Wood Butcher by Norman Hindley, Behind Grandma's House by Gary Soto, and Manners by Elizabeth Bishop For this paper I will be discussing three poems. They are Wood Butcher by Norman Hindley, Behind Grandma's House by Gary Soto, and Manners by Elizabeth Bishop. I will be examining the common theme I found throughout the three poems. I found that to be how the relatives teach lessons to their relation of a younger generation and the different approaches to their teaching. To start off I will discuss the Wood Butcher by Norman Hindley. I believe the way the father taught the son was some what like an apprenticeship. The line "I was your helper, and that first year We worked weekends through most of winter" gave me the impression that it was a watch and learn experience rather than explaining it. Take note of how the father approached the mistakes made by his son. "I fouled up some screens once, You broke them out with a chair" I feel showed the negative feeling I got when I read the poem. That also makes me believe that it was an apprenticeship. To me parents even if they get upset at something you do, don't go about things in that matter. The son was trying to learn something from his father and rather than explaining and showing the son how to do it correctly or the mistakes he made the father destroys the work. ... ... middle of paper ... ...her was. Out of all the poems I believe this non-violent approach was the most effective. Maybe the others worked in the end, but the poem didn't state it as specifically as this one did. In conclusion, Wood Butcher by Norman Hindley, Behind Grandma's House by Gary Soto, and Manners by Elizabeth Bishop all had a common theme. I found that to be how the relatives teach lessons to their relation of a younger generation and the different approaches to their teaching. They each had their own teaching method and some may have appeared to work better than others. In the end the older relative was always trying to get some type of message across.
The poet shows us that her mother did her best, and also was able to
The author uses imagery, contrasting diction, tones, and symbols in the poem to show two very different sides of the parent-child relationship. The poem’s theme is that even though parents and teenagers may have their disagreements, there is still an underlying love that binds the family together and helps them bridge their gap that is between them.
When the poem is read aloud, the explicit rhyme and rhythm of the lines becomes extremely obvious. In fact, the bouncy rhythm is so uplifting, it occasionally makes the audiences feel like it is too predictable and straight-forward. An example would be “bright with chrysolite”, the word “chrysolite” feels like it is forcefully implemented for the sake of the rhyme. This is somewhat similar to a children’s tale. Most children’s tale as we know it, conveys messages straightforwardly and are easily understood by children, it also has an amiable tone and a merry mood that engages the children 's attention. Similarly, the rhyme and rhythm of this poem is very obvious and explicit, creating a delightful, casual mood that appeals to a young audience. Even though the legend dealt with deep insights about parenting that are intricate and puzzling, the father delivered it in such a gratifying, simple manner that made even the most dark and dreadful matters: like the description of precarious beasts and vicious monsters to sound like a blissful adventure of friendly animals. The sole purpose of this contradiction between the tone and message is to make this seemingly strong and serious topic more tolerable and captivating to the son of the father. Unsensible, impulsive youth is very similar to restless children, a long insipid lecture about deep insights is very difficult for them to buy into. In the same time, a harsh, threatening warning will only make them obey unwillingly, and creating a doubtful relationship will make them uncomfortable to communicate or appeal to their parents. Clearly, the percipient father recognized the ineffectiveness of these unsuitable parenting methods. Instead, he conveyed the message in a uncomplicated, friendly way that made his son to accept his teachings more comfortably. A
The poem “Heritage”, written by Linda Hogan, tells the story of each trait she inherited and the lessons she learned from key members of her family. When analyzing poetry, there are many literary elements that the reader can observe. These elements can range from diction, syntax and rhyme schemes. In Hogan’s poem, there are three literary elements that stand out the most. These are figurative language, tone and diction. By using figurative language, Hogan can better communicate her ideas towards the audience. The use of tone allows the reader to understand the character’s feelings. Lastly, her choice of diction determines how the reader views the story. The author’s use of these three elements allows the audience to connect to the poem because
Indeed, the satirical tone of this poem suggests that the speaker is somewhat critical of his father. The whiskey smell, the roughness, the inconsiderate and reckless actions are under scrutiny. The mother's frowning countenance suggests she too is rather unhappy with the scene. However, the winning tone of the poem is the light and comical one.
Every family has either the perfect life or the worst life through someone else’s eyes. Every day, families go through things nobody else can see. Internally, behind the closed doors nobody can see what is actually happening. Even though it may seem tough, they could be the perfect family, but the viewer does not see it that way. Families relationships are the glue of holding everything together, and bonds are created that do not break easily. Throughout these short poems in the Making Literature Matter textbook, the chapter goes deeper into relationships and legacies within families and grandparents- especially culturally. Grandparents are a major focal point within a family because they show love and affection for the grandkids and try to
The poem’s use of the dramatic monologue places the reader in the child's position, listening to his mother speak of her lessons learned and applying them to his own life. This causes the reader to become more drawn into the poem, as the womans advice is directed to us along with the sons irritation is our own. When the mother says “ Well, son, I’ll tell you:”(1) this gives off the impression that the son has asked his mother a question or has complained about his life. This line makes the reader feel as though they ...
In the short story, Grandmother’s Sunday Dinner by Patricia Hampl, the various literary elements work together in order to tell the flashback of a woman’s dinner with her family. The central symbol, the grandmother's passion for food, represents a family tradition and the stubborn grandmother herself represents a force with whom to be dealt. The central symbol allows for the author to generalize the theme. Because the grandmother symbolized a reckoning force, the author would have to be polite towards her grandmother who “was a woman possessed by an idea” (Hampl 55), depicting the theme of treating everyone with respect. Moreover, adding to the entertainment, irony forces the reader to stop and enjoy the humor that characterizes the irony.
The poem leads us easily to draw this distinct conclusion. The poem doesn’t scream that boy hates his dad or even that his dad was hurtful or mean to the kid while he was young. Instead it is a poem that expresses physical control to the point of manipulation and maybe some abuse on the dad’s part. The waltz is portrayed as dangerous shown through the appearance of a disapproving mother (lines 7 and 8), a battered knuckle (line 10), a buckle that repeatedly scrapes a boy’s ear (12), and finally a dirt-caked hand that strikes the boy’s head repeatedly under the pretense of keeping time with the waltz. The fact that the speaker says, “You beat time on my head” (14), instead of “keeping time” strengthens this
Most of us do not think twice about the foods we pick up from the supermarket. Many Americans have a preconceived belief that the food being sold to us is safe, and withholds the highest standard of quality. Certainly, compared to many places in the world, this is true. But is the United States sincerely trying to carry out these standards, or have we begun to see a reverse in the health and safety of our food- and more explicitly in our meat? Jonathan Foer, author of “Eating Animals” argues for reform within the food industry- not only for the humane treatment of animals but moreover for our own health. Although Foer exposes the ills within the food industries in order to persuade readers to change their diets for the better, his “vegetarianism or die” assessment may be too extreme for most Americans. The true ills do not start with the meat, but with industrialized production of it through methods practiced by factory farming.
However, in particular, Kiss Me Carol by Farrukh Dhondy, Drunkard Of The River by Michael Anthony and The Exercise by …. have seemed to share a very strong theme in the relationship between father and son I will be going to compare and contrast the ways in which fathers, sons and the relationship between them are presented in three of the stories I have studied. All of the stories I have read have had shared a common background in one-way or another. However, in particular, Kiss Me Carol by Farrukh
Form and meaning are what readers need to analyze to understand the poem that they are evaluating. In “Mother to Son”, his form of writing that is used frequently, is free verse. There is no set “form”, but he gets his point across in a very dramatic way. The poem is told by a mother who is trying to let her son know that in her life, she too has gone through many frustrations just like what her son is going through. The tone of this poem is very dramatic and tense because she illustrates the hardships that she had to go through in order to get where she is today. She explains that the hardships that she has gone through in her life have helped her become the person that she has come to be. Instead of Hughes being ironic, like he does in some of his poems, he is giving the reader true background on the mother’s life. By introducing the background, this helps get his point across to the reader in a very effective way. In this poem there are many key words which help portray the struggles that the mother is trying to express to her son. The poem is conveyed in a very “down to earth” manner. An example of this is, “Life for me ain’t been a crystal stair (462).” This quote shows the reader that the mom is trying to teach the son a lesson with out sugar coating it. She wants her son to know that throughout her life has had many obstacles to overcome, and that he too is going to have to get through his own obstacles no matter how frustrating it is. Her tone throughout the poem is stern telling the boy, “So boy, don’t turn your back (462).” The poems tone almost makes the reader believe that the mother is talking to them, almost as if I am being taught a valuable lesson.
...e poem is not being directed toward them, but to a child. This adds the element of modesty to the poem and readers subconsciously care for this young character and hope he heeds his father’s advice and excels under such direction.
The father is consistent in carrying out actions that the son does not agree with; resulting in feelings such as “rage” or “deadfaced.” The word “for” also distinguishes between the cause and effect of each point. Each stanza begins with “for,” which is immediately followed by an action of the father; this can be seen as the “cause.” The “effect” is then shown every time the speaker states that “he [the father] made…”Additionally, the effect expresses the sons reactions or feelings. For example in the fourth stanza, “for expecting my mother to make money like food… he made us go deadfaced.” The father expecting so much of the mother results in the children all “go[ing] deadfaced.” This list-like quality is reinforced by the lack of punctuation in the poem.
The many responsibilities that the children were responsible for were usually tasks such as cutting wood, cooking, cleaning, and tending to any animals that the family may own. The boy in this poem has taken on so many responsibilities as a young child, that he is forced to mature into an older man in order to provide and keep his family alive.