Making A Fist Notes

Making A Fist : 

Making A Fist These are notes on some of the poetic elements to the poem written by Naomi Shihab Nye. Sound techniques will be reviewed and figurative language will also be examined.

Making A Fist : 

Making A Fist Free verse poem Stanzas: Stanza 1: sestet Stanza 2: quintain Stanza 3: sestet

Making A Fist : 

Making A Fist Hear are a few examples of some of the alliteration and assonance that appear in the poem: Assonance: Stanza 1: pattern, past, glass Stanza 1: wide, inside Alliteration: Stanza 1: harder, harder, hear Stanza 1: stomach, was, split, inside, skin Stanza 1: drum, desert, harder, harder, hear.

Making A Fist(Figurative Language) : 

Making A Fist(Figurative Language) Personification: Stanza 1: “I felt the life sliding out of me” Stanza 3: “lying in the backseat behind all my questions” Metaphor: Stanza 1: she compares her life to a drum: “I felt the life sliding out of me, a drum, in the desert, harder and harder to hear. Stanza 1: she compares her stomach to a melon: “My stomach was a melon split wide inside my skin”

Making A Fist(Figurative Language) : 

Making A Fist(Figurative Language) Symbolism: The car ride that she takes with her mom at a young age symbolizes her life and the fact that the journey through life would not be easy. In stanza 3, she speaks of crossing “borders”. These are meant to represent not the borders of states that are on their car trip, but the borders of different aspects of our lives, things that we need to get past in order to live a fulfilling life: trials, tribulations, and roadblocks to our happiness.

Making A Fist(Figurative Language) : 

Making A Fist(Figurative Language) Symbolism The clenching of the fist is meant to symbolize our willingness to soldier on, our desire not to quit, not to give in. It’s meant to symbolize our inner spirit, our pride, our heart.

Making A Fist(Speaker) : 

Making A Fist(Speaker) The speaker in this piece is a woman looking back on her childhood, and remembering a time when her mother gave her sage advice about how to not give in so you know you’ll be alright. The speaker is someone who has faced obstacles in life and has overcome them and who feels like the obstacles will continue to come and she will continue to get by them. “I who did not die, who am still living, still lying in the backseat behind all my questions, clenching and opening one small fist”.

Making A Fist(Theme) : 

Making A Fist(Theme) The theme of this poem is one of inner strength. The poem is saying that you have the power within yourself to rise above the things in life that try to hold you down. It’s saying that you should not give up. You have the strength to continue on when things seem to be at their worst.