After the lecture by Harryette Mullen, I had different interpretations of the poems “Bilingual Instructions,” “Elliptical,” and “Why You and I.” Mullen’s poetry truly caught my eye more than any other poets poetry in this short amount of time because she is rule breaking and different. Before the lecture, I read these two poems multiple times, which allowed me to come up with my own thoughts and ideas of what the poems meant but when Mullen spoke out about the true meaning of her poems I found that my thoughts and ideas were not exactly correct. When I first read “Bilingual Instructions,” I automatically knew that the poem was talking about people who are bilingual, but I could not figure out what the poem actually stood for, which made me …show more content…
This made her unsure of how the move to California was going to go. I never once thought about where this poem focused, but it made sense because Mexico is directly under California, which is where most of the Latinos come from. So while I was thinking that this poem was about racism, it was actually about politics. She continued on to explain that in Los Angeles all yard work is done by Latinos and the people of the city want the Latinos there, but then again don’t, and this is where the poem was being political. In the first four lines of “Bilingual Instructions” it says, “Californians say No to bilingual instruction in schools; Californians say No to bilingual instructions on ballots…” Mullen made it clear that the people of California want the Latinos there so they can eat their food and have their lawn mowed, but don’t want their children going to the schools. I found this poem to be very inspiring because it is completely true. This happens all over the United States, not just in …show more content…
I realized that the three dots between each unfinished sentence didn’t have meaning. I felt like this poem was very powerful and had a lot to do with religion, gender, nationality, and race. It seemed almost political and that the powerless is speaking back. After Mullen’s lecture, I learned that this poem was about something lacking or about something imperfect. She wanted this poem to be opened to everyone, which is why she said it could be about black people, white people, parents, or children. There is a lot of the us and them, and we and they language in the poem. Every time she said “they” in the poem, I was trying to figure out who she was speaking towards and why she felt they didn’t deserve a title or a label, but that was just Mullen’s language in “Elliptical.” The context was also always changing and switching sides. “Elliptical” was a deep and interesting
The speaker’s rocky encounter with her ex-lover is captured through personification, diction, and tone. Overall, the poem recaps the inner conflicts that the speak endures while speaking to her ex-lover. She ponders through stages of the past and present. Memories of how they were together and the present and how she feels about him. Never once did she broadcast her emotions towards him, demonstrating the strong facade on the outside, but the crumbling structure on the inside.
It is a way to crucially engage oneself in setting the stage for new interventions and connections. She also emphasized that she personally viewed poetry as the embodiment of one’s personal experiences, and she challenged what the white, European males have imbued in society, as she declared, “I speak here of poetry as the revelation or distillation of experience, not the sterile word play that, too often, the white fathers distorted the word poetry to mean — in order to cover their desperate wish for imagination without insight.”
Sociologists often employ intersectionality theory to describe and explain facets of human interactions. This particular methodology operates on the notion that sociologically defining characteristics, such as that of race, gender, and class, are not independent of one another but function simultaneously to determine our individual social experiences. This is evident in poetry as well. The combination of one poet’s work that expresses issues on class with another poet’s work that voices issues on race, and so forth, can be analyzed through a literary lens, and collectively embody the sociological intersectionality theory.
Poems are forms of communication that give an applicable view of the past, present and future events. Reading the poem titled “America”, written by Richard Blanco brought me memories from my childhood in my parent’s house and also what is happening now in my house as a parent. The poem explains how one person doesn’t have all the knowledge about something. It also, describes the daily life struggles I experienced during my childhood, when my parent 's and I moved from our hometown to live in another town becuase of their work and it brings to light the conflict of cultures I and my children are going through since we moved to United State of America .
Naomi Shihab Nye’s poem “A Valentine for Ernest Mann” tells the reader: “You can’t order a poem like you order a taco. / Walk up to the counter, say, ‘I’ll take two’.” This shows that poems cannot be written or interpreted perfectly on the first try or on demand; you have to dig a little deeper to discover them. Naomi Shihab Nye also shows readers that poems hide in everyday things that we might not think to notice. She also tells about a serious man who gave his wife two skunks for Valentine’s Day because he thought they had beautiful eyes. His wife was upset about the gift because she did not see the skunks the way her husband did. Through voice, figurative language, and theme, Naomi Shihab Nye shows us that if we try hard enough, we can see things from a different perspective, thus allowing us to find poems in the most simple, everyday objects.
Throughout the poem, Baca uses imagery to express prejudice misconceptions that Americans have of immigrants. In lines one through three, “Do they come on horses with rifles and say, Ese gringo gimmee your job,” the writer creates an exaggerated image to demonstrate how racist Americans think immigrants are taking away their jobs. In addition, lines eight through ten, “Do they sneak into town at night, and…mug you, a knife at your throat, saying, ‘I want your job?’” depict immigrants as being evil and violent. The author portrays immigrants as physically taking over the work force and doing so with vicious actions. “Do you, gringo, take off your ring, drop your wallet into a blanket spread over the ground and walk away?” (4-6). Baca defends immigrants by asking Americans if they would pack their belongings and leave their families behind to move to a different country. Immigrants leave their home country and families behind in hopes of obtaining the American dream and creating a better life. Through powerful imagery, the reader can witness how Mexican immigrants are stereotyped as using violence to obtain employment.
...community, equal rights and the right to follow your roots) with the central focus of the poem. As Susan Bassnett states in her essay Bilingual Poetry: A Chicano Phenomenon , there is a “Latin American tradition of the poet who occupies a prominent place in the struggle for freedom and national unity”, and as Cervantes and Gonzales demonstrated, the poet’s role in Latin America has not been diminished.
Poetry may be the hardest form of literature to examine, at least for me. After reading some of our assigned poems this semester I was left completely confused, as to not only the authors purpose, but also the relevance and importance of the poem; None ...
The poem opens a thought of the American Dream, about what he wants America to be, and his hope for the country. The beginning line of the poem entails that America has to be the same America it once was, to me it’s a lie. America back then practiced slavery and oppression, it destroyed the lands of people to build their own homes. The ideal of an “America” was all a dream. It’s what they wanted for their America to be. We as people should be able to rise up and redefine the American equality and take back our land. The poem serves a powerful message of equality. The theme of this poem is against injustice and inequalities that exist in America and that can corrupt the American dream. All characters in the novels we read for the semester i.e. The African, Quick skills, and Tucker, have a lot of similarities with the poem, “Let America Be America Again”. They led their people to freedom by fighting against slavery and restrictions. The African escaped from his master. The African vowed to be free and never be enslaved again. Quickskill came to liberate the fellow slaves, who were enslaved in his master 's plantation. Tucker realized that he had some worth, and wanted freedom for his family. All three of these characters laid their lives on the line for their fellow men. They would rather prefer to die with dignity rather than become a white man’s property. They wanted
I think that Alarcon chose to structure his poem in a distinct way with line breaks placing the word "Mexican" line by itself. Alarcon's word choice and word order to draw attention to illustrate that this minority doesn't have any control over what happens in their lives. In the beginning of the poem Alarcon says that "Mexican is not a noun or adjective but it is a lifelong low-paying job" (Alarcon,1985). Alarcon uses these phrases to show that Mexican's low paying jobs are for their entire lives due to the fact they have hard time getting
When visiting just about any school across America, students who attend come from all over the globe. This raises the question across America about bilingual education. This can create many challenges in and out of the classroom. The classroom should be a safe place for all students regardless of what native language they speak. In the essay Lost in translation written by Eva Hoffman, describes a foreign student who tries hard to fit in. Instead, Eva begins to feel angry, hurt and confused because people laugh at her. In Guiding Principles for Dual Language Education by Elizabeth R. Howard, Julie Sugarman, Donna Christian Center for Applied Linguistics Kathryn J. Lindholm-Leary San José State University David Rogers Dual Language Education of New Mexico. Guiding principles gives great ideas to educators to stop kids from making other students feel the way that Eva felt. After reading several articles about bilingual education, it is evident that all children in school should learn English but never lose their native language. When all the students speak one language, students will be less likely to make fun of each other. A good educator should learn enough foreign languages to aid them in effective communication in their classroom although; if an educator does not speak a foreign language, they should recruit within the classroom students to be peer mentors. However, a teacher should be willing to listen and encourage the students. Above all a good educator should be a good role model to their students by respecting their heritage and their language.
In a time of virulent debate in the United States over Mexican immigration, the poem, “Mexican is Not a Noun” speaks volumes. Regrettably, many individuals have a distorted view of Mexican people and tend to marginalize them by categorizing them as “illegals” and “aliens” simply because of how they look or the sound of their name (Villegas-Gold and Yoo, 2014). Therefore, Alarcon is very emphatic in his writing about what the word “Mexican” means. Alarcon emphasizes what “Mexican” means by using carefully chosen words, line breaks and stanzas. For example, in the first three stanzas of the poem, Alarcon is trying to emphasize that the word “Mexican” is more than just a title or a description of a race of people. Rather, “Mexican” is being discriminated
Although this section is the easiest to read, it sets up the action and requires the most "reading between the lines" to follow along with the quick and meaningful happenings. Millay begins her poem by describing, in first person, the limitations of her world as a child. She links herself to these nature images and wonders about what the world is like beyond the islands and mountains. The initial language and writing style hint at a child-like theme used in this section. This device invites the reader to sit back and enjoy the poem without the pressure to understand complex words and structure.
...new right away I could relate it since English is my second language. In this poem there is a combination of the two languages I know, English and Spanish, which then converts into a new language Spanglish. Many Latino teenagers and children, like me, speak English at work and school and speak Spanish mostly when they are at home. Therefore, the way we Latino people speak is almost like the way Ms. Valdez wrote this poem. This poem is also a reality in the lives of those who migrate to the United States. Many immigrants see that everything is different and new. They also see that they have to slowly adapt to the new environment. Through Gina’s choice of words and imagery, she makes the Latino audience feel more serene with the American Language and culture. All of the humor, imagery, and similes used in this poem made this poem much more enjoyable and relatable.
In the poem “Mexican is Not a Noun”, it seems as if the author, Francisco Alarcon, is letting the readers know that the word “Mexican” depicts an action word instead of a person, place, or thing. The structure of the poem is parallel. Up under the title of the poem, there is information regarding how some Mexican women were arrested for showing solidarity. I perceived this information as a reason why the poem contained short lines as if Alarcon’s view of the cannery workers were short and to the point. It seems very obvious that the writer is upset and wrote just what his thoughts were about the strike at the cannery. The Mexicans do not seem to be treated fairly. It seems as if Alarcon writes the poem to tell how Mexicans had to live a life