“If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain;.” If you help others, then your not self-centered.. Emily Dickinson is saying that if you can help other people or soothe one’s pain then your don’t live life in vain. Emily views life purpose as helping others or saving others from heartaches. Life is more than just think of your own self. In the quest of finding life’s purpose she has found that it is to help others.
One thing that stood out to me was that Emily used the symbol “fainting robin” for a person who has lost direction in life, or a someone that needs a friend, or some help. The robin in the symbol would also be a bird flying high as the happiness in a person life. The when that person is hurt or needs help the bird of happiness is a “fainting robin.” Anther symbol is in “ or help one fainting robin Unto his nest again.” The symbol is of helping that person happiness and the right track of life. Helping the person succeed in their dreams.
Emily Dickinson suggest that she herself has felt the pain because she want to prevent others from getting hurt. She use imagery to make us feel and make us visualize. The sense of feeling is used when she says “If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain;” she makes us want to prevent people from getting hurt so that we will feel good about our selves. She use sense of sight when she says “Or help one fainting robin Unto his nest again,” we see a bird fainting and someone put the bird in it bird nest. Its home. Emily use ending rhyme schemes. First she ends in ing then in. Its ing and in again but then its ing and in on the same line. The last two lines end with in. She uses rhyme in the first stanza, but breaks it up in the second stanza, then brings it back in the end.
Momma Welfare Roll
Her arms semaphore fat triangles,
Pudgy hands bunched on layered hips
Where bones idle under years of fatback
And lima beans.
Her jowls shiver in accusation
Of crimes clichéd by
Repetition. Her children, strangers
To childhood's toys, play
Best the games of darkened doorways,
Rooftop tag, and know the slick feel of
Other people's property.
Too fat to whore,
Too mad to work,
Searches her dreams for the
Lucky sign and walks bare-handed
Into a den of bureaucrats for
Her portion.
'They don't give me welfare.
I take it.'
"Her arms semaphore fat triangles, pudgy hands bunched on
layered hips where bones idle under years of fatback and lima beans". In "Momma
Welfare Roll", Mya Angelo uses metaphors, and Imagery to portray the need for
deep social understanding rather than welfare. She is a victim who has it in for
the welfare program.
The Visual depiction creates a picture in the readers mind. This
poem speaks through visualization. You get to know this woman and her situation
through her body. “Her arms semaphore fat triangles, pudgy hands bunched on
layered hips”.The reader has a picture of perhaps a heavier southern African
American woman. This woman is no stranger to need and suffering. Her body is the
symbol or distinction of racial injustice. The description of her kids plays a
part in the poem as well. “Her children, strangers to childhood's toys, play
best the games of darkened doorways, rooftop tag, and know the slick feel of
other people's property. The condition of the home she lives in tells how her
and her family is living. Darkened doorways could also mean that they don’t have
electricity. In addition, the kids could only dream of toys. The kids are poor,
have no toys, and play in the streets. The phrase of the “slick feel” gives a
sense of stolen goods.
The woman represents the resentment of the poor and
underprivileged. Too fat to whore, too mad to work, searches her dreams for the
lucky sign and walks bare-handed”.
She is “too mad” to work, upset at society for throwing her under the
bus. There is no way to succeed for her expect through luck.
The woman is a signal to the power that is that the system is
broken and does not work. Kind of like a victim who victimizes the program. What
is needed is not welfare, but deep social reconciliation. This poem describes
the attitude of many on welfare. “They don't give me welfare, I take it”. The
last line describes the attitude of non-charity. She “takes” from them what they
owe her from repeated crimes against humanity. She doesn’t take handouts.
Mya Angelo does a good job with using metaphors and creating
well described visuals for the reader. The sense of understanding something
without directly stating it is interesting. It opens the door for a wide variety
of ideas to come into play. Everyone interprets things differently. Angelo
succeeded in metaphorically portraying the need for deep social understanding
rather than welfare.
Pudgy hands bunched on layered hips
Where bones idle under years of fatback
And lima beans.
Her jowls shiver in accusation
Of crimes clichéd by
Repetition. Her children, strangers
To childhood's toys, play
Best the games of darkened doorways,
Rooftop tag, and know the slick feel of
Other people's property.
Too fat to whore,
Too mad to work,
Searches her dreams for the
Lucky sign and walks bare-handed
Into a den of bureaucrats for
Her portion.
'They don't give me welfare.
I take it.'
"Her arms semaphore fat triangles, pudgy hands bunched on
layered hips where bones idle under years of fatback and lima beans". In "Momma
Welfare Roll", Mya Angelo uses metaphors, and Imagery to portray the need for
deep social understanding rather than welfare. She is a victim who has it in for
the welfare program.
The Visual depiction creates a picture in the readers mind. This
poem speaks through visualization. You get to know this woman and her situation
through her body. “Her arms semaphore fat triangles, pudgy hands bunched on
layered hips”.The reader has a picture of perhaps a heavier southern African
American woman. This woman is no stranger to need and suffering. Her body is the
symbol or distinction of racial injustice. The description of her kids plays a
part in the poem as well. “Her children, strangers to childhood's toys, play
best the games of darkened doorways, rooftop tag, and know the slick feel of
other people's property. The condition of the home she lives in tells how her
and her family is living. Darkened doorways could also mean that they don’t have
electricity. In addition, the kids could only dream of toys. The kids are poor,
have no toys, and play in the streets. The phrase of the “slick feel” gives a
sense of stolen goods.
The woman represents the resentment of the poor and
underprivileged. Too fat to whore, too mad to work, searches her dreams for the
lucky sign and walks bare-handed”.
She is “too mad” to work, upset at society for throwing her under the
bus. There is no way to succeed for her expect through luck.
The woman is a signal to the power that is that the system is
broken and does not work. Kind of like a victim who victimizes the program. What
is needed is not welfare, but deep social reconciliation. This poem describes
the attitude of many on welfare. “They don't give me welfare, I take it”. The
last line describes the attitude of non-charity. She “takes” from them what they
owe her from repeated crimes against humanity. She doesn’t take handouts.
Mya Angelo does a good job with using metaphors and creating
well described visuals for the reader. The sense of understanding something
without directly stating it is interesting. It opens the door for a wide variety
of ideas to come into play. Everyone interprets things differently. Angelo
succeeded in metaphorically portraying the need for deep social understanding
rather than welfare.
