A) Analyze the
meaning of the poem, “Stillbirth,” by Laure-Anne Bosselaar (Hint: Consider the title…) and discuss what insight/s
the poem provides. In your answer, explain
the significance of the second line in stanza 3—a line which is much longer
than any of the others. Additionally, in your answer, from two separate stanzas
in the poem, quote a word, phrase, or line to support your analyses. (7
sentences minimum for this answer)
Stillbirth
On a platform, I heard someone call
out your name:
No, Laetitia, no.
It wasn’t my train—the doors were closing,
but I rushed in, searching for your face.
But no Laetitia. No.
No one in that car could have been you,
but I rushed in, searching for your face:
no longer an infant. A woman now, blond, thirty-two.
No one in that car could have been you.
Laetitia-Marie was the name I had chosen. No longer an infant. A woman now,
blond, thirty-two:
I sometimes go months without remembering you.
Laetitia-Marie was the name I had chosen:
I was told not to look. Not to get attached—
I sometimes go months without remembering you.
Some griefs bless us that way, not asking much space.
I was told not to look. Not to get attached.
It wasn’t my train—the doors were closing.
Some griefs bless us that way, not asking much space.
On a platform, I heard someone calling your name.
B) Analyze the meaning of the poem, “Self-Addressing:
A Bilinguacultural Poem,” by Yuan Changming (Hint:
Consider the fact that linguistic forms themselves can represent
cultural standards or philosophies).
Discuss the comments or insights the poem provides concerning Chinese
versus American views of “self” in relation to society. In your answer, explain the poet’s choice to
switch to using only the initials “C” and “E” to represent the two languages,
after the first stanza. Additionally, in your answer, from two separate stanzas
in the poem, quote a word, phrase, or line to support your analyses. (7
sentences minimum for this answer)
Self-Addressing: A Bilinguacultural Poem
In
English, the speaker always uses
A proper pronoun to address self
In Chinese, the speaker calls self
More than one hundred different names
In
E, there is a distinction between
The subject and object case of self
In C, there is no change in writing
Be it a subject or an object
In
E, the writer spells self with one
Single straight capitalized letter
In C, the writer adds to the character
‘Pursuit’ a stroke symbolizing something
In
E, “I” ask for democracy, freedom
Individuality, rule of law, among others
In C, “我” is habitually avoided in
making
A reply, either in writing or in speaking
C) Analyze the meaning of the poem,
“Seemed Pleased,” by Malena Mörling. (Hint:
Recall that a “metaphor” is a stated comparison–which could also imply
a contrast). In you answer, analyze the
relationship between the last two stanzas. You also might consider what the
poem is saying about life and death, and/or daily life versus fantasy or
imagination. Additionally, in your
answer, from two separate stanzas in the poem, quote a word, phrase, or line to
support your analyses. (7 sentences minimum for this answer)
Seemed Pleased
Just after the plane lifted
off the ground with all of its
weight, a small hand its nails with
partially chipped off red nail
polish, worked itself back
from in between the seats in
front of me and sort of waved.
The next I saw of the person
with the hand was a blue eye
peering back at me and then
the girl stood up on her seat
and smiled. She had brown, just
above the shoulder length hair
and bangs and she wore a blue
and white striped sundress. A
red rose of the same material
as the dress was attached to
the middle of the upper
lining which was also red.
“My mother is dead,” she told
me suddenly. “She is already gone—
She is in heaven.” The girl seemed
pleased, almost proud at that
moment, to be able to inform
me of this, perhaps as a
handy way of meeting. “This
is my dad,” she said, and pointed
to the back of his head of
(Poem
continues on next page)
blond thinning rather unruly
cap of hair. “My dad.” She
exclaimed again and again
and hugged his face with all
of her might until she knocked
his glasses off and they ended
up in the aisle. Then she introduced
her brother, engrossed in a book:
“This is Marcus, he is eight.
I am four and a half.” And then
she proceeded to demonstrate
the workings of a doodle pad.
On the cover of it was a clown
riding in an airplane waving
his hands in the clouds. And that’s
when the trays of food arrived and the girl
whose name I never learned was told
by her father to turn around
and sit down and eat what was
being unwrapped for her on her tray.
