Stepfan Hospedales
Essay 2
English 1121(Prof. Scanlan)
April 11, 2020
The Unraveling Of a Portion of âThe City in Which I Love Youâ
In the poem âThe City in Which I Love Youâ (pg. 357) by Li-Young Lee, the speaker elucidates a desire to see someone again. It is unknown if Lee is portraying as the speaker in this poem, but it doesnât hinder the message that is being conveyed. The speaker delineates that someone, possibly a loved one is missing from he or sheâs life, hence the sad tone. By utilizing techniques of free verse, the speaker built a platform to express that feeling of living in a city void of a loved one. Â The first two lines of the poem, âMorning comes to this city vacant of you. Pages and windows flare, and you are not thereâ are beneficial to the poem, because it is essentially a small summary of the entire poem. It contains elements that describe the emotion, the plot, and the message conveyed through out the rest of the poem. These lines accurately represents the literary terms of symbolism, oxymoron and assonance to highlight despair and loss. My explication of these two lines will construe how the speaker uses happy words first, to then deviate to sadness.
From the first line, the word âmorningâ insinuates a happy tone. It symbolizes a new beginning, new opportunities to take advantage of, and new memories to forge. There is a cheer, a certain happiness of saying âgood morningâ to someone, or vice versa. It feels as a promise that this day will be spectacular. Moving forward in the first line, âcity vacantâ is a classic example of oxymoron. The word âcityâ denotes an inhabited place of greater size, population, or importance than a town or village. Next to it is the word âvacantâ which classifies as ânot filledâ when relating to a person. Â Both âcityâ and âvacantâ are contradictory terms in conjunction, therefore an oxymoron. The speaker possibly made an oxymoron out of the two words to indicate the shift from happy to sad. The word âvacantâ can be gaze upon as a sad term, since it suggests emptiness and loss. Ultimately, the speaker provides this first line to describe a new rudiment with a vacant spot of the speakerâs heart yearning to be filled by this loved one.
The next line also displayed a shift from a happy tone to a depressed tone. Starting with the first phrase âPages and windows flareâ exemplify a happy tone, because it alludes to daybreak, a time in the morning where daylight first appears and shine bright on objects like pages and windows. As mention before, things associated with morning are essentially positive. The denotation of âflareâ suggest this, since the word âflareâ  is a sudden brief burst of flame, or light. Additionally, the word âflareâ connotes life. Humans tend to be brimming with happiness during times of the day especially in the morning, because waking up alive to see another day tends to bring a brief joyful emotion. There is also the word âwindowâ that emphasizes opportunities, and fresh starts, which the speaker believe it is there however, the loved one is not there to bask in this fresh start with the speaker. The emotion from that melancholy revelation, âand you are not thereâ depicts the speakerâs grief of the vacancy of he or sheâs heart. From another angle, but similar âand you are not thereâ may emphasize  pages and windows flaring a sight that the speaker find exquisite, but canât look at it with that loved one, since he or she is not present to view such a beauty with the speaker. Assonance in this line came from flare and there, within the letter e.
The explication of the first two lines did indeed display the shifts between happy and depressed tones. The connotation of certain words construe a deeper understanding of the grief the speakers feels, and even hints at what a happy morning could have been if this loved one was around to enjoy it with the speaker. The speaker also seem to emphasize new beginnings, and new opportunities in those lines, that suggest that new great things are in the process for the speaker, and yearns for this loved one to be there, only to be disappointed. Though a new day always suppose to signify a promise for calm, happy day, the tone and language used in these two lines validates that a new day doesnât necessary mean a good, exciting one, but yet another day of sadness and depression.
(761 words)
1.) Is the title of the poem and full authorâs 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?
Symbolism , assonance, denotation, and connotation.
4.)Copy and paste your two favorite sentences from the students essay. Then explain why you like them.
âMorning comes to this city vacant of you. Pages and windows flare, and you are not thereâ are beneficial to the poem, because it is essentially a small summary of the entire poem. – This is one of my favorite sentences from the essay because he tells the reader what the poem is about by using those two lines.
“Moving forward in the first line, ‘city vacant’ is a classic example of oxymoron.” –
This is my second favorite line because I liked the way he described why “city vacant” was an oxymoron.
5âCopy and paste two sentences that are confusing. Then explain what is confusing about them.
There was no sentence that was confusing. Everything was understandable.
6âMake two concrete suggestions.
I think that the word “gaze” in the second paragraph (second to last sentence should be “gazed)
I think this is a good essay. There’s just minor spelling errors.
1âIs the title of the poem and full authorâs name provided in the first or second sentence? Be specific if something is missing.
Yes provided both title and authorâs name.
2âDoes the student provide the two lines he or she will explicate?
Yes.
3âWhat poetry terms does the student examine?
symbolism, oxymoron and assonance
4âCopy 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 wayâI get it completely)
âMy explication of these two lines will construe how the speaker uses happy words first, to then deviate to sadness.â
This sentence establishes the key points of both happy and sad.
âAdditionally, the word âflareâ connotes life. Humans tend to be brimming with happiness during times of the day especially in the morning, because waking up alive to see another day tends to bring a brief joyful emotion.â
These two sentences combine to give such a powerful statement and example.
5âCopy 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)
âStarting with the first phrase âPages and windows flareâ exemplify a happy tone, because it alludes to daybreak, a time in the morning where daylight first appears and shines bright on objects like pages and windows.â
Maybe consider talking about pages?
âAssonance in this line came from flare and there, within the letter e.â
Maybe explore more on the letter âeâ?
6âMake two concrete suggestions. (example: expand the range of connotations rather than name one connotation; example: instead of using the verb âlikeâ three time in the first paragraph, consider different varying the idea by using âloveâ or âcan relate toâ; example: when you revise this, change the lower case âiâ to âIââProf. Scanlan will definitely say something about that.)
Your thesis maybe can be in âwhile x, i think yâ format
Great draft! Keep expanding your ideas.