Reading Responses 2
I. Instructions:
- Read Tishani Doshi’s “The Immigrant’s Song“(Abcarian 633-634).
- Read the PBS News Hour article on how Tishani Doshi discusses immigration in her poetry and writings: “Seeing a culture of fear, poet explores the immigrant dream.”
“For Analysis” Questions:
- What is the situation the speaker recounts? Where is he now? Where has he come from? How specific can you be in your answers? Why is that, and what is the effect when reading the poem?
- Note the repetition of the statements such as those in lines 1 and 5. Where else do statements of this kind appear? How do they change? What is their significance to the poem as a whole?
II. Instructions:
- Read Emma Lazarus’s “The New Colossus (Links to an external site.)“(Abcarian 649).
- Read the Atlantic article on how the poem’s connection to the Statue of Liberty: “The Story Behind the Poem on the Statue of Liberty (Links to an external site.).”
“For Analysis” Questions:
- What was the Colossus of Rhodes? How does Lazarus describe it in the poem’s opening lines?
- To what does “mighty woman with a torch” (l. 4) refer? To what other object in the poem is it compared?
III. Instructions:
- Read Léopold Sédar Senghor’s “To New York“(Abcarian 650-651).
- Read an analysis of the poem: “Poetry Analysis: Leopold Sedar Senghor’s “New York”.”
“For Analysis” Questions:
- Why do you think Senghor describes New York as having “blue metallic eyes” and an “icy smile” (l. 3)? To what is this description contrasted?
- How does the speaker feel about New York?
Links: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/56734/the-immigrants-song
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46550/the-new-colossus
http://www.poetryatlas.com/poetry/poem/2291/to-new-york.html