Poem Source:
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/tiny-feet/
5 Facts Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriela_Mistral
5 Facts Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriela_Mistral
Gabriela Mistral:
Born on, 7 April 1889 – died,10 January 1957; Gabriela Mistral was a Chilean poet-diplomat, an educator and advocate for feminism. In her youth she centered herself around education, as she was a teacher at 15 years old. Mistral was the first Latina woman to get the nobel Literature prize in 1945. Her face even appears on the 5,000 Chilean peso bank note! A few of Mistral's central themes found in her poems are nature, a mother's love, sorrow and recovery, and travel. There are many more themes, but a mother's love is important, as it is the central theme of my chosen poem on my blog.
Born on, 7 April 1889 – died,10 January 1957; Gabriela Mistral was a Chilean poet-diplomat, an educator and advocate for feminism. In her youth she centered herself around education, as she was a teacher at 15 years old. Mistral was the first Latina woman to get the nobel Literature prize in 1945. Her face even appears on the 5,000 Chilean peso bank note! A few of Mistral's central themes found in her poems are nature, a mother's love, sorrow and recovery, and travel. There are many more themes, but a mother's love is important, as it is the central theme of my chosen poem on my blog.
Summary:
- The speaker is a saint-like spirit that looks down on the world. What is happening in the poem is the observation of the way 'children' are cared for and are treated for. In the poem the children (victims) are overlooked in a way in which they hide their pain from the onlooking world. The poem demonstrates a symbolic meaning of victimization and persecution of a group in society.
Imagery:
- Imagery in the poem is a sight sen “Tiny wounded feet” is a sight sense. This is a significant quote as the tiny wounded feet are explaining the situation of the voiceless, and persecuted people.
- "Bruised all over by pebbles, Abused by snow and soil!", this quote is significant because it shows the harshness of persecution the group is under. Many of the imagery quotes in this poem are sight related. I believe Mistral speaks of not necessarily 'children' in this poem, who under under both physical and mental attack, but people who may look or have differing thoughts than the the people in charge.
- The main senses in the poem have significance regarding their relation to sight. The poem uses the sense of sight because the ‘children’ in the poem are not seen or acknowledged by the outside world. Figurative language pieces can be seen in phrases such as, “A blossom of bright light” as a flower is being compared to sunlight and, “Blue, blue with cold” as the feet are compared to the cold. Both of these quotes describe the impact of the victims, they make a statement of the consequences (the cold) of saying the truth (the light) which could be corruption in which the people are ruled under.
Tone:
- The tone of this poem is remorseful as it discusses the disappointment of how the wounded 'children' go untreated and unnoticed by society. The poem is all about how a certain group or person in society is being persecuted. The voiceless group/person is ignored by society even though they shed light and hope through their words of wisdom.
Theme:
- The theme of the poem is one that Gabriela Mistral tends to use often in her poems; Motherly love. The poem speaks of a relationship between a 'mother' and her 'children' . I interpreted this relationship not to be literally a mother and her children. I viewed the 'mother' figure to be a higher force that looks down upon, and loves her 'children'. I thought the 'children' were victims, as they are crippled under a corrupt force. The 'mother', as an observer to all the persecution the victims have endured, see's the victims as people who may be victimized but tell the truth in the light they shine.
Different aspect of poem:
- At the first and second stanzas Mistral speaks of the persecution the 'children' have experienced. This persecution harms these 'children' and the higher force above, or the 'mother' is scared for the victims. The middle, and largest stanza consists of the reasoning by which the 'children' should not be persecuted; they are telling the truth. The second to last and last stanza speak about how on earth these poorly treated victims can go unnoticed as they are innocent in her eyes. The way the structure of these stanzas significantly impact the meaning of the poem is seen through the cliche statement that 'life gets better', as the poem positively progresses so does the victims life. The 'children' will eventually become the appreciated "gems" the 'mother' believes they will become, with her help.
This poem is suffering. This captures the reasons for being hurt. As a child most of us can relate hurt feet to summers outside, whereas those depicted in this poem are from the suffering of a child in need. This makes me feel sorry, yet without change. There is no explanation for what should be done, but then again, i guess there does not need to be one. The emotions expressed are very sorrowful and simply eloquently stated thoughts on childhood problems.
ReplyDeleteAidan Halpin
I agree with your interpretation of the poem. The children are being disregarded by their elders. The mother/godly figure is also looking out for the children. I want to add that another important message of this poem is that people are not taking their children when they go about their daily lives. They are not leaving the world in a healthy condition for future generations. The quote,"Man, being blind, ignores that where you step, you leave a blossom of bright light," shows that every step man takes leaves an impact on the future of the earth. Man is leaving the earth in a poor condition and that is why the children's feet are bleeding.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the "children" are not actually children and are really victims. The speaker is a very authoritative figure, like a mother, but they seem like they are upset because of their inability to help the children. The poet uses a lot of imagery to show how much the children are hurting, but are somehow still radiating happiness. I kind of agree with your theme, but I think it is more of showing the children's strength by them suffering and how they are still happy. I do not think the poet it talking about literal feet, I think she is talking about the vulnerability of the children. I thought the "blossom of bright light" was the happiness that they had, despite their situation. The speaker is complaining about how no one cares enough to help the children or victims.
ReplyDeleteYou did a great job interpreting the poem in the way you thought it was. I think your summary of the poem was spot on and correlated with what the speaker was trying to communicate. I'm not so sure that the tone is remorseful there is a beacon of hope that the author is writing about in the poem. The poet does use a large amount of imagery and I felt that you captured the best quotes that you could to unpack and explain more. I think you did a supurb job communicating theme and I felt like it was the exact same. I think you did a great job using more than just siftt and using other strategies. I also completely agree that you are talking about with the children and the force of their mothers.
ReplyDelete