In this lesson you should have learned a few new strategies for analyzing the effects of specific words in poems. It's important to take this knowledge with you as you read poems more independently—in this class, in high school, and beyond. (You may even find that looking out for multiple—meaning words can make you a sharper audience for advertisements, movies, songs, and television shows.)
Examine the use of multiple-meaning words in these poems from the anthology Poetry Speaks Who I AM. As you read, pay close attention to the words that each poet has chosen. Does the poem include words that can mean more than one thing? Does it use words that evoke emotions or call images to mind? Then answer the question about the poet's word choice and how it affects your reading experience.
"Dreams" appears on page 57 in the anthology. Its author, Langston Hughes, needs only about 30 carefully chosen words to convey the poem's central theme.
Many readers have described this poem's theme this way: People's dreams for their lives are so essential that without them, life seems to lack meaning. What multiple-meaning words in the poem support this interpretation?
Question
The word fast in this context means "tight," but it may also make readers think about how quickly life passes. It suggests that people need to pursue their dreams sooner rather than later.
Barren refers to a field that's not producing any crops, but it also suggests a couple that want to have a child but cannot. Both lines suggest that life without dreams is something to grieve.
Seamus Heaney’s "Blackberry-Picking," on page 58, recalls the all-too-brief time in summer when blackberries are ripe for picking.
Question
Readers often notice the sense of regret the speaker conveys in the poem’s closing lines as he recalls the short-lived joy of berry-picking. What multiple-meaning words that help readers catch the contrast between joys that don’t last and regrets that do?
The speaker fondly recalls the sweet taste of "summer's blood" in the ripe berries. The "blood" is actually the ripe berries' juice, but the word blood has many associations, not all good. Things that bleed may die. This meaning sets up the turn toward regret in the second half of the poem, when the picked berries start to rot. The speaker says he always hoped the berries would "keep," which means "stay fresh" but also suggests that he wanted to "hoard" them. Perhaps the berries suggest that the sweet things of life can't be kept. They must be enjoyed in the moment and let go.
On page 69, Calvin Forbes's "A Small Poem" includes what you might call a "circle of life" discussion.
Question
This poem is cleverly addresses the universal theme that life is a circle connecting generations. What are some multiple—meaning words that help readers understand how a father's life intertwines with a son's?
The father names the son "shade" because "shade is cool"—literally, because temperatures are lower in shade than in the sunshine, and figuratively, because Shade is a "cool" name. This kind of wordplay is all through the brief poem. "To grow up," as plants and people do, is how the son will become "a grown-up," and while the "seed" that is the son has promise, there's also the chance that the man he grows into will be "seedy"—shabby and untrustworthy. The father seems to know this and wants to teach the son "why/what’s going / down."
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