Poem Review

1. A Voice – Pat Mora

  • Theme: Identity, cultural pride, empowerment

  • Tone: Reflective, proud

  • Speaker: Daughter honoring her mother’s journey from silence to voice

  • Devices: Imagery, metaphor, symbolism (voice = power)

2. A Dream Deferred – Langston Hughes

  • Theme: Frustration of unfulfilled dreams

  • Tone: Urgent, questioning

  • Speaker: Reflective narrator

  • Devices: Similes, imagery, rhetorical questions

3. Meciendo (Rocking) – Gabriela Mistral

  • Theme: Love between mother and child, nature's rhythm

  • Tone: Soothing, reverent

  • Speaker: A mother

  • Devices: Personification, repetition, nature imagery

4. The Seven Ages of Man – William Shakespeare

  • Theme: Life's inevitable stages

  • Tone: Philosophical, reflective

  • Speaker: A character in a Shakespearean play (Jaques)

  • Devices: Metaphor (life = stage), repetition, alliteration

5. We Never Know How High We Are – Emily Dickinson

  • Theme: Untapped potential, courage

  • Tone: Inspirational, ironic

  • Speaker: Detached observer

  • Devices: Paradox, metaphor, capitalization for emphasis

6. Women – Alice Walker

  • Theme: Strength and sacrifice of Black women

  • Tone: Admiring, powerful

  • Speaker: A daughter/grateful observer

  • Devices: Metaphor, imagery, free verse

7. Sonnet 30 – William Shakespeare

  • Theme: Power of friendship, memory, regret

  • Tone: Melancholy, then uplifting

  • Speaker: Reflective narrator

  • Devices: Sonnet form, alliteration, contrast

8. The Assassination of John F. Kennedy – Gregory Corso

  • Theme: National trauma, loss of innocence

  • Tone: Grieving, surreal

  • Speaker: Shocked observer

  • Devices: Free verse, vivid imagery, juxtaposition

9. Instead of an Elegy – Shirley Geok-lin Lim

  • Theme: Cultural displacement, remembrance

  • Tone: Bittersweet, introspective

  • Speaker: The poet herself

  • Devices: Symbolism, free verse, enjambment

10. Macavity: The Mystery Cat – T.S. Eliot

  • Theme: Humor, crime, mystery

  • Tone: Playful, whimsical

  • Speaker: Amused narrator

  • Devices: Rhyme, repetition, personification

11. The Bells – Edgar Allan Poe

  • Theme: Stages of life through sound

  • Tone: Varied (joyful to terrifying)

  • Speaker: Observational

  • Devices: Onomatopoeia, repetition, alliteration

12. Analysis of Baseball – May Swenson

  • Theme: Complexity and grace of baseball

  • Tone: Analytical, rhythmic

  • Speaker: Sports observer

  • Devices: Wordplay, enjambment, rhythm

13. Slam, Dunk, & Hook – Yusef Komunyakaa

  • Theme: Power of basketball, escape from hardship

  • Tone: Energetic, admiring

  • Speaker: Player or observer

  • Devices: Imagery, metaphor, rhythm