Currently in the United States, many of us are afraid of the future. There have been many recent events that have stirred up fear in this country, especially tensions regarding human rights. In Carolyn Forché’s “The Colonel,” the speaker tells us her story of when she had to deal with the mistreatment of others. The speaker is telling us her story of meeting the colonel to show us the horrible things that have happened in the fight for justice and to encourage us to speak up. She tells us this story because she does not want others to end up the way that the ears did. The speaker wants us to stay strong and fight for justice when we begin to live in a state of constant fear. This poem tells us about someone who is fearful in her situation. …show more content…
This is evident through the symbolism of the ears at the end of the poem. Once he rudely tells the speaker that he will not help her people at all, the speaker tells us that “some of the ears on the floor caught this scrap of his voice. Some of the ears on the floor were pressed to the ground.” The ears are divided into two different types: the ones that hear the colonel and the ones that do not. All of the ears are said to be on the floor because they represent the people in the worst living conditions who are living below everyone else. Each of these types also represents a portion of the struggling population when a problem arises. Some of the population hears what is going on and reacts to the issue, and the rest of the population turns away and ignores the problem. Furthermore, it is evident that the speaker wants us to speak out because she is doing it herself. The poem begins with “what you have heard is true” because the speaker wants her audience to know that the rumor that brewed from her story is true. The poem then goes into detail about what happened, and the speaker wants us to be disgusted by what has happened so that we act to help her. The speaker wants us to be the ears that hear her. The poem is a call to action for all of the people in El Salvador in that time
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
He explains how he saw innocent people getting taken away and he stayed quite. Martin kept seeing different kinds of people getting taken away one by one either to be killed or to be tortured. He didn’t speak up for anyone and when the time came for him to be taken away there was no one left to speak up for him. Martin uses parallelism in the poem by repeating "then they came for " and " I did not speak up." He repeats himself because he's trying to prove a point on how he didn’t try to help out. In the poem it says "I did not speak up" I like how he repeated himself by explaining how he didn’t speak up for those innocent people but he was honest about it. He wanted people to see how he had the chance not to and when it was his turn he was regretting it. I recommend this poem who enjoys parallelism and likes reading about things in the
The first four stanzas are a conversation between the mother and daughter. The daughter asks for permission to attend a civil rights march. The child is a unique one who believes that sacrificing something like “play[ing]” for a march that can make a difference will be worthwhile (2). However, the mother understands that the march is not a simple march, but a political movement that can turn violent. The mother refuses the child’s request, which categorizes the poem as a tragedy because it places the child in the chur...
Gate C22 is a poem about a couple just meeting each other when the get off the the plan, coming from two different places. The man had some gray hair and the woman was also older and had a few extra pounds. Although everyone could tell their age, that was not the focus of the people around them or the poem. Their love and attention for each other distracted from their age. The narrator said that the two were so absorbed and graphic that everyone else around them could feel the passion for themselves. The best part as the narrator described it “Was his face” the way he looked at her made everyone else envious of her. (399)
“My Son the Marine?” was written by John and Frank Schaeffer in 2002. This story was written in the 1st person. It focuses on the struggle a father is having about his son joining the military. “Separating” was written by John Updike in 1972 and is written in the 3rd person. It is about a family going through a divorce and focuses on the emotional toll towards the children during the separation. “Those Winter Sundays” was written in 1966 by Robert Hayden. Written in the 1st person, the focus of this poem is to show the regret of a young boy who never showed the appreciation that his father deserved. All of these stories appeal to “The things They Carry” because of the emotional aspect. In all these stories there are signs of guilt, confusion, and regret.
In “Useless Boys” the writer, Barry Dempster, creates a strong feeling of disappointment and shame in himself and society as he looks back on his youth to when him and a friend made a promise to each other to “not be like their fathers”. Dempster expresses a sort of disgust for the capitalist society his world seems to be built around, a life where even if you’re doing something you initially enjoyed you end up feeling trapped in it. The poem is a reflective piece, where he thinks back on how he truly believed he would end up happy if he chose a different path than that of his parents. The author uses simple diction and syntax, but it’s evident that each idea has a much deeper meaning, which assisted in setting a reflective/introspective mood.
El Cid and the Christians in The Poem of the Cid display crusader-like qualities, which band them together against their enemies as they pursue honor, glory, and faith.
Carolyn Forche’s “The Colonel” discusses the lack of value towards human life by totalitarian government and the United States’ stake in investigating these powers and challenging them. The speaker in this poem recounts his experience meeting the colonel to show the audience both the amount of presence of the United States in this foreign setting and the Colonel’s lack of regard toward human rights. Figurative language, such as similes, metaphors, and symbols, as well as the speaker’s first-person point of view descriptions reveal her experiences in El Salvador with a cruel military government. These elements in Forche’s poem successfully convey themes of oppression and cruelty, as well as heavy
Injustice is defined as the unjust/unfair action or treatment of others. Many issues can lead to injustice. In the poem, "The Colonel,” the beginning of a civil war is bringing about the dangers and realities of unfair qualities in the El Salvadoran government and economy. The poem shows the reality and turmoil families in El Salvador are going through and how Americans are unaware of it all. The author writes using the colonel of the family to show how people in that country are essentially becoming paranoid and falling apart because of the injustice being shown. In the poem, “The Colonel” by Carolyn Forché, the colonel seems composed and dominant; however, in reality, his life is crumbling around him because of the stress and injustice the war is imparting.
For my recitation I chose the poem, “Monstrance Man," by Ricardo Pau-Llosa. I selected this poem from the Poetry Out Loud archive because I liked the way it was structured and written. As I first skimmed the poem my understanding of it was shallow, but as I began to practice it I gained a deeper knowledge of its story and meaning. I realized the depth of the protagonist and how greatly I empathized with him. Specifically, I learned the definition of the term “Monstrance” and that
“As a boy, I saw countless tough guys locked away; I have since buried several too. They were babies, really 一 a teenage cousin, a brother of twenty-two, a childhood friend in his mid-twenties一 all gone down in episodes of bravado played out in the streets. I came to doubt the virtues of intimidation early on. I chose, perhaps unconsciously, to remain a shadow 一 timid, but a
All in all, if we do not stand up, we only affirm the perpetrators. If too many people affirm perpetrators instead of standing up for the victim, bystanders can prove to be more dangerous than the perpetrators. As Martin Luther King Jr. said, "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." Works Cited (1) Tix, Andy, Ph.D. "The Pursuit of Peace." "Kristallnacht:" The Night That Shattered Humanity.
‘The Falling Soldier’ is one of many poems by Duffy which deals with the subject of human mortality. Duffy expresses what could have been over a harsh reality; this is characteristic of her as also seen in ‘Last Post’ and ‘Passing Bells’ which both seem to be largely influenced by poet peer Wilfred Owen’s personal experiences of war. In the ‘The Falling Soldier’ Duffy paradoxically captures the essence of Robert Capa’s famous photograph of a man falling after being shot during the Spanish Civil War (1936). She employs the form of an impersonal narrative voice, using second person to question the possibilities, to explore the tragic and cyclical nature of war. The futile reality of war contrasts to her central theme in ‘The Bees’ anthology of bees symbolising the grace left in humanity.
Sylvia Plath’s jarring poem ‘Daddy’, is not only the exploration of her bitter and tumultuous relationship with her father, husband and perhaps the male species in general but is also a strong expression of resentment against the oppression of women by men and the violence and tyranny men can and have been held accountable for. Within the piece, the speaker creates a figurative image of her father by using metaphors to describe her relationship with him: “Not God but a Swastika” , he is a “… brute” , even likening him to leader of the Nazi Party; Adolf Hitler: “A man in black with a Meinkampf look .” Overall, the text is a telling recount of her hatred towards her father and her husband of “Seven years” and the tolling affect it has had on
The poem “O Captain! My Captain!” is a mourning poem or elegy and it was written by Walt Whitman in 1865 during the time of the Civil War. Whitman admired President Lincoln and this poem was written to honor him after he was assassinated and to also celebrate the victory for America in the Civil War. The poetic devices used are apostrophe, metaphors, repetition, and symbolism. This poem brings out many different emotions ranging from joy to sorrow. You as the reader will be able to visualize that the “captain” is the symbol of the “father” of the country at the time, President Lincoln, and the “ship” is the United States making it through hardships such as the Civil War.