she would sneak out at night and take enough [food from Mrs. Cook] to last us a week” (Moody 33). The quote above opens a door of empathy toward Moody and her family and what circumstances her mother faced in order to feed the family. Food was a symbol in the autobiography to emphasize Moody’s struggles sleeping at night hungry, but continuing overcome obstacles to get a higher. Further along in the book Moody described how her mother “could not afford a loaf of bread” but instead would “buy ten pounds of flour” and make biscuits for their lunch (Moody 38).
The kids are hungry all the time. We got no clothes, torn an' ragged. If all the neighbors weren't the same, we'd be ashamed to go to meeting.” (Pg 33). Farmers are trying to reason with the landowners, their whole community is out of money and are struggling to make a living.
How would you feel if someone could control what you were thinking? In “The Feed” written by M.T Anderson, everyone living in the community had a feed in their brain that was controlled by one large organization. Violet, the main character, suffers through a malfunction in her feed that changes the way she sees her society. Most people’s opinions can be changed when they have experienced the benefits and the disadvantages of something. Since Violet is aware of how life is with and without the feed, she becomes hesitant to believing that her community is being run efficiently.
The Dash Poem People tend to think about death a few times; it’s inevitable. They play out different scenarios of how it could occur. What doesn’t cross their mind is everything they have or haven’t done with their lives. “The Dash” by Linda Ellis, gives an awakening and a realization that one has the ability to change.
The poem I will be analyzing will be “Uncoiling” by Pat Mora. The theme the author is portraying is the personification of a tornado . It has a dark/fearful/grim tone as she describes the storm that is accruing. The author is using similes, and personification to convey the theme. The very first figurative language used in the poem is personification.
Author Erica Funkhouser’s speaker, the child of the farm laborer, sets the tone in “My Father’s Lunch,” through their narrative recount of the lunch traditions set by their father preceding the end of a hard days worth of work. The lunch hour was a reward that the children anticipated; “for now he was ours” (14). The children are pleased by the felicity of the lunch, describing the “old meal / with the patina of a dream” (38-39) and describing their sensibilities as “provisional peace” (45). Overall, the tone of the poem is one of a positive element, reinforced by gratitude.
Julia Alvarez’s poem, “Dusting,” is told from the perspective of a women looking back at herself as a child. In the poem, the speaker is addressing how her mother and her childhood self, differed. The speaker is itching to spread her thoughts through words while her mother does the exact opposite by erasing herself or keeping anonymous. In the literal sense, the main conflict between the speaker and the mother is that the speaker writes anywhere and everywhere she can, while the mother follows behind cleaning off all the marks.
Each culture requires her to be flexible in her time to be able to do each tradition that she is expected to do. In one of her culture she has to eat on their traditional plates where she has “to put Chile in the same borscht, eat whole wheat tortillas, speak Tex-Mex with a Brooklyn accent: be stopped by la migra at the border checkpoints”(stanza 4). The poet decides to use food as a way to illustrate the difficulties of having 5 different cultures to live on or to practice. The mixing of the racial groups can have a big affect on the person who has to live in this
The main idea of William Carlos Williams’ poem “This Is Just to Say” is a statement saying, there were plums in an icebox, the narrator saw them, ate them, which they knew belonged to someone else, who was going to save them for breakfast. This is a simple poem to understand. The contents of the poem get straight to the point. If anyone breaks the poem down, they can easily interpret it. “I have eaten the plums that were in the icebox”.
