The New York Times Poetry Pairing “Sestina: Like” dives into whether or not “like” is a hindrance on conversation and social media or an innovation linguistically. A.E. Stallings’s poem “Sestina: Like” takes the stance that “like” creates a barrier against communication and discussion. While “They’re, Like, Way Ahead of the Linguistic Currrrve” by Douglas Quenqua takes a different view by explaining the nature of language to change, therefore using “like” for emphasis is simply an alteration, not an issue. In order to back her claims, Stallings utilizes irony and comparison to create a satirical tone in her poem. In the lines “‘I’m like/ so OVER him,” I overhear. “But, like,/ He doesn’t get it. Like, you know?” Starling uses the imitation
This poem by e. e. cummings describes the link between age and happiness by relating the two with simplicity. With this simplicity, however, there is a break from reality, and there are consequences. We can only do what is natural for us.
The mighty river flows through the mountains with liquidity and nurture providing life for all those who wish to take a sip from it. Yet the river is powerful in its own force destroying even the largest rocks, crumbling them into small pieces. People may be able to stop the river for a short time or even dry it up but the water always comes back in one form or another, every dam is bound to fail. Some people have been able to harness the power of the river, redirecting the mighty water making it flow in constructive ways. Similar to the river, language is influential. Its true power is not seen by the naked eye but by those who study it, those who use it as their ally in a war of linguistics. In Martin Luther King Jr.’s letter, Birmingham City Jail he is able to use all three rhetorical appeals to prove that demonstrations lead to negotiations and benefit for both sides of an argument.
A person’s vocabulary is not limited to the specific words he uses. Vocabulary extends to different phrases used. For example, adding different sentence adverbs, such as “frankly”, “in fact”, and “obviously”, to the beginning of a sentence changes the tone of the speaker’s message. “I enjoy a challenge” is a simple statement, but its tone is perceived differently when changed to “Obviously, I enjoy a challenge”. The tone is more matter-of-fact, possibly less polite, to the speaker’s audience. This case can also be seen with the overuse of the phrase “I feel like”. In Molly Worthen’s article “Stop Saying ‘I Feel Like’”, she analyzes today’s overuse of “I feel like” among college students. This phrase has the power to change a fact into an opinion. “Global warming is an issue” loses its definite meaning when it is changed to “I feel like global
In literature, Peter Pan is used to symbolize a boy that does not want to grow up. Peter Pan is very similar to J.D. Salinger’s main character Holden in his 1951 novel, The Catcher in the Rye. [Sentence deleted]. Salinger’s story The Catcher in the Rye is about a sarcastic teenage boy, named Holden, who internally struggles with himself. During this period in his life, Holden finds himself attending multiple different boarding schools in the New York area. After flunking out of Pencey Prep, he grounds himself in New York City living off cheap hotels and supportive friends. Symbols in the form of objects, people, and places help the reader obtain insights into Holden’s reasons for not growing up. In The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger alludes to “The Catcher in the Rye” poem, his sister Phoebe, and the Natural History Museum to symbolize Holden’s wish to not grow up.
There is plenty of people I know, including myself, who could care less what Kim Kardashian is doing or wearing or what any other movie star is doing for that matter. I don’t care about changing who I am to make me “popular” or “cool”, but thats just who I am. The poem, “Totally like whatever, you know?”, also talks on saying stuff to just sound cool. Mali says “Declarative sentences—so‐called because they used to, like, DECLARE things to be true,okay, as opposed to other things are, like, totally, you know, not—have been infected by a totally hip and tragically cool interrogative tone? You know?”
Evan Nave writes: “I was / too busy calculating my / mortality to bother solving / for the value of x.” (lines 15-18). In these few lines, someone can easily think of a time when they were in school and they had other things on their minds besides the actual subject of school. It can be difficult for students to focus on the subject of school when they are facing personal problems in their daily lives. Students are often forced to disregard personal problems or face the consequences of their grades suffering because they brought their issues along with them to school. In our education system, there is not any room for a student to bring their personal lives with them once they enter the doors of the institution. The poem, “17” by Evan Nave
In Feed Anderson reveals how the overuse and reliance of the feed has deteriorated and nullified the English language by the character’s speech towards each other for instance.”Unit, this where I stayed last time. It’s like meg cheap, and all the staff are made from a crystalline substance” (Anderson 9). This shows how children in the novel communicate to each other with slang and unnecessary use of the word “like”. “Don’t like push this. Especially because the girl meg un-into
From the most basic of functions like recognition and storage to the complexities of discourse and cultural expression, language functions are an integral and pervasive component of the human experience. In these pages I have sought to describe the operation of the six language functions through the analogy of a figure skater and a dancer. Each skill builds upon the next to weave the intricate set of skills and abilities that humans have uniquely developed to share information and each other’s experiences of the world.
The message from Angelou's poem is to tell people that no two are exactly alike, but they are more similar than different. In stanza nine the author says We are more alike, my friends,than we are unalike. This show that the author states people have more in common. In stanza eight the author states that in minor ways we are different in major we are the same. In other words the author says we are more alike than we think. In stanza seven and eight the author says we in almost every line for example, we love and lose in China. This shows that the author states we all love and lose in China which means we all have something in common.
One of the literary devices that she used was similes. For example, on page ten she says, “Like travelers with exotic destinations on their minds…” This example describes the graduates. In another instance, she says, “Everyone said I looked like a sunbeam.” The aim of using this style was to be able to create a form of comparison that could help the readers visualize the scene.
Fair Phyllis is a song or poem written in the 16th century by John Farmer, in this poem he tells the tale of a relationship between a shepherdess and her lover, in which is told by the song and in history has been presented with the Italian practice of “word art”. This beautiful song is very special in the format of the piece, it is sung in a cappella, meaning that many voices work in harmony to create the song, while the work itself is first monophonic, then for the last part it become homophonic switching off between one person singing and then many at different paces and tones. At the beginning of the song where it is monophonic the highest voice is reinforced by the other voices, while in the latter half of the song when it changes to
In the poem pride, Dahlia Ravikovitch uses many poetic devices. She uses an analogy for the poem as a whole, and a few metaphors inside it, such as, “the rock has an open wound.” Ravikovitch also uses personification multiple times, for example: “Years pass over them as they wait.” and, “the seaweed whips around, the sea bursts forth and rolls back--” Ravikovitch also uses inclusive language such as when she says: “I’m telling you,” and “I told you.” She uses these phrases to make the reader feel apart of the poem, and to draw the reader in. She also uses repetition, for example, repetition of the word years.
George Orwell’s essay, Politics and the English Language, first published in 1946, talks about some “bad habits”, which have driven the English language in the wrong direction, that is, away from communicating ideas. In his essay he quotes five passages, each from a different author, which embody the faults he is talking about. He lists dying metaphors, operators, pretentious diction, and meaningless words as things to look out for in your own writing and the writing of others (593-595). He talks about political uses of the English language. Our language has become ugly and the ugliness impedes upon communication. Ugly uses of language have been reinforced and passed down in the population “even among people who should and do know better,” (598). Ugly language has been gaining ground in our population by a positive feedback mechanism.
In the poem “Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out,” by Shel Silverstein, the poet conveys his message to the audience extremely clearly. Shel Silverstein uses a mask of humor to make his message to the audience more impressive and strong than other poems. Three reasons contributing to making Shel Silverstein’s message clear are the fact that there is a funny part in the poem that people can relate to, that the poem itself is very descriptive to get lots of information from, and that the message is very deep and therefore readers really have to think deeply.
Words can be beautiful, destructive, and manipulative. Language is central to all our lives, and arguably the cultural tool that sets humans apart from any other species. Language enables us to express our wishes, feelings, likes, dislikes, and ideas; it can be a symbolic function. Language also plays a role in how we affect other people, and how we make others feel, achieved just by our choice of words. By observing the language and the behavior of other people, one is provided with valuable information about personality type. If one listens closely they can better understand a friend’s temperament. By paying close attention to others, how they speak, how they dress, and facial expressions, we can better understand the wants of those around as and how they function as a person. The play Othello is full of rich dialogue with characters speaking eloquently and exquisitely to one another, “Yet I 'll not shed her blood, Nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow, And smooth as monumental