Poetry Question 5/11
While some poems focus exclusively on a personal or private experience, others reflect on
the place of the individual in the larger human community. In the work of at least two poets,
explore the ways in which poems have conveyed the poet’s sense of the world beyond the private
sphere.
In Naomi Shihab Nye's poetry, she talks a lot about her Arabic culture, heritage, families relations, and also adapting to new surroundings. Many of her poems tell stories about the experiences of being Arabic in a community that is not always accepting. She tells us that many Arabs are strong minded people that are accepting of others even when others do not accept them. Arabs are incredibly adaptive to their surrounding, but they do indeed try to find areas where they can be themselves without having to press their culture on others.
The last time he moved, I got a phone call,
My father, in Arabic, chanting a song
I'd never heard. "What's that?"
He took me out back to the new yard.
There, in the middle of Dallas, Texas,
a tree with the largest, fattest,
sweetest fig in the world.
"It's a figtree song!" he said,
plucking his fruits like ripe tokens,
emblems, assurance
of a world that was always his own.
In this stanza, in the poem "My Father and the Fig Tree" Naomi Nye says how her father has finally found a place away from his home where fig trees grow. The trees grew naturally in the warm Texas climate. He calls his daughter in extreme happiness that he finally found fig trees in the new place they are living. This is important to know that the trees where not planted, because her father never wanted to change his surrounds. Instead, he wanted to find a place where he could be himself. In the poem, Naomi says how in all the other places they lived, her father never found fig trees. He could of simply planted one, but this would not be a natural occurrence, and he didn't want to change the environment to become more in sync with his Arabic culture.He never wanted other to feel uncomfortable and have to adaptation to him and his family in the area. He simply wanted to find a place where he could be himself, and he finally found it in Dallas Texas.
the place of the individual in the larger human community. In the work of at least two poets,
explore the ways in which poems have conveyed the poet’s sense of the world beyond the private
sphere.
In Naomi Shihab Nye's poetry, she talks a lot about her Arabic culture, heritage, families relations, and also adapting to new surroundings. Many of her poems tell stories about the experiences of being Arabic in a community that is not always accepting. She tells us that many Arabs are strong minded people that are accepting of others even when others do not accept them. Arabs are incredibly adaptive to their surrounding, but they do indeed try to find areas where they can be themselves without having to press their culture on others.
The last time he moved, I got a phone call,
My father, in Arabic, chanting a song
I'd never heard. "What's that?"
He took me out back to the new yard.
There, in the middle of Dallas, Texas,
a tree with the largest, fattest,
sweetest fig in the world.
"It's a figtree song!" he said,
plucking his fruits like ripe tokens,
emblems, assurance
of a world that was always his own.
In this stanza, in the poem "My Father and the Fig Tree" Naomi Nye says how her father has finally found a place away from his home where fig trees grow. The trees grew naturally in the warm Texas climate. He calls his daughter in extreme happiness that he finally found fig trees in the new place they are living. This is important to know that the trees where not planted, because her father never wanted to change his surrounds. Instead, he wanted to find a place where he could be himself. In the poem, Naomi says how in all the other places they lived, her father never found fig trees. He could of simply planted one, but this would not be a natural occurrence, and he didn't want to change the environment to become more in sync with his Arabic culture.He never wanted other to feel uncomfortable and have to adaptation to him and his family in the area. He simply wanted to find a place where he could be himself, and he finally found it in Dallas Texas.
Today the headlines clot in my blood.
A little Palestinian dangles a truck on the front page.
Homeless fig, this tragedy with a terrible root
is too big for us. What flag can we wave?
I wave the flag of stone and seed,
table mat stitched in blue.
This stanza from the poem "Blood" is incredibly important, because it shows the perception of Arabic people from others. Since the terrorist attack on 9/11, both Muslims and Arabs have been subject to face scrutiny in their community. This stanza comes from an Arabs from of view, and how the headlines in the news outlets clot her brain, and basically make her feel terrible that this is how many perceive Arabic people to be. This entire poem's message is about how true arabs are nothing like how they are portrayed on the news. This is important to know because in society today, Arabs are judged by many and not truly accepted in the communities they live in. Nye is trying to reach us and tell us how real Arabs and Muslims really are through her poetry.
Comments
Post a Comment