I would like to investigate the many struggles of women, whether it be race that differentiates them or an event that any woman could experience that brings them together. Beauty is not easily defined, and women everywhere struggle with not only pleasing the people around them, but themselves. Wanting to describes themselves and feel beautiful is one of the many struggles women experience throughout their lives. “Las Rubias” by Diana García from Fire and Ink represents a common example of what women of color experience while comparing themselves to the “beauty” of white women. The poem is divided into eight numbered sections, each containing their own experience or thought. This is effective because by the end of the poem, the reader has almost One aspect of this poem that makes it effective is its structure. It is one continuous sentence, only separated by semi-colons and commas, and it does not follow the rules of line breaks or stanzas. The reader can imagine that a mother is listing the do’s and don’ts of being a woman in a never-ending manner. Repetition is also an important and effective part of this piece because not only does it create a rhythm in the composition aspect but significance in the purpose. Many new statements after the semi-colons begin with “this is how.” Some lines that impacted me were “this is how you smile to someone you don’t like too much; this is how you smile at someone you don’t like at all; this is how you smile to someone you like completely” (105) Women are taught to always be polite and smile, as a way to cover up any emotions or gestures that might suggest otherwise. Women are not praised for expressing how they truly feel because their voices are not important enough. This is one of the most powerful lines in the poem to me because I struggle with saying what I am feeling and thinking too much of what others will think of me if I decide to say
Junot Diaz’s novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is focused on the hyper-masculine culture of the Dominican, and many argue that his portrayal of the slew of women in the novel is misogynistic because they are often silenced by the plot and kept out of the narration (Matsui). However, Diaz crafts strong women, and it is society that views them as objects. The novel recognizes the masculine lens of the culture while still examining the lives of resilient women. In this way, the novel showcases a feminist stance and critiques the misogynist culture it is set in by showcasing the strength and depth of these women that help to shape the narrative while acknowledging that it is the limits society places on them because of their sexuality
The story “Woman Hollering Creek" by Sandra Cisneros describes the lives of Mexicans in a Chicago neighborhood. She depicts the life that women endure as Latino wives through her portrayal of the protagonist, Cleofilas. For Cisneros being a Mexican-American has given her a chance to see life from two different cultures. In addition, Cisneros has written the story from a woman’s perspective, illustrating the types of conflicts many women face as Latino wives. This unique paradigm allows the reader to examine the events and characters using a feminist critical perspective.
The influential roles of women in the story also have important effects on the whole poem. It is them that press the senses of love, family care, devotion, and other ethical attitudes on the progression of the story. In this poem the Poet has created a sort of “catalogue of women” in which he accurately creates and disting...
Beginning in residential school, Painted Tongue is called heathen by a religious school teacher, and after a while, he starts to question if maybe he is a heathen (Boyden 72-73). Boyden is illustrating the relationship between colonizer and colonized, with a repression of one’s spiritually by the preaching of another’s religion. This is another example of the effects of slow violence on Painted Tongue, where small differences such as contrasting religious or spiritual faiths, become the oppression of the minority
In Maya Angelou’s third book of poetry And Still I Rise, the personal struggles of the African American Woman are brought to life through poetic works. With inspirations drawn from personal journeys of Maya Angelou herself, powerful poems praise, celebrate, and empathize with the feminine colored experience. Angelou’s writing sheds glaring light on themes of feminine power, beauty, and perseverance, raising the African American Woman to a pedestal that demands respect and adoration. For Angelou’s audience, the everyday woman is presented equipped with all the necessities to thrive and shine in the face of adversity. In Maya Angelou’s works “Phenomenal Woman”, “Woman Work”, and “Still I Rise”, audiences are able to connect to the strength and virtue of the woman that is brought to life through the praising of femininity, and through its power to make an impact on society.
Robert Creeley, a famous American poet, lived from 1926 to 2005. Creeley was normally associated as a Black Mountain poet because that is where he taught, and spent most of his career. Throughout his life, Creeley wrote many different pieces of poetry. Four great poems by Robert Creeley are, “For Love”, “Oh No”, “The Mirror”, and “The Rain”. The poem “For Love”,was written by Creeley for his wife. In this poem Creeley explains, the love someone has for another person, and how complicated it is making his life because the person doesn’t know how to explain their love. “Oh No” is a poem that is literally about a selfish person who ended up in hell, but this poem has a deeper meaning. Part
Federico García Lorca’s poem “La casada infiel” depicts the story of a gypsy who makes love to a married woman on the shore of a river. When looking deeper into the poem, Lorca appears to provide a critical observation on the values of the conservative society at the time in which he lived. The woman, at her most basic reading, is treated as an object, elaborating on the sexist values in society at the time. Lorca addresses issues of sexism as well as issues of sexuality within society mainly through the poem’s sexist narrative voice, objectification of the female character and overriding sense of a lack of desire throughout the poem. His achievement to do so will be analysed throughout this commentary with particular attention to Lorca’s use of poetic techniques such as diction, personification and imagery.
Relating to Alvarez and her struggle is very easy and well known in every generation. Society puts a ridiculous high standard on outer appearances, especially for girls and women. Women grasp the perspective of the standards that are set and put them into drive. Women become stressed, emotional, and nutcases because they want to please others instead of pleasing themselves. In some cases, women have died trying to live up to these customaries, if not becoming dangerously ill. As a young lady, knowing what could happen, frightens but doesn’t phase me. Wi...
Symbols in poetry can be a person , place , thing or idea . In the poem titled “ Love Poem to Los Angeles by Luis J. Rodriguez the poet uses the Hollywood Sign as a symbol to represent famous people . In another poem titled “Santa Ana of Grocery Carts “ by Aracelis Gimary the poet uses schoolyard boys as a symbol to represent young men who have died . The meaning of these symbols is similar because they both can represent people and how they’re special . However, the difference of these symbol is that the hollywood sign represents something only positive in the poem and on the other hand the schoolyard boys represent only something negative because it is related to death .
The poem “ Who understands me but me” by Jimmy Santiago Baca. Is about being locked away in jail because in the poem it repeatedly saying how they take or more specifically “ They stop each hope so I have no passage out hell. Then the poem has a change in outlook it goes from feeling down to looking at the brighter side. It says “I can live
She strongly voiced her support for it with the slogan “Black is Beautiful” in the 1960s. Frantz Fanon’s notion of “Black Skin, White Mask,” has been largely portrayed in Una Marson’s poems, which influence the feelings and thinking of black women. . Even today Fanon’s observations are not outdated. In this poem too, just like in “An Introduction,” the mother persona perpetrates gender inequality and biases in order to save the child from any setbacks in her future life. This attitude leads to passing the same biases from mother to daughter and so on, thus depriving the young girl of experiencing the world on her own and forming an individual personal opinion, new visions and ideas therefore cannot be formed easily after such maternal training. In “Sweet Sixteen,”(see appendix for full poem; pg-xxiii) . Eunice De’Souza also portrays a near similar theme . The persona is a young woman who regrets her ignorance about her own body and its functions, because she has been instructed to be shy and coy as a part of her societal
Leer la poesía de Julia de Burgos es abrirse paso a un mundo de emociones, luchas y temas múltiples. En sus tres poemarios, la poeta inaugura un estilo y unas temáticas que en ocasiones coinciden y en otras se apartan de los poetas entre los que convivió (López Jiménez, "Julia de Burgos” 141). Julia buscó abrirse paso hacia nuevas formas de escritura y trazar rutas alternas a los cánones establecidos, tanto por sus contemporáneos como por la tradición literaria. Poema en veinte surcos, su primer libro publicado en 1938, representa ese anhelo de trazar múltiples rutas mediante las cuales pueda realizar una búsqueda de nuevas voces, perspectivas y temáticas. Precisamente, en la poesía de Julia, sobre todo la de su primer poemario, se advierte un deseo de definirse y afirmar sus principios poéticos y políticos. Según Ivette López Jiménez, muchos poemas de su primer libro se destacan porque “se alejan de las fórmulas de la poesía criollista” y porque en ellos “la voz se afirma como una ‘rama desprendida’ o como ‘brote de todos los suelos de la tierra... de todos los hombres y de todas las épocas” (“Julia de Burgos” 143). Hay pues, un intento por alejarse de los discursos autorizados, lo que la lleva a identificarse con los espacios y los sujetos marginados. Desde esta perspectiva, Julia de Burgos pasa a ocupar el rol de “poeta cívico” y su discurso a ser uno de denuncia y protesta. Por ello, propone una reconsideración de los espacios marginales, del “otro” con el objetivo de traerlos a primer plano. Con esto, establece una “actitud a la avanzada del pensamiento y de las costumbres, sobre todo lo relacionado con los cambios necesarios en la sociedad”, en palabras de Manuel de la Puebla (16).
Poems are a way of expressing the feelings and emotions that the writer chooses to describe, usually using symbolic objects and comparing it to another thing using figurative language. There were many poets that came and went throughout history and there are still a lot today, one of which really caught my attention and her name is Maya Angelou. Maya Angelou is a very astounding poet with her 166 poems, but one really stood out to me and that was The Lesson. Maya Angelou had a very difficult life with the many challenges she faced being an African American during the timeframe of her life and she outlined these troubles in most of her writings. With her circumstances she just kept moving forward and giving it her best without giving up; she is a great model for anyone to follow.
Several people regard women as inferior figures in this global world. Women have challenged the traditional female roles and have gradually climbed up the ladder of equality. They portray a distinct perspective that proves that womanhood can accomplish anything they set their mind to and search for equal gender status. The poems celebrate femininity and highlights the traits necessary for a women to be successful. The ladies in the poems are female-figures that carry themselves with high self-esteem and fearlessness. This essay identifies various literary techniques that describe feminine strength in Angelou and Clifton.
It is said that when we look in the mirror, we see our reflection; but what is it that we really see? Some people look through the glass and see a totally different person. All across the world identity is an issue that many women have. Woman today must be skinny, tall, thick, fair skinned and have long hair in order to be considered beautiful. Maya Angelou feels otherwise, as she gives women another way to look at themselves through her poem "Phenomenal Woman".