The Songs Of My Grandfather By Isauro Mendoza Napa

Improved Essays
The Songs Of My Grandfather is a collection of romantic songs of love, humor and heartbreak written in the later years of the life of Isauro Mendoza Nava and presented in this book as poetry. The songs were written in Spanish and have been translated into English. Introducing poetry and lyrics by Aurora N. Mendoza and A. I. Andre.

In 2000, my grandfather died after a brief but intense struggle with Alzheimer’s. Through odd circumstances I discovered he had written a surprising collection of songs. Written in the later years of his life accompanied by his guitar, he cataloged his work with the intent to share it before his mind wandered off. This book, The Songs of My Grandfather, brings these songs together as poetry to pay tribute to the

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    The power of silence can cut through anything, but who says this? Our family members, friends, society? Is this what is best for us? To keep quiet and not speak our minds in fear of the consequences? Our reputation could be at stake if we say the wrong thing at the wrong moment.…

    • 993 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    “Enrique’s Journey”, written by Sonia Nazario, is a book based on a true story about a young boy named Enrique. Enrique has a long journey to return to his mother in the United States. He has many, hard, and troubling dilemmas on his journey, but he still continues to try to leave. A point in the story, Enrique has to make a decision whether to leave Honduras or stay. Enrique makes his decision to leave to the United States because he wants to earn money so he can buy himself a house.…

    • 392 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This poet has showed the emotions of fear and love through word choice, imagery, and metaphors. Although the poem may sound simple and easy to understand, “My Papa’s Waltz” is really a complex story of parental love and abuse. The title of “My Papa’s Waltz”…

    • 391 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Fundamental Changes Traveling can transform someone. The sights people see while traveling not only influence them in the moment, but the information they discover about themselves- how to interact with other individuals in society or how to carry themselves in situations-can influence their everyday life after their trip ends. In Enrique’s Journey by Sonia Nazario, Enrique embarks on a journey to the United States to find his mother. In return he learns how to manage himself and what he personally needs to survive in a situation where resources are minimal and dangers lurk everywhere.…

    • 1545 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    MIST is a great strategy to analyze a poem, because with it, you will be scrutinizing the poem with the mood, imagery, structure, and tension of it. One of the most important parts of MIST in my opinion would be the mood. When one starts reading a poem, right away, we can tell whether it will be a poem on the joyful side or on the melancholy side. With that the reader will already be able to tell what type of poem it will be, and help it understand everything else, most importantly contributing to the meaning of the work as a whole.…

    • 222 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    I agree with what Domingo Martinez stated in his memoir Boy Kings of Texas, "Texas Mexicans and Californian Mexicans are very different from each other –the same genetic code but completely different in accent and habit" (Martinez 93). However, while reading his memoir I found that although Texas Mexicans and Californian Mexicans are different, no one culture is superior or less “scary”. Taking into consideration the fact that he was a male growing up in the 1980's on the boarder of Texas and Mexico and also that he has Chicano parents, really helped me to strengthen my argument because many of the things that he was taught growing up changed as he got older. My experience growing up as the oldest to Mexican parents in San Jose, California…

    • 1813 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    “One out of every four children in the United States is an immigrant or the U.S.-born child of immigrants and many schools are ill-equipped to meet their needs (Tamer, 2014)”. To better prepare me to meet the needs of immigrant students I chose to read Enrique’s journey by Sonia Nazario. This book caught my attention because I know very little about immigration and reading this book will allow me to gain a better understanding of what it is like to come from a different country into the United States. I have only heard negative things about immigration. Reading this book I want to gain a new perspective on immigration and get an idea of what immigrants go through as they assimilate in a new environment.…

    • 1679 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Joe Milosch Autobiography

    • 446 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Before I retired, I worked for the last 40 years as a trail locator for the Cleveland National Forest and as a heavy equipment foreman in the private sector. My Poetry draws on those experiences; as well, as my experiences growing up in the farmland, north of Detroit, Michigan and my army experiences during the Vietnam War. I was married for 33 years, and for 25 of those years, I was the primary health supporter for wife. She lost her fight against…

    • 446 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Theodore Roethke’s “My Papa’s waltz” and Susan Musgraves “You didn’t Fit” are two poems that capture the love between a child and their father. While “My Papa’s waltz” illustrates the contrast of love and honor and “You didn’t Fit” illustrates a contrast of nostalgia and affection. In both poems the speakers seem to look back on their childhoods with much love and respect for their fathers. In “My papa’s waltz” it is a poem that is often well-known for having different interpretations.…

    • 1014 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Growing up in a foster home, Baca did not have a helping hand and was lost and forgotten. However, through the barrier that Baca faced in his live he was able to turn his life around and find a second chance where he became a poet where he can find his place to stand and write about his love and loss. Starting in his adolescents and into adult hood, Baca’s struggles with love and…

    • 1616 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Altogether, this song displays a clear message of the world view relationships through the explanation of the heartbreaking events of the Stolen Generation and the example of a family being…

    • 791 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Daddy By Sylvia Plath

    • 545 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Abuse, maltreatment and persecution are all synonyms of oppression which happened between the Nazis and Jews, during World War II. In Sylvia Plath’s poem, “Daddy,” she introduces the notion of oppression by comparing her father to the Nazis and herself to the Jews, with the use of multiple literary devices. In “Daddy,” Plath uses allusion, imagery and metaphor with a mix of hyperbole to develop the theme of oppression. In the poem “Daddy,” Sylvia Plath uses allusion to express her father’s oppression towards her.…

    • 545 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden and “My Father’s Song” by Simon J. Ortiz, there is love found within by a man’s memories of his childhood relationship with his Father. “Those Winter Sundays” is about a man who is remembering the relationship he had with his father through regret, because he realizes how unappreciative he was. “My Father’s Song” is a man reminiscing on the actions his father makes when showing him the value of life and how to grow up. Within both of these poems the father-son relationship does not show verbal communication. In “Those Winter Sundays,” this lack of communication helps indicate the distance between the two, whereas the communication breakdown in “My Father’s Song” reflects the connection that the two…

    • 2056 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    While “My Papa’s Waltz” and “Those Winter Sundays” differ in the attitudes and tones of their speakers, they are alike in the complex family relationships and themes of familial love, masculinity and sacrifice, and nostalgic youth that they communicate to the reader. A close-reading of the poems, with special attention paid to the speakers and the ideas they are trying to get across, can end up telling far more about Theodore Roethke and Robert Hayden than they may like. The speaker in “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke is a small boy having a grand old time waltzing with his father in the kitchen before bed. His father is a little rough with him, keeping time on his noggin and accidently scraping his ear against his belt buckle on every…

    • 994 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    It may be important to note that the poem was created for his immediate family after the death of his…

    • 1354 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays