Since the dawn of time, people have been longing for different reasons. Some examples are for love, for peace, or even maybe longing for the chance to go back to their family roots. This cycle of human emotion will never end and that is why numerous poems are written for expression of these repressed feelings. One example of an expression of repression is the beautiful poem “Upon Hearing Tagalog” by Fatima Lim-Wilson. The poem’s tone, word-choice, and even the figurative language used contribute to the concrete expression of this dramatic situation.
First, to give this poem a deeper perspective, the reader should know that this is a personal poem, which is written due to events that unfold during a specific time in the life of the author. With this information of being a personal poem, the reader could understand the depth of the dramatic situation since the reader could understand the motive of the author, which is to show the longing, and the emotions of the persona/author during this event. Fatima Lim-Wilson is a Filipino-American who is currently residing at the United States (asiancha.com). This knowledge tells us that the author has been out of touch with Tagalog since she is based at a foreign land. Therefore, we could see her longing, which is missing the Philippines.
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As stated in the text “Isn't it sweet to hear one's language lift from the ordered streets? The sparrow.”, it is shown that the familiarity of this language has given the persona a feeling of ecstasy from the fact that Tagalog has not reached the persona’s ears in a very long time. The persona uses figurative language to compare the feeling of overhearing Tagalog to that of a bird in the line. It is because the experience of overhearing something familiar is the same as getting close to a bird, but when you are too close the bird just flies