Culturally Poetic

heathenly Poetic Cultural identity is the collective disposition of a people usually associated with a legitimate group or assimilation, or that of an individual in relation to certain behavior, thoughts, and influences. (Central Michigan University) These beliefs and sh bed characteristics c oncede a group to establish a commonalty ground and in turn make them extraordinary to early(a)s. A cultural identity may be national, ethnic, or even generational. Our identity is based upon our differences when compared to other groups.Cultural identity is essentially defined by differences rather than equivalentnesses to others. The specifiable aspects of farming are historic, linguistic, and custodytal. These cardinal factors may also be found in poetry and are related to the views that an author wishes to express. In my essay, I testa custodyt seek to identify ele ments of culture in the next poetrys Bully, What its the similar to Be a Black fe mannish child, egotism-P itys Closet, Lords Supper of Passage, and The Panther, In Martin Espadas metrical composition, Bully cultural identity is spare by means ofout the length of the numbers.The meter is introduced by way of life of location, the clip period, and the year, In the school auditorium / the Theodore Roosevelt statue / is nostalgic for the Spanish American War (713). The poet depicted objects seemingly focus on change inwardly American beau monde. This idea is observably identifiable in the following stanza But this instant the Roosevelt school is pronounced Hernandez. Puerto Rico has invaded Roosevelt with its army of Spanish-singing children in the hallways, brown children devouring the stockpiles of the cafeteria, children painting Taino ancestors that leap peeled across murals. 714) Espada effectively provides contrast between Roosevelts belief of ethnocentrism and the invasion of the Spanish colonies by comparing the immigration of Puerto Rican families in a 1987 Boston, M assachusetts. At the poems ending we are able to take to a revenge of sorts with the children come up toly invading Roosevelt himself. The following stanza is irony at its best and fixs the element of culture and change to the forefront, Roosevelt is surrounded by all the faces he ever shoved in eugenic spite and ill-omened as mongrels, skin of one race, hair and cheekbones of another. (714)This phone number of irony is representative of the fact that change once experienced on the island of Puerto Rico now in like humansner is prevalent deep down America. Roosevelt is declared the bully by his conquest and those that were once without power are now empowered through change and assimilation. This poem uses historical factors to establish a cultural identity. Patricia smiths, What its Like to Be a Black miss (for Those of You Who Arent) approaches the idea of a black misfire fitting a woman at a time when race matters were still prevalent. The author begins with a direct but conversation like savour to declare the importance of what is be impartedFirst of all, its being 9 years senior and/ quality like youre not finished, like your edges are chaotic, like thithers something, e actuallything, wrong(672) The theme here is puberty based changes that takes place according to a black girl. The girl smellings incomplete because her body is experiencing changes. Smith goes on to exposit the girls liking to fit into society by wanting to acquire the physical traits of a white woman. The young girl is displeased with being black and seeks to change her air its dropping food glossinessing In your eyes to make them blue and suffering Their bring down in silence.Its popping a watery White mophead over the kinks of your hair and primping in front of the mirrors that deny your reflection(672) She goes on to describe the Black Power Movement and the Motown era by mentioning its flame and fists and life according to Motown. As a blossoming young gi rl come near womanhood she finds it not only difficult to make out a woman, but a black woman. Finally, the girl looks forward to every womans vision of becoming a bride. This is evidenced in the last-place three lines its finally having a man reach out for you/then caving in/ approximately his fingers. The girl anticipates a completed transition when she allow for become married. This poem uses mental aspects to form cultural identity during a time or racial tension. Michelle Boisseaus, Self-Pitys Closet focuses on the way that society views beauty, self-image, and self-confidence. Boisseau uses figurative speech, imagery, and apprehendd sounds throughout the poem to bring light to a poor self image. The theme of this poem is equated to as the poem states self-pity. What seemingly appears as others judging us blinds us to the fact that we assess ourselves far worse than others would.The closet so to speak is inside the individual feelings of Depression, loneliness, anger, s hame, envy (999) are the fanny of self-pity. Feelings of self-loathing and self-hurt are evident in the following lines afterwards your vast and painful declarations subtle humiliations creeping up like the smell of wet upholstery, dial tone in the card, the conviction that your friends never really love you(1000) The author seeks to express an national fight a person struggles with when worried about the way others perceive them. The narrator uses the words, dial tone in the brain to describe a continuous mode of disturbance within herself.She is unable to part with a feeling of inadequacy and is therefore trapped by her very own self pity. This poem uses mental aspects by associating self-pity with not being able to identify with the posture quo of our cultural identity. In Sharon Oldss, Rite of Passage a mother examines the behavior of her son and his friend during his natal day ships company. The title of the poem allows the reader to relate the rite of passage being the journey that her son will take toward manhood. Male maturity is the theme of the poem. What makes the poem ironic is her ability to view them as men though they are but sextet and seven-spot years doddery.The following lines are quite thinkable to any mother noticing the machismo nature of young boys As the guests arrive at my sons party they gather in the living way of life scant(p) men, men in first grade with swimming jaws and chins. Hands in pockets, they stand close to jostling, jockeying for place, dispirited fights breaking out and calming. star says to another How old are you? Six. Im seven. So? (811) In the last line we experience a ordinary conversation between two boys that are probable sizing each other up the six year old responds to the seven year old So? The mother then goes onto visualizing the boys as men with careers by stating, They clear their/throats a lot, a room of small bankers/they fold their arms and frown One cannot help but to envision the bo ys as men at a table matching marbles at an older age. The birthday boy as if chairman of the bank settles the dispute between his friends in the following lines speaks up as a troops/for the sake of the group. /We could easily kill a biennial old,/he says in his clear voice. The group agrees and the children paying back to playing or as the mother describes, they remit and get down to playing war, celebrating my sons life. Just as Smiths What its Like to Be a Black little girl focused on a girl come up maturity so did Olds Rite of Passage. Olds uses mature vocabulary and terms to equate the behavior expressed by the boys as being their way of coming into manhood. The boys feel a need to intimidate each other with physical threats which showcases their immaturity on their way to adulthood. This poem identifies with the culturally defined behavior of a male having to prove he is a man. In Rainier Rilkes poem The Panther the poet uses the catamount a wild animal to express personification and similes to express confinement.An provable reason for the panther being the subject is because its color represents a seemingly dark nature and contributes to the poems tone. A panther is also cognise to be a solitary creature that jeopardize out its prey. The use of the panther represents a theme of entrapment that most readers are able to identify with. The panthers discontentment and longing to be loosen from his troubles is expressed as the cages parallel bars. He has become so accustomed to seeing the bars that he no longer sees anything but what appears right away in front of him it is as if he has muddled himself. The panthers desperation in a sense mirrors human face-to-faceity.Rilkes offers her interpretation of this poetically by saying, His vision, from the constantly passing bars, has grown so weary that it cannot hold anything else. It seems to him there are a thousand bars and behind the bars, no world. (674) Rilkes makes us aware that althou gh the panther is confined we are still able to see its power and its beauty. though caged he is still himself though he feels paralyzed by the cage this feeling is interpreted in the following lines, As he paces in secure circles, over and over/the movement of his powerful napped strides/is like a ritual dance around a center/in which a aright will stands paralyzed. The idea of confinement is relatable to a captive or anyone trapped in a built in bed with seemingly no way out. The panther yearns for more than and this is evidenced by his pacing and boredom with his life. In the end the panther has lost his soul and his fermentation is reduced to the opening of his eyes ever so slightly. It seems that the panther takes his final glance that touches him inwardly to the acme his body becomes tense and his heart is excited for a split second until he realizes his situation and no longer bothers to react. This idea is well expressed in the final stanza.Only at times, the curtain of the pupils lifts, quietly. An image enters in, rushes down through the tensed, arrested muscles, plunges into the heart and is gone. Rilke in The Panther and Boisseau in her Self-Pitys Closet both convey the message of an intimate struggle within their subjects. The poems are able to speak to the reader on a personal level and make the company of human emotion with their dark but personal nature. The Panther embodied a feeling of weariness and surrender that human often time diddle in not one but within all societies and cultures.Often times we find ourselves staying within the box or the status quo instead of stepping foreign of the box-in this case the cage. In comparison, the five poems that I assimilate chosen to review are full of clashing and take on a deeper meaning. They touch on outward appearances as well as national feelings. They were all able to bring out identifiable aspects that we are all able to connect with through either personal or secondary experien ces. In contrast, Bully came from a historical standpoint, while What its Like to Be a Black Girl and Rite of Passage focused on what is real by society.Lastly, Self-Pitys Closet and The Panther dealt with inner struggles and the way that we tend to view ourselves when we take an inner look. Works Cited Central Michigan University. Cultural identity operator as an Instrument. 8 May 2006. 3 November 2009 . Boisseau, Michelle. Self Pitys Closet. Mayer, Michael. The squelch Bedford Introduction to Literature. Bedford/St. Martins, 2009. 999-1000. Espada, Martin. Bully. Mayer, Michael. The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. Bedford/St. Martins, 2009. 713-714. Olds, Sharon. Rite of Passage. Mayer, Michael. The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. Bedford/St. Martins, 2009. 811-812. Rilke, Rainier Maria. The Panther. Mayer, Michael. The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. Bedford/St. Martins, 2009. 674. Smith, Patricia. What Its Like to Be a Black Girl. Mayer , Michael. The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. Bedford/St. Martins, 2009. 672-73