Stanza three again shows doubtfulness about the mother's love. We see how the mother locks her child in because she fears the modern world. She sees the world as dangers and especially fears men. Her fear of men is emphasized by the italics used. In the final line of the stanza, the mother puts her son on a plastic pot. This is somewhat symbolic of the consumeristic society i.e. manufactured and cheap.…
In “Song of the Son” a significant imagery can be on stanza 2 line 6…
This displays how the character which is obviously the mother is speaking and it also displays her anger and frustration. The poem continues on and the point of view changes and as the reader, I became the spectator. “So she did. She slapped him across the face. / And you could hear the snap of flesh against the flesh…” (6-7). Understanding that both the poet and the character are speaking in this poem occurs early on and it isn’t until the poem redirects back to first person point of view, that it is…
The persona Roethke creates discloses the incidence of child abuse to the reader by using particular words in his poem. The persona says "I hung on like death: / such waltzing was not easy" to show he is being beaten badly but is still alive (Roethke 3,4). He also uses the phrase "battered on…
Waters’ ambiguous language is seen throughout the poem, indicating how the boy uses the story as a safe haven to escape from the violence in his home. This can be seen in the fourth stanza, “blouses torn from their hangers/ the crazy shouting among rooms/ The boy found it impossible to see/ which passage led to safety”. The use of “the boy” in line 15 is ambiguous; blurring the line between the story of the narrator and the lost boy. The use of “the boy” is a symbol for the narrator, as he inserts himself into the story of the boy lost in the caves. Another example of ambiguous language is seen in lines 21-24. The speaker’s father physically abuses his wife, “...my father gripping her/ too tightly by, both arms”. Waters then switches to the…
Vivid imagery is used through out the poem to demonstrate where Trethewey’s resentment towards her stepfather comes from. The last line of the poem reveals why her mother is suffering and gives us the explanation in a very powerful, yet subtle way. She states “what’s inside—mother, stepfather’s fist?” (line 15). Here she’s telling us…
The First StanzaMoore chooses animals or birds to replace the existence of the world of man, there is no human but animals working like humans yet keeping their animal traits. Moore constructs in this poem and many other poems, a positive portrait of feminine figure. One of the strongest is, not surprisingly, the mother, almost all of them in animal form, who…
3. The tone and mood of the poem are mysterious at the beginning when it is not clear what is really going on, but kind of uncomfortable at the end when the reader identifies what the children had done and how they have made their mother feel embarrassed from their actions. Maxine Tynes uses imagery, comparison and connotation ("dipped in the brown skin magic") to convey this mood and tone.…
The sixth and final stanza involves the poet realising her very rebellious actions. The little child whimpers upon her father’s arm “for…
The second stanza of the poem is about the teen boy and what he will do, while his mother is…
However we learn that the child, who is now an adult looking back on these events, now acknowledges the hard work and compassionate deeds of the father. The poems structure, a sonnet, allows readers to learn about the dynamic relationship between the father and child. Because the poem is a sonnet it only furthers the argument that it is a love poem. Hayden used his own personal experience as inspiration as he had an estranged relationship with both his foster parents but was specifically worse with his father (Encyclopedia of World Biography). However now Hayden looks back as an adult and has the narrator in the poem parallel his own ideology. Hayden constantly visited his biological parents and was under appreciative of his foster parents. Along with this his foster family was poor and his family most likely worked hard to give him a decent life. However at the time Hayden didn't appreciate it and only as an adult realized his father's loving deeds towards him. Many children don't appreciate their parents until they are more mature or adults and this Hayden is no acceptation to this. The poem is a love poem that shows both the affection of the father and child, now an adult. The different perspective of the narrators creates a vivid image of a child who lives an unsatisfying life due to the father's emotions, which the child sees as hostile. The tone of the poem changes from being, at first sympathetic, then switching to an unappreciative tone, and finally switching to a compassionate tone. However it is at the end of the poem where the narrator acknowledges their father's behavior and finally appreciates it. The narrator even goes to imply that they were wrong by not appreciating their father in the final lines of the…
his/her innocence. The second comment shows the ideologically simple thinking of child. That kind of comment is comparable to "I want the world to have peace to everyone is happy" comment common among middle-schoolers and beauty queens. In the next stanza the dialogue of the mom contrasts that of the kid. She is the voice of reason and caution and the kid is the voice of pro-activity and enthusiasm. She lists the dangers one by one, understands the problem, and gives a solution. She is very much a common sense figure. It also goes so far as to parallel the two voices for the black community at that time. One voice was proactive and wanted to march for freedom and the other wanted to kneel and pray rather than stand up for their rights.…
The diction chosen in this poem are not only for the readers to understand the situation but are also very powerful and meaningful. In the beginning of the poem, the protagonist is “counting bells knelling classes to a close”. The word knell is the sound made by a bell at a funeral. This builds up the tone of the poem, and hints the readers about the rest of the poem. Further into the poem, the protagonist “met [his] father crying” and his mom “coughed out angry tearless signs”. The diction of “tearless” strongly contrasts to the diction of “crying”. This conveys that the mother is too upset to cry, when the dad is actually letting his feelings out.…
The stanzas has four line, when you read the poem you can tell that it cold so it might be winter time. When she say that the child feet is bleeding because it has no shoes on its feet. And when people see the child…
In the first stanza, the boy says "And I am black, but O! my soul is white". Here exists a metaphor where the boy relates goodness and decency to the color white. He says that even though his color is black, which in this case symbolizes ruthlessness, his heart is decent and white. He goes on saying, "White as an angel" which is a simile comparing his heart with the pureness of an angel. He tries to say that the outside color doesn't determine if a person is good or evil and inferior. There is also several instances of imagery in the second stanza where the mother kisses him, and teaches him "underneath a tree" which symbolizes the nature and the open where they live in. The third to the fifth stanza exists a change in the speaker where the mother now is the speaker. She teaches the black boy that in the east and with the rising sun is where God lives. She says, "And gives his light, and gives his heat away" which is a metaphor comparing how god's love is like the heat and light given off by the sun. She explains to the boy that because he is used…