Deadline for this is May 2nd, Saturday, 12 noon.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Section S - Question #2
Choose one song from the "Song Poems" handout. Do a VERY SHORT (150 words max!) literary analysis of this based on Gémino Abad's method (object, manner, devices, effect). Make sure to point out poetic techniques used by the writer (means & devices). Mini-essay format, of course. Include a word count.
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Living like a refugee by Reuben Koroma
ReplyDeletecan be considered a dramatic poem that shows the hard experiences of living like a refugee. The author used metaphors in describing such things such as -you will be fed with unusual diets, sleep in a tarpaulin house Which is so hot, sleep on a tarpaulin mat Which is so cold. The author repeated the words “not easy” twice at the end of the poem to give emphasis on the struggles of being a refugee. The poem can be quite ironic because refugees are people who flee to a foreign country or power to escape danger or persecution and yet they almost feel like being persecuted living like one, experiencing these negative lifestyle of being a refugee. The effect will be for people to realize that living like a refugee won’t be very easy and you can really never be safe.
-Michael Rei Reyes
Lit 14 - S
(148 words)
The song poem, “Small, Blue Thing” by Suzanne Vega, mainly used simile and metaphor. ‘I’ is first compared to a small blue thing like a marble or an eye. The marble is round and not sharp. Since the subject of this song poem is ‘I’ and the ‘I’ is telling the story, this is considered mixed poetry. And the fourth stanza shows how she is doing. It sounds that she does very weak; falling on the stairs, skipping on the sidewalk, thrown against the sky. However, in the last two stanzas, her willingness is shown. She wants to be stronger. Like glass, it is flat and sharp unlike the round marble or eye. She now feels serious about her life as indicated by the way the line “Turning in your hand” is repeated in the last stanza of the poem.
ReplyDelete-Unjee Kim
Lit 14 - S
(140 words)
“Living Like a Refugee” by Reuben Koroma is mimetic, describing a refugee from how one becomes a refugee to what a refugee does when he/she does get to become one. Literally, it simply shows how hard things can get for a refugee; however, it may say another in a figurative level. The author simply narrates several experiences of a refugee, leaving readers making up their own mind about the poem; it lets readers have their own feelings and opinions, let alone think about what the author is feeling. The author used ways of “Living Like a Refugee” as metaphors, given the figurative aspect of the poem. Also, a simile is used in the title, which may mean that the author is already trying to tell the reader that the poem is not literal and is showing a deeper alternative to it. The topic of a refugee creates a serious mood.
ReplyDelete-Cholo Vicencio
Lit14 - S
(150 words)
Who would ever think that throwing little things off is a great way to start your day? Well, the persona in this dramatic song poem, Hyper-ballad, does. More than the idea of getting away from materialism which is one possible reading of the poem, this song poem, I guess, is about a person doing sacrifices for the person he/she loves in order to keep up their relationship which makes her/him feel safe and happy. Unlike the other song poems, Hyper-ballad does not use much figures of speech but instead, uses imagery and symbols: “live on a mountain” is like being on top when you’re in a relationship; the “little things” thrown are the sacrifices done. Given the simplicity of the diction and innocence of the tone, one would not expect of the complexity of the poem’s message which provides a really great impact and a serious effect on the readers.
ReplyDelete-Marjorie Gene Gadiano
Lit14- S
(150 words)
Bjork’s “Hyper-ballad” seems to talk about choices and sacrifices for love. The persona of the song-poem does her little habit of throwing “little things off” and going through the same process each day so that she’ll be happier or be at peace with the person she’s with. Looking at the flow of the song-poem, I would say it is presented using a dramatic mode because it puts the reader in a position of seeing what the persona is experiencing. The imagery used in the song-poem helps in making this mode work. A single dominance formed from being on top of the mountain to the throwing of bottles and cutlery allows the reader to be in the similar position the persona is, and the symbolisms of living “on a mountain”, seeing a “beautiful view”, and throwing “little things” add seriousness to the poem’s tone.
ReplyDelete- Juan Alberto Ong
Lit14 Section S
(143 Words)
“The Flowers of Youth”, a dramatic song poem, describes about life’s different stages—youth, maturity, and death. Metaphor serves as the main device used. Youth is likened to a flower as well as bridges. Irony is also used—strength and weakness is brought up in the same idea. Imagery is used as certain images are formed inside our heads in each of the stanzas. The poem clearly tells us that youth doesn’t last, and that we have to go through maturity where we are faced with more difficult things such as weakness and loneliness. And as we go on, we will eventually reach to a point where we will depart, and go back to the place where we really belong. This song poem clearly gives a serious effect among the readers for the reason that one can sympathize with the idea of death that is brought up in the poem.
ReplyDelete-Samantha Valencia
Lit14-S
(150 words)
Admit it or not, even if a relationship is starting to fade, there are those who still try to fix it. This was the message of the dramatic song poem, “Desafinado”. The persona is trying to convince the one he/she loves to go back to what they used to have - a perfect relationship. The poem used rhymes and comparisons, mainly metaphor, to express its message. Their love was compared to a song that is going out of tune. Lines, like “Now the song is different”, show that the love they have was not as strong as before. The tone of the poem is serious because it shows how much the persona treasures their relationship. Although the comparison was obviously about love, the effect of the poem to its readers is strong. It makes the readers realize that for a relationship to continue both sides should be willing to work together.
ReplyDelete-Maria Louise Avenido
Lit14 – S
(150 words)
The song “ The Stupid Jerk I’m obsessed with” by Maggie Estep is about a girl who talks a about a person she considers a jerk because of all the bad things she sees in him and yet she still likes him. The mode the author used is dramatic since it shows the feelings and thoughts of the character. The Techniques used are Simile -he would bark like a dog, and repetition, as we could see, the phrase “The stupid jerk I’m obsessed with” is repeated many times in the song. The author also used. The effect of the song is comic since it shows how a girl who complains a lot about all the bad things she sees in the guy she calls a jerk, but she can’t stop obsessing about him.
ReplyDeleteAubrey Mae Ang
Lit 14-S
(133 words)
The poem "Desafinado" is about someone who notices changes by his love and asks his loved one if they could go back just like before. The poem uses dramatic mode for it describes how amplified and unstable their love may have changed. The poet compares the love as "desafinado" which is a song that is slightly out of tune. The poet also makes use of simile that love is like a never-ending melody and should swing like the bossa nova. I noticed changes with the rhyme. At the first second stanza, the last words are rhyming but on the third to the last, there are only few last words of the lines that rhyme compared to stanzas before it. I think the poet used such style to give emphasis to the changes that occurred with the love. The poem's effect is very serious in a way that first of all, the main object talked about a sensitive emotion of a human being which is love. Mostly, the topic of literary works. it is touched with a sense of importance and respect from the writer, which usually, he would like his readers to feel.
ReplyDelete(Edgar Joseph R. Carrasco, section S)
From the title of the song poem, Living Like a Refugee by Reuben Koroma, there’s ‘Simile’ using ‘Like’. In the poem, it’s irony since someone left his country to seek “Refuge”’ but the life is like a “Refugee”. There’s ‘Repetition’ the part ‘You’ve got to sleep in a tarpaulin house (‘Mat’ in repeated part) Which is so hot (‘Cold’ in repeated part and also contrast meaning)’. The Tarpaulin is for making tent or apron therefore sleep on tarpaulin house or mat is really like a refugee. The writer probably has an experience so he knows it’s not easy to live like that and the term of material. Since he is talking, it’s Dramatic mode. The language is simple but clear. He speaks lightly but the content is serious. It’s irony and also makes it comical. ‘Strange dialects’ means not only the accent but also the different thought of people.
ReplyDelete(JiHyun Han,-S- 149 words)
When a relationship is about to end, a guy tries everything to fix their relationship. He tries his best to win the girl’s heart again. This is what the dramatic poem, “Desafinado,” is trying to say. To further relay the message, the poet uses metaphor, simile and rhymes. Sometimes, when a person is in love, he tends to be too cliché with his choice of words. That is seen in the poem. The persona compares their love to a song going out of tune. They seem not to agree on anything anymore that they fight a lot. He feels that the girl’s love is quickly fading away and he doesn’t want that. The tone of the poem, which is serious, tells the intensity of the guy’s love for her. A person in love tries everything in his power just to be with the one he loves.
ReplyDelete- Katrina Rose Castillo, section S
(146 words)
While I was reading The Flowers of Youth it did not sound like a poem. There we're very minimal rhyme and poetic structure, no sound play involved. After analyzing it it is very easy to see some of the elements used. Metaphor was widely used in the song poem. The persona compares youth to many symbols, such as a flower and a bridge. A lot of imagery is also present. The poet used many everyday circumstances in order to get his ideas across. We see, based from the metaphor and the imagery used, that the poem is about youth as something that one will eventually lose. The persona is obviously sad about this concept, using phrases like growing brown, bridges lose their way, etc. to show that growing old is a bad thing. He then gives an indication of death at the end of the poem, using photograph as symbolism.(150 words)
ReplyDelete- Marc Gabriel G. An
Section S
The poem, “Small, Blue Thing” by Suzanne Vega, is mimetic and shows a weak and sad behaviour of a person - a person that is lost inside a pocket, falling down the stairs, and like glass that can easily be broken. It can be considered a dramatic poem since the character is speaking on his own and uses many “I”. He is describing himself and what he is doing all throughout the poem. For instance, “I am perfectly round” and “I am skipping on the sidewalk.” There is much use of simile and metaphor in this poem. For instance, in the first and sixth stanza, he is comparing himself to a small blue thing. That small blue thing is like a marble or an eye. After reading the poem, it makes the readers have pity on the character because of the falling and sadness the poem is showing.
ReplyDeleteJustin Nico L. Ravago
Lit 14-S
(148 words)
Living Like a Refugee is all about the circumstances that a person has to face if he/she becomes a refugee. I would like to point out that the mode of representation can be both dramatic and narrative because even though the word “I” isn’t used in the poem, it was presented as if the writer experienced the same hardship that a refugee has to go through. The poem was laid out as a free verse and it used repetition as a poetic technique which only exemplifies the fact that the meaning of the poem is more important than its construction. At the very first reading, the phrases “so hot” and “so cold” retained into my mind. For me, it means that there can be no satisfaction in being a refugee so the writer could possibly be advising the reader not to follow the path of being one.
ReplyDelete-Cheth Neciemie G. Mundin (Lit14-S)
Word Count:147
Desafinado is a song that talks about trying to improve their love by comparing it to an out of tune music. He compared their tone before – how they used to harmonize, like two souls in perfect time – with their tone now: orchestration doesn’t seem so rich, words don’t rhyme. The song was written in a dramatic mode. He used metaphor, simile which is evident even in the title “Desafinado” (meaning out of tune) and rhyming of the end words to give emphasis. The writer’s main device is how he compared their love to a song and how their love changed then and now. With this, the effect on its audience is strong and serious because it talks about love, a subject that is important. Also, it tackles about mending and doing something to save their love. Who would want their love to fade without dong anything to save it first?
ReplyDelete- Frances Anne T. Daleon
(150 words)
Lit14 - S
I chose the song poem Desafinado written in Portuguese by Newton Mendonça and in English by Jn. Hendricks & Jsi. Cavanaugh. The speaker of this poem maybe someone who is slowly losing the person that he loves so much. I said this because of lines like “but our song of love is slightly out of tune”. This can also mean that now, the lovers lost their “love connection” because the other person does not feel the same way anymore. He wants everything to return to the way they used to be but it seems that it can’t anymore. The manner of representation used in this poem is the narrative mode because the speaker is like narrating his experiences on what happened to his love. This poem also uses a little simile and at some point also comparison. It also has end rhymes which uses aabb patterns in almost all stanzas.
ReplyDelete-Stephanie Bucad
(150 words)
Lit14-S
The song Hyperballad by Bjork uses imagery of different items being thrown down the mountain triggers our imagination of what sound these items would make. She then compares her own body to these items which even enhances the audience of how it would look, feel and sound like if the character would really throw herself down the cliff.
ReplyDeleteThere is also the use of an “I-narrator” because a character in the story is giving an account what has happened to her and how she goes through “all this” so that she can be happier to be safe with “him.”
The song seems to be about a seemingly healthy relationship, because they are at the top of the mountain, but the throwing of the different items is a symbol of throwing away all the ill-thoughts and feelings that she may have in their relationship for their relationship to work.
-Carlos Andrei B. Dela Cruz
BS MIS 081175 Lit14-S
(Word Count: 148 words)
"Dance Me to the End of Love" is about a person loving someone until his death. For me, the mode is mixed because the persona narrates some events in the poem but still lets us imagine how he delivers the whole message. The poem used an combination of simile and allusion to the Bible in the 5th and 6th lines which means hope (dove) and life (olive branch). There is rhyming and the repetition of the line “Dance me to the end of love” throughout the song. The tone is serious because it talks about love and the author used words that hide main ideas. In my opinion, the effect on its readers would depend on how he/she interprets it. For instance, “end of love” gave me another idea which is death because all of have feelings like love but when we die, we no longer feel anything.
ReplyDeletePaul Brian Lao
Lit14-S
(Word Count: 150)
Living Like a Refugee
ReplyDeleteBy Reuben Koroma
The persona talks about the experience of being a refugee in a foreign land. His familiarity of the refugee life hints that he actually had the experience of being one. This is supported by the last three lines of the poem that say, “Living like a refugee is not easy. It’s really not easy.” The repetition suggests that the persona stresses things truthfully from experience.
Why is it hard to be a refugee? Basically, being an alien in a country leads to a lot of physical adjustment (food, clothing, housing, temperature). But the hardest part involves extreme social problem that one encounters in a foreign land. This social dilemma is embodied in the lines that say “You’ve got to sleep in a tarpaulin house which is so hot and on a tarpaulin mat that is so cold.” The description of hot may pertain to misunderstanding/disputes that may arise between the refugee and the natives. The cold adjective may involve the homesickness that one feels as he longs for the warmth of loving and caring relatives/countrymen that understand his being. It’s hard to be a refugee because you are stripped of social health.
(Jan Christopher B. Gonzales, LIT14 S)
(Word Count: 192 words)
The song-poem "Hyper-Ballad" very well talks about starting all over, and leaving all the rest behind. The poem is a narrative one; wherein the persona narrates what he does every morning, but leaving the reader thinking of why the persona is doing this. The author does this by using imagery and symbols more than the kinds figures of speech. Imagery like the mountain top, morning, and the things he throws off. The author also used Repetition to emphasize the significance of when and for whom the persona is doing this. The overall effect is rather comical with a little seriousness. Comical because it gives the reader the question: "why does he/she throws things early in the morning? Is he/she insane?". Serious in a sense that the persona is doing it to relive him/her from him/her past.
ReplyDelete(albert Gavin D. Mendoza, Lit14 S)(132 words)
(sorry maam late. I wasnt notified and i dont have the convenience of having an internet connection at home =( )
The persona in the poem ‘Living Like a Refugee’ tells us how uneasy it is to live like a refugee. The poem was written in a very detailed manner – tarpaulin house, tarpaulin mat. It somehow signifies that the author might have experienced being a refugee at one point in his life. It is noticeable that he uses the word ‘you’ a lot; maybe it is meant to cause an effect of us readers putting ourselves in his/refugee’s shoes. He wants us to imagine ourselves being refugees to be able to really realize how uneasy life is as a refugee. The persona mentions multiple reasons why it is uneasy to live like a refugee. Not being used to the dialect, diet, and sleeping place suggests that the main problem of the persona with life as a refugee is the change in the way of living.
ReplyDelete144words
Mio Casano lit14 S
Desfinado by Jn. Hendricks & Jsi. Cavanaugh clearly is a representation of a human experience about a person whose relationship is already turning sour. This song, in my opinion, is rather serious because of how the persona is telling his feelings about how he felt about his current relationship. In this song, figures of speeches like the metaphor and simile can be found. The use of metaphor was used in order to compare the person’s relationship to a song that was already out of tune. On the on other hand, an example of simile was used in the line “love is like a never-ending melody”. In addition, imagery was also used by the author in this song in order to for us to visualize how he felt during the time his relationship was still beautiful and during the time it was already fading away.
ReplyDelete(Word count 144) –Ray V. Bolintiam, lit section S