Sample Questions

5. Patterns, aimed at the mind, the heart or the ear of the reader, are used by poets to
achieve their purposes. In the work of at least two poets you have studied, examine various
patterns and their effects.

Naomi always gives readers an understanding of her family and their personality in her poem. In most cases, she mentioned a lot of repetitions and patterns in her pieces. And I think the most effective poems are in Blood and my father and the figtrees; the patterns and the repetition is a really great tool to let the readers to realize what the poet wants to convey to us. By having patterns, we can easily understand the poem. For example, In Blood, She says: "A true Arab knows how to catch a fly in his hand." and "What does a true Arab do now?" the two sentences repeat the phrase" A true Arab", making the readers to think A true Arab is the important point where the poet wants to highlight; then, they might think why the poet mentions A true Arab, and what will a real Arab be? Faithful? Patient? Honest? On the other hand, the first sentence gives us answer: "A true Arab know how to catch a fly in his hand." shows us the faithful, patient, and kindness of a true Arab is like. As a result, the patterns of what it shows might be the most important point to catch our readers eyes. This strongly effects the role of a true Arab, giving us understanding about them. Moreover, the poet also conveys"What does a true Arab do now?" This sentence also give a strong indication of A true Arab, in which it highlights the importance of it. It asks a question to us, pointing out the problems they have and also want us to give solutions to the poet.

Also, in my father and the figtrees, the poet also had some patterns; she repeats the largest, fattest, sweetest fig in her two stanzas to highlight the importance of figtrees. In her father's mind, he loves the figtrees; maybe, it's representing the culture that he father is from. In her childhood, her father mentioned a large amount of figtrees, imaging his own childhood in the middle East, she gets to know her father even more, understanding the importance of the figtrees to her father. When her father talks to her, he is always mentioning the largest, fattest, sweetest fig in the world. And this actually highlights the vital image of figtree in her father's mind. And finding the figtrees in the United States also represents the belonging of her father. The patterns actually is really important in poems because it lets the readers to know what and why the poet wants to highlight this part.