Gary Soto is a poet well-known by critics for his precision in details. He writes his poem through the eye of someone who has experienced the drought and someone who sold an orange to get his girl some chocolate as a present. Soto was born and raised in Chicano community in Fresno, California. Fresno became a place that inspired him to be a poet. Once a poet, Soto devoted his career to writing poetry that address the simple and frank way young adults deal with literature issues. “The Drought” is a 4 stanzas poem with 3 lines in each stanza. Each stanzas talks about a certain aspect of the situation. The first stanza introduces the reader to a place that hasn’t seen rain, but only clouds for a long time. The second stanza further explained …show more content…
The tone is very depressing and desperate. There were a lot of imagery in this poem as well as metaphors. Line 3, “scraping their bellies gray on the cracked shingles of slate”, is describing the clouds floating around the mountains and valley making the people in the community think that it will bring rain, but that did not happen and the black bottom clouds just gets blown away by the wind (l. 3). The poem continued with “...the houses blown open, their cellars creaking/And lined with the bottles that held their breath for years” as if the reader is currently standing in front of the crumbling house lined with dozens of jars, but none was filled with what the people were looking for (ll. 5-6). Soto then started describing the situation outside the community, “they passed by field where the trees dried thin as hat racks/And the plow’s tooth bit the earth for what endured/But what continued were the wind that plucked the birds spineless” where trees are withering, the plow becoming useless because the fields are dried up, and the birds are left with empty stomachs and the spine chilling wind (lll. 7-9). The imagery and tone of this poem end with “under the sky that deafened from listening for rain” where the people of Ocampo continued to wait and listen for the sound of thunder and rain which would become their salvation (1. …show more content…
The clouds are the main symbols of this poem and it has a literary meaning because clouds means nothing important outside of “The Drought”, but inside, the clouds gives the people of Ocampo a sense of hope and salvations. The clouds are what brings rain to the community; however, these cloud are being blown through the valley, passing the fields, and away into the other side of the mountains. This symbol is important because clouds are created by water droplets, which with a certain amount, rain will fall and that is what the community need to survive the drought. Cloud is the aid to ease people mind and raise their hope. Rain is also a symbol with a literary meaning. However, rain was only mentioned on the last line of the poem so it’s importance was foreshadowed from the beginning towards the end when the poem read, “under the sky that deafened from listening for rain” (1. 12). When going through a drought, rain is the only hope people have because water is what gives life to plants, people, and animals. It helps grow food, gives water to drink, and create a community. Rain is the hope and savior to the people. Trees has a universal meaning that everyone should know. Trees symbolize life, it gives people oxygen and the will to live. But, the trees are dying in the poem because of the drought. The people in the community won’t be able
In his essay, Gary Soto seems to look back on his memory with great esteem. A good example of his comical side was though this quote: “The wallpaper was bubbled from the rain that has come in from the bad roof…. These people are just like Mexicans, I thought” (pp.220). When Gary Soto was visiting his soon to be parents-in-law, he starts to observe his surroundings and pick apart anything negative about the house; though not from a sense of superiority. Mr.Soto was just realizing how lovingly similar he was for a family of a different race. From Gary Soto’s writing style, he could display his past quite wonderfully in a humorous
Without the use of stereotypical behaviours or even language is known universally, the naming of certain places in, but not really known to, Australia in ‘Drifters’ and ‘Reverie of a Swimmer’ convoluted with the overall message of the poems. The story of ‘Drifters’ looks at a family that moves around so much, that they feel as though they don’t belong. By utilising metaphors of planting in a ‘“vegetable-patch”, Dawe is referring to the family making roots, or settling down somewhere, which the audience assumes doesn’t occur, as the “green tomatoes are picked by off the vine”. The idea of feeling secure and settling down can be applied to any country and isn’t a stereotypical Australian behaviour - unless it is, in fact, referring to the continental
Vallejo utilizes the form of free verse in this poem. He uses free verse to go beyond the constraints of usual structures and forms to express his point of view on the hardships of the world, without regards to the “beauty” of the poem. This poem consists of thirteen non-rhyming couplets, each being identical in structure. This poem is without rhyme because Vallejo wants the content to be perceived as deeper than a rhyme scheme. Rather than writing poems for the art form and beauty of it, Vallejo often writes to bring attention to human suffering and problems in the world
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
In short, oranges represent what their young love feeds off of which are warmth, love and understanding. Soto used imagery and symbolism to make the poem powerful, but what really made it powerful is his use of elements, characters, and the plot. There is a lot of reference to brightness, breathing, and light. Brightness and the light give the poem and the oranges more power, while the heavy breathing makes it seem more realistic because the twelve year old boy is nervous since he is out with his first girlfriend. The poem is very vivid as well as colorful. You can tell what the narrator feels, and even I could identify with him at some points.
...s poems publication. In `A un olmo seco', we discover references to the cemetery of Leonor's grave, and the beauty of new shoots set against the decay of the `olmo's' trunk, which evokes Machado's young wifr in her terminal condition. `A un olmo seco' is highlights the central theme of landscape and countryside, and through the physical description, Machado remembers his personal experience in Soria. The river Duero acts as a leitmotif for the cemetery where his wife was buried. In `Caminos' as Machado develops the theme of his displacement in Baeza, his mood is finally attributed to the loss of his wife. Landscape can be linked with inner emotional landscape. The landscape in this poem is ominous, violent and inflexible: "hendido por el rayo." Therefore, landscape acts as a way of revealing inner emotion and Spanish National character throughout the collection.
cold, harsh, wintry days, when my brothers and sister and I trudged home from school burdened down by the silence and frigidity of our long trek from the main road, down the hill to our shabby-looking house. More rundown than any of our classmates’ houses. In winter my mother’s riotous flowers would be absent, and the shack stood revealed for what it was. A gray, decaying...
Consider the first few lines, “I have nothing else to give you, so it is a pot full of yellow corn, to warm your belly in the winter” (Baca 8-10). The imagery here is clear. The author invokes the images of yellow delicious corn while stressing the importance of his poem in relation to food. The speaker cannot give the recipient food, so he gives the only thing he can, poetry. This imagery is strong in demonstrating the importance of the poem in comparison to food. Not only was imagery strong in this line it, it is also a metaphor: Thing A = Thing B. The author appears skilled in using both imagery and metaphors in this poem. Consider these lines, “It is a scarf for your head, to wear over your hair, to tie up around your face” (Baca 11-12). The author uses again both imagery and metaphors in this line. He is stating that his poem is as important to his love interest as a “Scarf for your head”, and that it should be valued. The imagery used within this stanza appears to be coordinating with Santiago’s message quite well. The second stanza invokes warm images of kindness, while the third stanza is more mysterious and
"Poetry is the revelation of a feeling that the poet believes to be interior and personal [but] which the reader recognizes as his own." (Salvatore Quasimodo). There is something about the human spirit that causes us to rejoice in shared experience. We can connect on a deep level with our fellow man when we believe that somehow someone else understands us as they relate their own joys and hardships; and perhaps nowhere better is this relationship expressed than in that of the poet and his reader. For the current assignment I had the privilege (and challenge) of writing an imitation of William Shakespeare’s "Sonnet 87". This poem touched a place in my heart because I have actually given this sonnet to someone before as it then communicated my thoughts and feelings far better than I could. For this reason, Sonnet 87 was an easy choice for this project, although not quite so easy an undertaking as I endeavored to match Shakespeare’s structure and bring out his themes through similar word choice.
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
Soto’s “Black Hair” is a perfect example of a poem that is effective through close analysis of certain concrete images which hold the key to the foundation of the poem and its underlying themes. In this poem, the universal themes of family and culture are hidden under the figure of Hector Moreno, the image of the narrator’s hair, as well as the extended baseball metaphor about culture. Although the title may seem ordinary at first glance, the challenge that the poem presents through its connection of concrete images and themes is very intriguing, and the themes are made clear through the effective use of certain poetic elements.
The poem “Behind Grandma’s House” by Gary Soto is a poem about rebellion, through the eyes of a boy who desperately needs attention, who has a lack of respect, and who ironically receives a lesson from his grandmother as a consequence from his behaviors. During the reading of this poem, the reader can feel somewhat caught off guard by its abrupt and disturbing ending. However, after analyzing the author’s own idea of who he was as a child, and the behaviors that may have been expected from him, it gives the reader a better understanding behind the inspiration the author used for his work, more specifically “Behind Grandma’s House.” Many articles have been wrote about Gary Soto’s life and work. However, there is an article titled “About Gary Soto: A profile” by Don Lee, which gives the reader a better understanding of Soto’s background. It also helps in understanding the character that is being represented in the poem.
Or of course, it could symbolise the stages of the water cycle. Water is the symbol of life, but i can also be seen as purity, freshness, or youth. In this mysterious poem, Heaney. takes a simple view of life and it seems almost documentary-like. The The title of the poem 'Gifts of Rain' gives it a positive feeling, but although water has its positive aspects such as lifegiving and growth, it also has its negative aspects, such as being dangerous or even if it is deadly. The first section of the poem has no direction and the rhythm is irregular.
To start, we can look at the title of the poem, “A Rainy Morning”, it is never mentioned in the poem that it is a rainy morning. The poem only mentions that it is morning and that the woman in the wheelchair’s face is wet. I feel that the title is there for imagery purposes. It sets the image and the tone for the poem. The word “Rainy” makes me think gloomy, slippery, wet, and cold. While the word “Morning” makes me think of hope, early, and optimism. Now this is just my opinion, I feel that the title is saying that even though there is rain, something that can come on unexpectedly, the day is still early and anything can happen.
To begin, the reader may gather that the poem has a very dark and saddened tone. Due to Lowell's vivid imagery, a mental image of a dark urban setting is created. It also seems very cold, with the mentioning of wind and nighttime. Readers may be able to relate to urban places they know, adding to the reality of the poem. Connections can be made. The imagery is left in such a way that the reader can fill in the gaps with their own memories or settings. Also, since the poem uses free verse, the structure is left open to interpretation. This makes the poem more inviting and easier to interpret, rather than reading it as a riddle. However, though simple in imagery, the poem still captures the reader's interest due to the creation it sparks, yet it never strays away from the theme of bei...