Found Poetry: The Things They Carried

No Problem

He fell in love with a classmate
she was young
her pretty eyes seemed to glow
They married
a smooth and peaceful time
No problem

"you're pregnant"
I'd almost died of shock
no problem
I just loved her

Time passed

In the hospital...waiting
things got quiet
like you never heard quiet before
Something had gone wrong

Yelling out for a medic
I felt miserable
the baby...he said
I'm sorry

It was loud now
Loud, hard, crying
"No" I said
I blamed myself

Grief, terror, love, longing
There was really nothing he could say to her
he still loved her
but...it was never the same

Now

can't even talk to each other
and the thing to do was go on
No problem,
problem.

-Rachael Moore

America- Claude McKay

      

  

         The poem is a story and like many other stories the brain connects images and memories with certain words. Although this poem is a big analogy, you can still see the images. "feeds me bread of bitterness...sinks into my throat her tiger's tooth" I can imagine a poor man not having enough to eat after much misfortune (the bread of bitterness) and constantly being kicked down by the economy and others around him (the tigers tooth). You see the author is powerful and doesn't let anything push him down. "flows like tides into my blood...giving me strength..."bigness sweeps me like a flood." can visually see the "tides" or perseverance into his blood, giving him the strength to overcome his fears and accomplish something in the vast land of opportunity, (bigness sweeps me) America, something as big and powerful as a flood.

          The sound devices in this poem are very subtle but you are still able to identify them. With the line "stealing my breath of life" I can hear the sound of somebody getting the wind knocked out of them. A man who has been beaten down so many times, so abruptly, that it's taking away one of the simplest acts of life, breathing. Sound devices can also be the same as personification. "Of terror, malice, not a word of jeer." This is saying that his fear is making fun of him. I would consider this a sound device over imagery, because I can make out the sound of a little kid, calling names and "jeering" at others.

          To me, the whole poem is a figure of speech. He is personifying America. There are many analogies and examples of these things such as "Giving me strength erect against her hate." You can see America is a "she" who as difficult as "she" is gives him the motivation to be better because he knows there's opportunity out there. There's another example of personification later on, "Beneath the touch of Time's unerring hand", is making time a person, comparing time to someone who is stubborn and changes for nobody. These are all important as they add to his view on the wonder and adventure of America.