Part of Speech: Verb

Definition: a facial expression, often ugly or contorted, that indicates disapproval, pain, etc.

Source: Dictionary.com

Found in All American Girl by Julia Alvarez

In this poem, the speaking is talking about learning a new language and culture. She talks about locking herself in the bathroom to practice and perfect matching her words and her facial expressions. She implies knowing what the word means and feels like in her native language but she had yet to feel it in English.  Understanding the meaning of the word painted a vivid picture in my mind of a girl struggling to understand and adapt to a new culture.

Part of Speech: Verb

Definition: to look with a sideways or oblique glance, especially suggestive of lascivious interest or sly and malicious intention:

Source: Dictionary.com

Found in All American Girl by Julia Alvarez

In this poem, the speaking is talking about learning a new language and culture. She talks about locking herself in the bathroom to practice and perfect matching her words and her facial expressions. I’ve heard the word leer before but wasn’t quite sure what it meant. Understanding the meaning of the word helped me understand these lines in the poem and painted a clear picture of a girl locked in bathroom practicing facial expressions in the mirror.

Noun

Definition- a rhythmic sequence or flow of sounds in language

Source: Merriam Webster Dictionary

Found in “Not A Mile” by Andrew Grace  “My students are sincerely trying to analyze death: its cadence and anaphora, …. ”

Knowing the definition of cadence helped me understand what the speaker was trying to let their students analyze. I think the speaker was trying to use cadence as a pattern, that they continue to see the same thing happening over and over again. Constantly happening, I think the speaker is referring to almost dying and reviving .

Part of speech: Noun

Definition: A lascivious, knowing, or wanton look.

Source: Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Found in: Line 6 of “”All American Girl,”” by Julia Alvarez: “trying to match my face with words in my new language: grimace, leer, disgust, disdain…”

Knowing the definition of the word leer help me understand the rout the speaker took in the poem, the reader can understand that the speaker isn’t speaking in a positive manner towards American culture.

Part of speech: adverb

Definition: with gentleness, kindness, and affection

Source: Google Dictionary

Found In: Line 1 of “Folding My Clothes” By Julia Alvarez : “Tenderly she would take them down and fold the arms in and fold again where my back should go until it made a small tight square of my chest…”

The definition of the word Tenderly helped me understand how much some of these clothes the speaker is folding may mean to her.

Part of Speech: Noun

Definition: A facial expression usually of disgust, disapproval or pain

Source: Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Found in Line 4-6 of “All – American Girl” by Julia Alvarez: ” I’d come from somewhere else. I locked myself / in the bathroom, trying to match my face / with words in my new language: grimace, leer / ”

The definition of the word grimace helped me understand what was being in said in lines 4-6. I believe that the speaker tried to paint this image of herself so that way she could fit into society and yet, she felt disgusted in trying to change who she was.

Part of Speech: verb

Definition: Not pay proper attention to; disregard.

Source: Oxford Dictionary

Found in the line 5  of stanza 15 on “Puerto Rican Obituary” by Pedro Pietri

The word “neglect” in that stanza shows that those Puerto Ricans give up the time of  studying their own culture to get used to the society. In order to be employed, they spent more time on learning English.

Part of Speech: noun

Definition: A person whose business is preparing dead bodies for burial or cremation and making arrangements for funerals.

Source: Oxford Dictionary

Found in the line 3  of stanza 11 on “Puerto Rican Obituary” by Pedro Pietri

When morticians have job, it means somebody is dead. On this poem, this means those Puerto Ricans have an unsecured life.

Part of Speech: Adjective

Definition: Relating to of characterized by Melody; Plesant-sounding.

Source: Oxford Dictionary

Found in the Last line of ” I hear America Singing ” by Walt Whitman

This word was useful to look up because in the poem since there is a lot of singing, the word “melodious”  makes it sound like the singing sounds great. Especially putting this word at the end of the poem could also mean the singing throughout the poem was Melodious.

part of speech: noun

Definition: A boy who leads the animal or animals drawing a plough, a boy who drives a plough; (hence more generally) a boy from a rural labouring class, a country boy.

source: Oxford dictionaries

Found in “I hear America Singing” by Walt Whitman, line 11

This definition gives context to what Whitman considers ‘America singing’.