- narrative structure
- form, stanzas
- imagery
- sound, senses, symbols
- tome and theme
After reading, " Initiation," by Sylvia Plath, consider the following elements of the narrative:
- conflict, internal and external
- sequence of events, flashbacks
- point of view, third person limited
I found the narrative style of Exile to be the most interesting element of the poems. It starts off with the speaker being the daughter of a man fleeing his country. However, at some points it switches to the words the father speaks, so it gives two perspectives of what was going on. It also shows one of her mothers thoughts in the early part of the poem. I have never seen this used before and a poem with more than one speaker, or point of view is quite different. I think using it in a poem would make it more interesting to the reader and keep their attention longer.
ReplyDeleteAs we read Exile today by Julia Alvarez i was able to take some things away from it that are going to help me considering that i am writing poetry. What i can take away is the great details used in each stanza since when i was reading it i could really picture each stanza as a different scene with the amount of detail that was givin. I also agree with what Brian said that being givin the differnt points of view throughout the story was able to make it much more interesting and maybe i could also use that in my poem that i will write.
ReplyDeleteWhen we read Exile today I took away from it was that a poem can be a story. While we were reading it didn't even seem like a poem, but a short story. What made it a poem was the extended metaphor and how it was in stanzas. I'm not going to take any elements from the poem and put it in my poem though.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Kelly that the poem "Exile" is a lot like a short story. You could only tell it was a poem because it was broken off into stanzas. I might use an extended metaphor in my poem like this one did. The poem also was descriptive and i think that is a good element to have in any poem.
ReplyDeleteFrom the poem Exile by Julia Alvarez, I can take the great imagery she used. Also, as a poet, I can take the way she told her story through poem. Although it was still a poem, she still told her story abou how she went from the Dominican Republic to New York. It was an extended metaphor as well. That could be useful in writing about the truth as well.
ReplyDeleteThe poem Exile by Julia Alvarez showed that poems don't necessarily need a certain structure. It was an extended metaphor and very similar to a short story formed into stanzas. I will use this poem as a reminder to add details into my own work.
ReplyDeleteThe poem Exile by Julia Alvarez has a great use of imagery and appealed to the reader's senses. I also like that the whole poem is n extended metaphor and almost every aspect of the poem ties back to the metaphor but the real message is still there. I can use this in my poem as a new style of writing, use a lot of detail and using extended metaphors. Initiation by Slyvia Plath was very interesting because right off the bat it just dove right into the story right away. It didn't start off with background information, instead it gave the background stuff later on in the narrative. I also liked that with all the stuff going on with the sorority, she was going to make it in, but then she finally realized that she didn't need that and she turned it down after she already made it in. She was comfortable with who she was with her internal conflict, and then she made peace through that with the external conflict.
ReplyDeleteJulia Alvarez's poem "Exile" gave me a different look on how to structure a poem. Instead of creating short, choppy lines and stanzas Julia Alvarez made her poem into a short story almost, with long drawn out sentences, yet keeping the size of the stanzas the same throughout. The fact that she used an extended metaphor to compare her experience of moving from the Dominican Republic was a unique way to give the reader a better understanding of the situation.
ReplyDeleteYou are thinking like writers--and that's great! Even if you do not use the choices made by Alvarez or Plath, you can see why authors do what they do.
ReplyDelete@ Brian and Steve...using multiple perspectives in literature is an ongoing trend. Sometimes using a variety of fonts, stanza or chapter breaks helps the reader realize that the shift is happening. Sometimes writers do not tell you and you have to figure it out. My perception is that writers today realize that there is no objective way to tell a story--there is always another point of view.
@ Joe, Rachel, Alex, Sara, and Kelly: the idea of an extended metaphor can work in poetry (swimming/Alvarez) and in prose (the heather birds/Plath). The reader gets the hint to keep going back to the original comparison and consider it from different angles...the author keeps turning the concept over and over; I find that when I read them, I want to use them, like leaving a trail of ideas for others to follow.
I am looking forward to EVERYONE'S comments.
Julia Alvarez uses imagery and an extended metaphor throughout her poem "Exile.". "Exile" had little structure besides the consistency in stanza length, and Alvarez does a good job projecting her extended metaphor about swimming. Also, the tempo and division of scenes used by Julia Alvarez was effective as well.
ReplyDelete"Exile" by Julia Alvarez uses alot of imagery and sensory details. Although I am writing fiction, I will incorporate sensory details just as she did in "Exile".
ReplyDeleteAfter reading "Exile" by Julia Alvarez I learned you can make story into a poem. I can deffentitly take away the use of extended metaphors. She compared swimming to moving. I was cool because even though they flew to America she made it seem like they swam there.
ReplyDeleteI liked the use of flashbacks in "Initiation" by Sylvia Plath. I think flashbacks make a story more interesting than telling a story normally. I'm probably going use a flashback in my story.
ReplyDeleteI am personally doing fiction so what i got out of Exile was basically that in order to do anything in writing and to have a picture happen in someones head I need to use figurative language. What I got from Initiation was that a flashback would be a really cool way to tell a story. Also something else that I could use would be like the guy on the bus, a character that doesn't have a huge role or a lot of dialogue, but in some big way alters the story.
ReplyDeleteI am writing poetry as my piece but i am just about done and very satisfied with my work as is..so i am not going to use anything from this poem but there are things that i learned and picked up on that i could use in the future. For example, each stanza she made sure to be descriptive and establish a setting and the fact just about every stanza switched to a new but sensable one. Also she tells a story within her poem its not necessarily just a blur of emotions like other poems are, theres a storyline to follow.
ReplyDeleteTo me, Exile seemed like just a story. It didn't really have too many poetic elements in it. I did notice the extended metaphor of swimming, and breaking it into stanzas is what makes it a poem. I liked it because it's basically a short story, just really concise so it doesn't take a long time to read.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading "Exile" I appreciated the great use of imagery Julia Alvarez used. She was so descriptive and I hope to wrote in a similar way for my poem. After really "Initiation" by Sylvia Plath, I don't really think there is anything I can take from it. Although, I did like how basically the whole story was a flashback.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading "Exile" I also liked the use of imagry that Alvarez used. I like how she compared moving to swimming. It was hard to figure out the metaphor at first but after realizing the comparason it was easy to understand and I thought it made the poem very interesting.
ReplyDeleteAfter I read Exile, I really noticed that Alvarez used a lot of imagery. The way she wrote inspired me to try and write my own poem the way she did. I am going to try and incorporate her writing styles into my own writing and see how it comes out. I really enjoyed reading Julia Alvarez
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the poem "exile" i was confused at first by the two different transportation types she included in this poem with smimming and then flying. Her imagery really stood out to me to the point that it makes me relise just how important it can be to not only peoms but storys also. I liked the way Julia Alvarez incorperates another language into this poem to put that extra feel of their culture into it.
ReplyDeleteI liked the poem "Exile" by Julia Alvarez. The imagery was really strong, and the way she writes is enjoyable. Although I am writing a story, not a poem, I know to use better descpritions now. I liked how it was like a letter to her father looking back on the past, it made the poem more interesting and better.
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