Raysi Perez
Poetry Explication
English 1121 (Prof. Scanlan)
April 12, 2020
Poetry Explication: “Immigrant Mother (lovely to me)”
The poem “Immigrant Mother (lovely to me),” by Taiyo Na is a very long formal verse poem and it is also a song that Na wrote. In the poem “Immigrant Mother (lovely to me) by Taiyo Na, Na is thanking his mother for everything she has done for her children, he’s also understanding everything that she did when he was young. How she went through a lot to make sure that her kids had food and a good education. How she started dating horrible guys because she felt like she had nobody. It was hard for her to communicate with people since she couldn’t speak English very well. How she worked all the time and barely had any time for herself. The two lines at the beginning of the poem “It takes a whole lot to leave your homeland And raise a few children with your own hands,” show how the mother went through a lot to take care of her children. The poem terms that these two lines show are Enjambment, Assonance, Consonance, Denotation, and Connotation.Â
In the first line, “It takes a whole lot to leave your homeland,” Na shows the readers how his mother had to leave her native land and how it was very difficult for her to leave. In the second line, “And raise a few children with your own hands,” Na shows the readers how his mother had to take care of her children all by herself without anyone helping her out. When both lines are combined, it shows the readers how Na’s mother had to leave her native land to take care of her children and how it was very hard for her to do that since she had to do everything all by herself. In these two lines, there is an Enjambment between the words “Homeland” and “And.” Assonance and Consonance are being used. Assonance is found in the words “own,” “whole,” and “homeland.” Also in the words “Takes” and “raise.” And “homeland,” “hands,” and “And.” Consonance is found in the letter “L,” he used the words “whole,” “Lot,” “Leave,” “Homeland,” and “Children.” Also the letter “S,” he used the words “takes,” “raise,” and “hands.” And the letter “D” he uses the words “Homeland,” “Hands,” and “And.”Â
There are many Denotations and Connotations in these two lines. The word Homeland means a person’s Native Home, the country where someone was born. This reminds me of a loving, happy place where all their family and friends are at. The word Children means someone’s son or daughter, a person someone gave birth to. This reminds me of the responsibility that someone would need to have and how joyful and tiring it is. The word raise has many different definitions but in this poem, raise means to take care of. This reminds me of how hard and challenging it might be to take care of somebody. The word Leave means to go away. This reminds me of how sad, hard, and emotional it can be to leave.
1–Is the title of the poem and full author’s name provided in the first or second sentence? Be specific if something is missing.
– Yes
2–Does the student provide the two lines he or she will explicate?
– Yes
3–What poetry terms does the student examine?
– Enjambment, Assonance, Consonance, Denotation, Connotation, and in the first sentence formal free verse was mentioned which is a poetry term we’ve gone over.
4–Copy and paste your two favorite sentences from the students essay. Then explain why you like them. (example: not only is this an example of the college sentence, this sentence highlights an important poetry term (metaphor) in a very clear way–I get it completely)
– “ When both lines are combined, it shows the readers how Na’s mother had to leave her native land to take care of her children and how it was very hard for her to do that since she had to do everything all by herself.” This was a good sentence, especially the start of it, as we were told from example. Letting the reader know why you mentioned these two lines to begin with.
– “ There are many Denotations and Connotations in these two lines. ” This was a good sentence. This allows the reader to know what this paragraph is going to focus on.
5–Copy and paste two sentences that are confusing. Then explain what is confusing about them. (example: you may have mixed up the terms alliteration and assonance, please check to make sure you have the right term for repeated vowel sounds)
– “ The poem terms that these two lines show are Enjambment, Assonance, Consonance, Denotation, and Connotation. ” This sentence could do some fixing . For example, poetry terms instead of “poem terms.” Also, the capitalizations for the terms you’re using are not needed, throughout your paper, a lot of words were capitalized which is not necessary.
– “ Assonance and Consonance are being used. ” I feel as if, this sentence was rushed in, if that makes any sense. The sentence before it mentions enjambment and then switches over automatically without much explanation.
6–Make two concrete suggestions. (example: expand the range of connotations rather than name one connotation; example: instead of using the verb “like” three time in the first paragraph, consider different varying the idea by using “love” or “can relate to”; example: when you revise this, change the lower case “i” to “I”–Prof. Scanlan will definitely say something about that.)
– Think throughly on one thing before the next.
– Think about adding formal free verse into your body paragraph since you did bring it up. Maybe it will bring significant points to your essay.
Overall Raysi, good start to your draft. I hope you do good on your final draft.
1–Is the title of the poem and full author’s name provided in the first or second sentence? Be specific if something is missing.
Yes
2–Does the student provide the two lines he or she will explicate?
Yes
3–What poetry terms does the student examine?
Enjambment, Assonance, Consonance, Denotation, and Connotation.
4–Copy and paste your two favorite sentences from the students essay. Then explain why you like them. (example: not only is this an example of the college sentence, this sentence highlights an important poetry term (metaphor) in a very clear way–I get it completely)
“How she went through a lot to make sure that her kids had food and a good education.”
“It was hard for her to communicate with people since she couldn’t speak English very well.”
I like theses sentences because as a Chinese I know very well how hard parents work so that their children can grow up healthily and go to school. In parents’ generation, many people cannot go to school because their families have no have money to support them to school , which may be the regret of some parents. So right now a lot of parents work hard to support their children to go to school and have better education. At the same time, as an immigrant, I also know how difficult it is to communicate with others with poor English.
5–Copy and paste two sentences that are confusing. Then explain what is confusing about them. (example: you may have mixed up the terms alliteration and assonance, please check to make sure you have the right term for repeated vowel sounds)
“In the first line, “It takes a whole lot to leave your homeland,” Na shows the readers how his mother had to leave her native land and how it was very difficult for her to leave.”
I didn’t find anything that was confusing on this essay.
I really enjoy reading this essay because some points in this essay make me think of something I heard from my grandmother (how Chinese parents work hard to support their children when they are young, for example: support them to go to school).
6–Make two concrete suggestions. (example: expand the range of connotations rather than name one connotation; example: instead of using the verb “like” three time in the first paragraph, consider different varying the idea by using “love” or “can relate to”; example: when you revise this, change the lower case “i” to “I”–Prof. Scanlan will definitely say something about that.)
In your draft, many poetry terms are capitalized. I think you can change these words to lowercase.
Good work! Good luck on your final draft.