ipl-logo

Poem Analysis: The Cities Inside Us

668 Words3 Pages

Every moment, every experience, and every single person that someone has come into contact with has affected them and has caused them to be the person they are today. Alberto Ríos grasps this concept through his poem "The Cities Inside Us" by using an extended metaphor and having no rhyme scheme. Alberto Ríos was born in the city of Nogales, Arizona and raised by his parents being half Mexican and half British. Alberto's own personal experiences as growing up in a half Mexican and half British household have influenced the topics of his poems and the different ways he writes them. Having one foot in each culture growing up has definitely helped develop him as a person and a poet. He focuses many of his poems around the different aspects that …show more content…

The metaphor is comparing the building of a person's personality to the building of a city. "We are the secret citizens of the city" and "Inside us, and inside us" are the lines where Ríos is most clearly comparing the human mind to a city. The experiences that we have and people that we meet act as the bricks for our own internal city. Over the course of our lives everything adds up and creates this intricate city that is our thoughts and personality. Everything being moments, people, places, and experiences. "This is where they went. They did not disappear." is saying how nothing in our life really leaves us, it is just stored away in our memories. The faces that we see and signs that we read are not forgotten just placed away in out memory. Cities as well do not disappear. They could slow down or become less busy but the city itself does not go away. The last portion of the extended metaphor says "We have to hope that some of that sound does not come out, that an arm does not reach out in place of the tongue". Ríos is saying how everyone is different but our differences should not start fights. From the beginning to the end of the poem the metaphor is extended. It gives the reader a better understanding of what Ríos is trying to compare and what message he is trying to

Show More
Related
88 Words | 1 Pages

In the poem “Green Chili” by Jimmy Santiago Baca the author shows us how he uses culture, identity and family to describe the poems importance to him. The way Baca uses culture is by stating that New Mexico is full of green and red chili. He also uses culture by naming all of the foods that are most commonly eaten in New Mexico. How Baca uses identity to describe the poems importance is by describing the tanned New Mexicans and his grandmother's appearance over the stove. He als

Read More
1800 Words | 8 Pages

In the opening line of “Small Town with One Road”, Soto uses the pronoun “we” which forces the reader to be more emotionally intrigued by the poem than a third party observer (Davis). This writing technique is a crucial aspect to what makes his poems so powerful. By compelling the reader to see the perspective of an impoverished Latino boy for a moment, he/she can more fully understand why it can be so hard to get out of the cycle of the town. His writing takes the reader to what Soto’s own childhood was like so that Soto’s message of acceptance and civil justice is more widely understandable and accepted (“Gary

Read More
938 Words | 4 Pages

Jose Olivarez uses structure in his poem to highlight that a lack of power can help you to grow and change a person in unexpected ways. The author talks about how he wished he could speak

Read More
1578 Words | 7 Pages

“Oranges,” “The Seventieth Year,” and “Avocado Lake,” showcase Soto’s ability to move a reader using an emotional story without the use of rhyme or rhythm. Through Soto’s poetry, he indicates the traits that define Mexican-American community

Read More
389 Words | 2 Pages

Whitman's autobiographical writing style was well-known, and many of his poems are inspired by his personal life. Similar

Read More
629 Words | 3 Pages

In Rodolfo Gonzales' poem “I am Joaquin”, Gonazales writes to raise awareness of the struggles of Chicano people during the Chicano movement in the 1960s. He discusses the issues that have ceased the Chicano people from earning equality in America. Throughout the poem, Gonzales’ uses the tactic of comparing opposing objects through extended metaphors to illustrate that he is both the oppressor and the oppressed. On many occasions you can see Gonzales’ using the technique of repetition and extended metaphors to solidify the fact that as a Chicano man he is both the oppressor and the oppressed.

Read More
1167 Words | 5 Pages

He begins with expressing his definition of multiculturalism and becoming his own culture in his personal life living in Los Angeles. Rodriguez is an American with Hispanic heritage, but claims to be Chinese since he lives in a suburb in Los Angeles, predominantly with Chinese heritage. “I think the adventure of living in a multi-racial, multi-ethnic America leaves one vulnerable to a variety of cultures, a variety of influences. Consider me, for example, Chinese. I am also Irish” (Rodriguez 730).

Read More
1122 Words | 5 Pages

Her choice of words in the first line “Like San Antonio, bronze in the face, white sky…” are a description of her Hispanic/ Mexican American community that she grew up in. This line also helps detail the diversity and beauty that is within her hometown of San Antonio. The use of the word “nopal”, is used to showcase an important staple of the Mexican heritage. Guerrero can resemble with a nopal, because just like her, they are able to adapt and survive in all kinds of environments no matter the circumstances. This symbolizes that you can achieve anything you set your mind to, no matter who you are or where you are from.

Read More
382 Words | 2 Pages

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.

Read More
1127 Words | 5 Pages

In the poem “You bring out the Mexican in me” by Sandra Cisneros, she begins to create a close relation with the reader by addressing the nameless lover as “you”. As Cisneros begins to utilize amplification by repeating “you” in every stanza; she makes an emphasis of the importance that the nameless lover has over her. To begin, by reading the title “You bring out the Mexican in me,” it can be interpreted that the deep emotions of passion that are perhaps hidden, are inevitably brought out to the light by the nameless lover. In the first stanza the word in italics “lagrimas” written in Spanish, translation in English for “tears,” makes the emphasis on the emotional aspect of crying for love.

Read More
989 Words | 4 Pages

The poem A Step Away From Them by Frank O’Hara has five stanzas written in a free verse format with no distinguishable rhyme scheme or meter. The poem uses the following asymmetrical line structure “14-10-9-13-3” while using poetic devices such as enjambment, imagery, and allusion to create each stanza. A Step Away From Them occurs in one place, New York City. We know this because of the lines, “On/ to Times Square, / where the sign/blows smoke over my head” (13-14) and “the Manhattan Storage Warehouse.”

Read More
567 Words | 3 Pages

Get on the bus and join the movement towards appreciating poetry. Join author of Poetry Should Ride the Bus, Ruth Forman in making poetry an everyday thing. Poetry should be familiar to everyone and looked at as a mundane concept. Society should be able to use poetry as a benefit to their lives on a regular basis. Unfortunately, poetry isn’t appreciated as much as it should be.

Read More
463 Words | 2 Pages

In the end, the poem “Identity” by Julio Noboa Polanco talks about how it’s good to be unique, to be yourself. Julio Noboa Polanco uses the literary devices of alliteration, simile, and repetition. I think the message of the poem reflects certain things that happen in life. Like people can be someone but not

Read More
1054 Words | 5 Pages

In the poem “To live in the Borderlands means you”, the borderlands become a place of change, such as changing from just one culture or race into a diverse culture or race and not-belonging. (Singh, A., & Schmidt, P. 2000). The poem describes how the author’s own background ethnicity people, mixicanas, identifies people like her, chicanas, as “split or mixture that means to betray your word and they deny “Anlo inside you.” (Anzaldua, F. 1987). The poem describes that the borderland is a place of contradiction, such as of home not being a home.

Read More
869 Words | 4 Pages

“On the Subway,” written by Sharon Olds, is written from the perspective of what is presumed to be an upper class white woman, who finds herself on a subway with a lower class black boy. In “On the Subway”, Olds focuses on the controversial issue of racial conflict, and the theme of White v. Black. She does so by use of contrast between whites and blacks, by using harsh enjambments, powerful imagery, and by using the tone to convey the purpose. A major strategy used by Olds throughout the poem is contrast; in this case, the contrast between blacks and whites.

Read More

More about Poem Analysis: The Cities Inside Us

Related Topics

Open Document