Much of Li-Young Lee’s Poetry revolves around his memory and circles back to the present. He contemplates, and through focusing on one particular incident touches upon the insecurities he felt as an immigrant in the United States, his love for his mother, his reverence for the man his father is and his grief over the imminent loss of his father’s faculties and eventually his life. Though the text is rather simple and is written in prose, this poem is extremely raw and full of emotion, and this can be seen in the literary devices Lee uses. Even the simplicity of Lee’s language contributes to the poem’s sense of passion, heartache, and inspection of the universal. Lee fosters a Monist philosophy, meaning he believes that all things are connected …show more content…
Behind the simple language is a deeper meaning; an idea which bridges a seemingly insignificant happenstance to a more universal concept. Lee recalls his teacher slapping him in his poem, Persimmons, when he was in the sixth grade. He was then made to “stand in the corner” for confusing the words: persimmon and precision, and fright with fight. Lee makes the justification: “fight is what I did when I was frightened,/ Fright is what I felt when I was fighting.” His standing in the corner of the room symbolizes his feelings of confusion, isolation, and fear that came as a result of learning to survive in a new culture and being unable to conform. He draws connections between the words in an attempt to justify a hapless mistake which illustrates the insecurity and sense of alienation he felt as an immigrant from Jakarta, Indonesia born to Chinese parents. He explain exactly how one eats a persimmon, and makes the assertion that that in and of itself is precision and why he was prone to make the mistake of using the words interchangeably. Here, Lee demonstrates the challenges he faced as a result of his
When I read poetry, I often tend to look first at its meaning and second at how it is written, or its form. The mistake I make when I do this is in assuming that the two are separate, when, in fact, often the meaning of poetry is supported or even defined by its form. I will discuss two poems that embody this close connection between meaning and form in their central use of imagery and repetition. One is a tribute to Janis Joplin, written in 1983 by Alice Fulton, entitled “You Can’t Rhumboogie in a Ball and Chain.” The second is a section from Walt Whitman’s 1,336-line masterpiece, “Song of Myself,” first published in 1855. The imagery in each poem differs in purpose and effect, and the rhythms, though created through repetition in both poems, are quite different as well. As I reach the end of each poem, however, I am left with a powerful human presence lingering in the words. In Fulton’s poem, that presence is the live-hard-and-die-young Janis Joplin; in Whitman’s poem, the presence created is an aspect of the poet himself.
Chang-Rae Lee’s Native Speaker expresses prominent themes of language and racial identity. Chang-Rae Lee focuses on the struggles that Asian Americans have to face and endure in American society. He illustrates and shows readers throughout the novel of what it really means to be native of America; that true nativity of a person does not simply entail the fact that they are from a certain place, but rather, the fluency of a language verifies one’s defense of where they are native. What is meant by possessing nativity of America would be one’s citizenship and legality of the country. Native Speaker suggests that if one looks different or has the slightest indication that one should have an accent, they will be viewed not as a native of America, but instead as an alien, outsider, and the like. Therefore, Asian Americans and other immigrants feel the need to mask their true identity and imitate the native language as an attempt to fit into the mold that makes up what people would define how a native of America is like. Throughout the novel, Henry Park attempts to mask his Korean accent in hopes to blend in as an American native. Chang-Rae Lee suggests that a person who appears to have an accent is automatically marked as someone who is not native to America. Language directly reveals where a person is native of and people can immediately identify one as an alien, immigrant, or simply, one who is not American. Asian Americans as well as other immigrants feel the need to try and hide their cultural identity in order to be deemed as a native of America in the eyes of others. Since one’s language gives away the place where one is native to, immigrants feel the need to attempt to mask their accents in hopes that they sound fluent ...
Discrimination and prejudice actions in American society is prominent with no hint of extinction. In the book “Sông I Sing” by Bao Phi, he depicts and highlights racism in his poems. The poet outlines stereotypes, prejudices, discrimination along with reference to white privilege. This two time Minnesota slam champion injects his passionate feelings of his views of other people into his poems. He advocates that racism shouldn’t exist in American society. Bao Phi is semi descriptive on the stories and brings his poems alive to visualize the content through words. This poet illustrates the effects of prejudice on people in American society who do not feel freedom based on skin color. All of his poems are deemed excellent not just because Phi
In an interview with Voice of America, she said that her identity as an Asian American “definitely play[s] into all of the reasons why [she] write[s] and why [she] continues to write” (Byrd). That is evident throughout this poem which is about a facet of the Asian American narrative, the fetishization of Asian American women, that is not always discussed. Women from every background deal with catcalling and other forms of casual sexual harassment which is what makes this poem relatable, but Asian American women must face this unique brand of intertwined racism and sexism in their daily lives. “To the Man Who Shouted ‘I Like Pork Fried Rice’ at Me on the Street” is not the solution to this problem, but it is a powerful piece of literature that demonstrates no one is simply a
In Rita Wong’s poem “Write around the absence,” it showcases the importance of having the courage to stick to one’s own cultural interpretations despite living in a country where your culture and or values are considered a minority. With the narrator being of a Chinese descent living in an English majority, she describes and questions the dominant nature English has over her thoughts, expressions, and life; despite being equally bilingual. Expressing the anxiety and oppression she feels about having the “tones” (Wong 8) she wishes to express be “steamrolle[d]” (13) and marginalized to the corner by the powers of the English linguistic. Therefore, she finds the determination to try to fight back this dominance in unique ways, not allowing herself
A parent may want to understand their child and connect to them, but they may not know how to do it. In Li-Young Lee’s poem “A Story”, the literary devices point of view, metaphors, and the structure of the poem are used to portray the complex relationship of the father and child and their inability to be able to connect with one another despite their wishes to do so.
Tan’s essay does more than just illuminate the trouble with language variations; her essay features a story of perseverance, a story of making a “problem” harmonize into a “normal” life. Almost like a how-to, Tan’s essay describes an obstacle and what it takes to go above and beyond. Mirroring Tan, I have been able to assimilate “the [world] that helped shape the way I saw things” and the world that I had to conform to (Tan 129). Life is a struggle, but what makes it worth it is the climb, not what is on the other side.
Traditionally families have dinner together and talk about their day. In the modern days many families don't even eat at a dinner table, My family normally spends dinner time all over the house. Nobody really sit down at the dinner table to eat and talk and explain our thoughts and feelings about our day. In the poems "Nurse" by Dorianne Laux and "Eating together" by Li-Young Lee they both demonstrates the importance of your family and enjoying every moment that you encounter with each other.
Persimmons poem explores the ways of understanding and expressing one’s intuition and knowledge. The poet, Li-Young Lee obviously uses expression of words to present his themes. Judging from his own presupposition, words can be used to mean different things under different context. He is of the view that love embodies words. For this reason, words may bring more confusion and misunderstanding. As an immigrant, the poet presents a novel perception regarding this familiar theme. Because English was his second language, he could readily confuse words in a way native fluent speaker could find weird. His teacher regarded him as stupid, creepy boy and she was constantly punishing him. Therefore, misunderstanding and hatred ensued between the two for lack of love (Xiaojing, 2006). When the teacher, later in the poem, brings a persimmon to be shared in the class, the poet just stare at the classmates as they eat inedible fruit – neither the teacher nor the student was ready to learn or to teach from the other.
The poem also focuses on what life was like in the sixties. It tells of black freedom marches in the South how they effected one family. It told of how our peace officers reacted to marches with clubs, hoses, guns, and jail. They were fierce and wild and a black child would be no match for them. The mother refused to let her child march in the wild streets of Birmingham and sent her to the safest place that no harm would become of her daughter.
English is an invisible gate. Immigrants are the outsiders. And native speakers are the gatekeepers. Whether the gate is wide open to welcome the broken English speakers depends on their perceptions. Sadly, most of the times, the gate is shut tight, like the case of Tan’s mother as she discusses in her essay, "the mother tongue." People treat her mother with attitudes because of her improper English before they get to know her. Tan sympathizes for her mother as well as other immigrants. Tan, once embarrassed by her mother, now begins her writing journal through a brand-new kaleidoscope. She sees the beauty behind the "broken" English, even though it is different. Tan combines repetition, cause and effect, and exemplification to emphasize her belief that there are more than one proper way (proper English) to communicate with each other. Tan hopes her audience to understand that the power of language- “the way it can evoke an emotion, a visual image, a complex idea, or a simple truth”- purposes to connect societies, cultures, and individuals, rather than to rank our intelligence.
They let the things that can separate them bring them closer to each other. This poem teaches its readers that love takes sacrifice. Towards the ending on the poem the poet expresses what she is feeling, “She smiled, stretched her arms to take to heart the eldest daughter of her youngest son a quarter century away.” (Ling, 142) The quote shows that the poet traveled halfway around the world to meet her grandmother that she couldn’t communicate with.To sum up the poem, “Grandma Ling,” both the poet and the grandmother take huge sacrifices to see each other. The whole poem represents that love takes
They both share a feeling of sorrow, because they seem to be “wandering aimlessly” and suffered some form of loss. This is supported by the abundant use of a variety of literary techniques to facilitate their lonely outlook on life. An interesting similarity between the lyrics is the mention of a “wild goose”. In Liu Yong’s lyric, he mentions the “wild goose” in the last stanza; “far off the voice of a wild goose”. In Li Qing-Zhao’s lyric, she writes; “the wild geese pass by”. The wild goose can symbolize communication, thus both poets may have lost some form of communication to whomever they were longing for. Lastly, another similarity is the diction used in Li Qing-Zhao’s lyric “two or three cups of weak wine” and Liu Yong’s lyric “by the bank in twos and threes”. This asserts abstractness or creating a sense of abundance and a never ending feeling of sadness. Both poets share aspects of religion, Buddhism, which was the dominant religion and already had integrated into all aspects of social, cultural and political life during the Song era. This is supported by the use of plants associated to Buddhism to describe the state of mind. The common theme during this time in China “was on the separation of those who were already lovers” (Owen, 571). This is evident in Li Qing-Zhao and Liu Yong’s work because they are both lonely and longing to reunite to the ones they love. Although, “it was Liu Yong who began writing lyrics about male longing”; It is noteworthy to see some of the differences and similarities towards how each poet expresses their
Edgar Allan Poe was a major figure in world of literature based on his poems. In his poems, he demonstrated a gleaming use of language and techniques. He uses form throughout his poems. Poetry was an outlet for Poe, he was able to express his feelings of love, anger, and grief. One of Poe's most famous poems, “Annabel Lee,” which was first published in August of 1849, expresses the emotions of grief, love and loss that he felt when he lost his wife. Although the poem isn't just about expressing the idea of grief but to fully understand the emotion and meaning of “Annabel Lee,” one must analyze the in which Poe uses form throughout the poem. Poe's use of sound patterning, figrative language, and form enhances the importance of the poem, “Annabel Lee” by using imagery, rhythm, rhyme, and repetition to engage the readers.
During the Tang Dynasty, Li Po and Tu Fu have reigned the literary world with their poetry. Their writing techniques and themes in their poetry allow them to stand out amongst other poets at the time. With the unique aspects and images these poets write about, they distinguish the similarities between themselves and contain different intensities in their poetry. While Li Po has a more relaxed tone to his poetry, Tu Fu deals with the serious aspects of life such as war, poverty, and suffering.