"Silence"
1. The speaker is using her father 's exact words to speak for him. Why not just put his ideas into her own words?
The speaker quotes her father’s exact words because she believes he expresses the opinion more articulate than she could have. The reader knows she agrees with her father when she said “nor was he insincere” meaning she agreed with his opinion of superior people.
2. What kind of images [pictures] does he use? How do they affect the tone?
The first image is of a grave. One if his first description of “superior people” is in line 3 where he says superior people never have to be shown about and chooses Longfellow’s grave as an example. The second image is of a cat with a mouse in his mouth and its tail dangling …show more content…
Which words carry a connotation that says more than their dictionary meaning.
In "Bilingual/Bilingue," Rhina Espaillat uses a combination of Spanish and English to show the two worlds she lives in.
5. Consider whether words we use have an emotional as well as a denotative meaning. What are 2 examples of this in her poem?
When the speaker uses the word heart in the third line of the poem, the speaker is using the connotative meaning of the word. The father fears that once his daughter learns English she will forget or even shone Language she learnt from him and is a part of his identity. Another example is using the word one in the phrase “and still the heart was one.” The speaker does not mean the two hearts were one but that they were unified and that she showed her father that even though she can now speak two language she still loves and is connected to him.
6 What do you think the use of Spanish and English has on the success of the poem and her message?
The use of English and Spanish highlights the two different worlds the speaker is experiencing. One in which she speaks English and in the other she speaks Spanish.The reader is able to see the differences in the languages and better understand the conflict the speaker was …show more content…
The speaker kept repeating the word sere. According to the Webster dictionary sere means dry and withered. In the ninth stanza the speaker described his heart as crisp and sere as the leaves in the graveyard. The speaker also described his heart as ashen and sober. Ashen brings to mind the color grey which suggest that the speaker feels lifeless after seeing Ulalume’s grave. Additionally, the speaker described the graveyard as ghoul-haunted woodland. Ghouls are evil spirits and it is quite disturbing that that is what comes to mind when he is in the