"One Today"- Poem Analysis Richard Blanco is a Cuban- American poet who was given the oppurunity to write an inaugaration poem for Barack Obama's second swearing-in. He wrote a poem titled "One Today" that praised the good and unique things about the United States and also the everyday people who's daily routines help to make America the proud country that it is. Blanco uses several rhetorical devices throughout "One Today", more so in the first few stanzas. An example of figurative language he used was the repetition of certain words or similar words in order to create a flow within the poem. "My face, your face, millions of faces in morning's mirrors" is a line in the poem that best represents this. Blanco also uses personification …show more content…
I think the tone and voice that this poem has is that of pride and patriotism. The author does this by outlining the good qualities that the United States has to offer. However he does this is in such away that it does not sound like bragging, because he does not boast about all of the beauty or things that America is known for but rather the people who work to make it this way and how these things bring them together. "One Today" is of course written in a formal manner because of the occasion that that it was written for. That is why it does not contain any humour, abbreveations or informal language. I think that the voice that the author used in this poem fit the occasion perfectly because it was straight forward, easily understandable and relatable to any American citizen. The sentence structure of this poem is unlike a lot of poems that you might see where the lines are of equal length and contain the same amount of sylables. Rather than taking that approach, Blanco's poem contained senteneces, and lines that were all of different length. For example, in the second stanza blanco included two very long lines that included dashes and comma's because he was creating a list. Some of the very short lines feautured throughout the poem occur beacause the sentence was too long to fit into the line before and was continued in the next line. After I applied all of these craft techniques to the poem "One Today" it helped me
Luis uses lots and lots of syntax within this poem, some of it goes unnoticed,
The poem I chose to examine was the "Inaugural Poem" by Maya Angelou. This poem was written specifically for one occasion; President Bill Clinton's inauguration ceremony in January, 1993. Through the usage of several poetic devices, Maya Angelou enhances the meaning of her poem.
Similarly, in Williams' poem, "The Great Figure," he reinforces the idea of brevity over elaboration in order to draw the reader into a moment of pure objectivism. Williams employs a visually disjointed poetic pattern to express the minute details of an ordinary scene. Between line six and line nine, Williams places single words as enjambed lines. The power of each word is emphasized by its solitary line placement. The lines "firetruck," "moving," and "unheeded" each ends with mute sounds (Williams 1). The sound at the end of each line creates a hard stop, further emphasizing the solitary power of each word. Additionally, "moving" and "tense" are placed at the center of the poem each shaping both the motion and mood of the poetic landscape (Williams 1). The structure of "The Great Figure" carries the observant reader swiftly through each component of the scene. The reader's attention is drawn between different objects by using prepositions. An example of prepositional use to direct attention occurs in the line "on a red" (Williams 1). When using the objectivist style, the perception of the poet is emphasized
The author begins the poem with a yearning for America to be the America once again. In the first few lines of the poem, he writes, “Let it be great strong land of love”, “never kings connive nor tyrants scheme”, “O, let my land be a land where liberty”, “But opportunity is real, and life is free,” and “equality is in the air we breathe”, evokes the dream of those who came to America because they thought of it as a haven where they could seek for the freedom they dreamed for and could be safe from the persecution in their homelands. In reality, this image of America that every immigrant had is patently false. In contrast, the earliest Americans practiced slavery and also destroyed the land of native peoples to build their own settlement. America has only been a “dog eat dog” world where the poor people, Native Americans, slaves, and immigrants, are “crushed”.
The speaker is very confident. The tone and language used throughout this poem makes this character trait very evident. For example, when the speaker says, “They send me to the kitchen when company comes but I laugh and eat well and grow strong” (1039). One can imagine that being sent into the kitchen when company comes can be very embarrassing and could even make someone feel less. However, the speaker, based on the response, does not look get bothered or discouraged by this action. Instead, he says laughs about it adds that he will only get stronger which shows confidence and strength. I believe that the speaker is a great spokesperson for the African-American citizens because as previously stated, he exudes confidence and strength which
In this era, America was trying to form its own poetic identity. "...and poetic achievement was viewed as the standard by which a national culture was measured. The desire to create a distinctly American literature consequently took on a special urgency in the realm of poetry," (pg. 937). "But surely, many reasoned, a nation without its own poets and poetry could not be a real nation," (pgs. 937-938). Because of this, Daniel Whitaker "simply announced that American poetry in fact existed," (pg. 937). He was not alone in this opinion, as "so did many others view the writing of poetry as a patriotic act, a necessary part of building a new and culturally independent country," (pg. 938).
Kinsley was born on September 17, 2015 at 9:24pm. She was born prematurely and four and a half pounds under weight. Due to this, Kinsley needed a few days of neonatal care to deal with jaundice and to ensure that Kinsley could regulate her body temperature. After just a few days of treatment Kinsley’s Apgar score increased by two points growing from a six to an eight, And my partner and I were able to bring her home. Because, of Kinsleys premature birth my partner and I were a bit worried about her and were consistently caring for her. This consistent caring led to a strong bond of attachment being built between Kinsley and I. I acted as Kinsley primary feeder, and because of this the attachment theory argues Kinslaey is greater attached
When you first look at the poem the first thing you notice is that the first three verses are of an identical structure on the page. In them the first few lines of each one of the narrator’s associates are mistreated in brutal circumstances. In the first verse Akanni is beaten up and put in the military’s jeep. The poet uses personification to describe how Akanni was 'stuffed ... down the belly' of the jeep, this personifies the jeep as a hungry predator. The next three lines of the stanza and the next two, convey how the narrator feels about the action that has taken place. Using the metaphor ‘So long they don’t take the yam from my savouring mouth?’ It proposes the thought of what should I care if it does not affect me, this relates to the title, ‘not my business’.
In “I Hear America Singing”, Whitman hears the “varied carols” of all the people who contribute to the life and culture of America. This poem express that Whitman’s love for American and he was full of confidence for American contribution to be better. In “O Captain! My Captain!”
Richard Blanco is the son of two immigrants from Cuba: he grew up in a Cuban cohort in Miami, Florida. It was instilled in him at a young age that his ancestry and America were one in the same. They were both magical. His foreign home was talked about often, never condemned, while America was their physical home and their place to earn a better life than their previous one could afford them. Blanco’s poem, “One Today,” exhibits his cultural pride, optimism, and gratitude for life and his country: The United States.
Have you ever felt like you were born to do something? Since I was born I felt like I was born to play baseball, but after that I would love to be a broadcaster. That is why I have chosen to analyze “The Broadcaster’s Poem” by Alden Nowlan. Analyzing a poem is not an easy thing to accomplish for me. As I very rarely analyze anything I read, but you should try everything once.
Tyrone was this 6 foot 220 lb. black man who alawys wore a skull cap no matter where he went. Man if you saw him you would think that he would insert steriods everyday and then goes and works out for about 48 hours straight. He reached down on the table to grab a remote, he slid a bright orange lighter. Once he got a hold of the tiny remot he switched on the television to 9 news KOA.
The Good Gray Poet, Walt Whitman, is one of the giants of American literature. He wrote with passion and used his own life experiences to start the spark of his greatest works in literature. Whitman was strongly influenced by the United States and during his life he witnessed and wrote about many of defining moments of American history.
Another important attribute of this poem is the rhythm and tempo that is kept throughout the poem. It does not stick to a strict syllable count per line, so in this way, the poem flows quite freely, and conveys the speaker’s thoughts in a more natural and informal manner. The sound varies from soft to loud, in particular, descending in inflection on the final lines of each stanza. The listener is able to understand the feelings of the speaker through the tone and intonation, which is an essential part in transmitting meaning and
Therefore, through the use of rhetorical devices such as anaphora, oxymoron and metaphors, the message of the text that love drives one to make their identity known is effectively conveyed.