https://padlet.com/kealohi_young/poemanalysis en-us 2017-01-13 03:29:43 UTC 2025-09-25 02:19:37 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/icons/File.png kealohi_young https://padlet.com/kealohi_young/poemanalysis/wish/146960723 By: Ha Jin

We used to like talking about grief 
Our journals and letters were packed 
with losses, complaints, and sorrows. 
Even if there was no grief 
we wouldn’t stop lamenting 
as though longing for the charm 
of a distressed face. 

Then we couldn’t help expressing grief 
So many things descended without warning: 
labor wasted, loves lost, houses gone, 
marriages broken, friends estranged, 
ambitions worn away by immediate needs. 
Words lined up in our throats 
for a good whining. 
Grief seemed like an endless river— 
the only immortal flow of life. 

After losing a land and then giving up a tongue, 
we stopped talking of grief 
Smiles began to brighten our faces. 
We laugh a lot, at our own mess. 
Things become beautiful, 
even hailstones in the strawberry fields.]]> 2017-01-13 03:32:06 UTC https://padlet.com/kealohi_young/poemanalysis/wish/146960723 kealohi_young https://padlet.com/kealohi_young/poemanalysis/wish/146960859 Birthdate: February 21, 1956
Birthplace: Jinzhou, Liaoning province, China
When the schools shut down in China because of the Cultural Revolution, Jin joined the army (at age 14) and served for about five years. After that, he became a railway telegraph operator to learn english. When the schools reopened, he attended Heilongjiang University in Harbin, China.
Rauch, Robert. “Ha Jin.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 15 Nov. 2015, www.britannica.com/biography/Ha-Jin.]]> 2017-01-13 03:34:01 UTC https://padlet.com/kealohi_young/poemanalysis/wish/146960859 kealohi_young https://padlet.com/kealohi_young/poemanalysis/wish/146962580 lamenting - to express grief, sorrow, or regret
losing a land and then giving up a tongue - an allusion to the hardships of growing up in an evolving China
http://www.guernicamag.com/spotlight/258/post/]]> 2017-01-13 04:07:24 UTC https://padlet.com/kealohi_young/poemanalysis/wish/146962580 kealohi_young https://padlet.com/kealohi_young/poemanalysis/wish/146963491 Stanza 1 - Grief was constant and it seemed as though it was all anybody could talk about.
Stanza 2 - People had lost everything and their main focus was on the here and now,  not the future. The grief seemed never ending.
Stanza 3 - After the situation became really bad, they learned to be happy with what they had, despite adversity. ]]> 2017-01-13 04:28:41 UTC https://padlet.com/kealohi_young/poemanalysis/wish/146963491 kealohi_young https://padlet.com/kealohi_young/poemanalysis/wish/147135025 Alliteration - Repeated vowel sounds in words placed near each other, usually on the same or adjacent lines.

Example in poem: "Loves lost" and "losing a land" are examples of alliteration, "l" being the alliteration.
Effect on reader: Alliteration makes the poem easier to read and gives it a smooth sound. To me, alliteration makes the words seem like they fit together like puzzle pieces. ]]> 2017-01-13 19:18:02 UTC https://padlet.com/kealohi_young/poemanalysis/wish/147135025 kealohi_young https://padlet.com/kealohi_young/poemanalysis/wish/147137136 Personification - Attributing human characteristics to an inanimate object, animal, or abstract idea.

Example in poem: "Words lined up in our throats" is an example of personification. Words are not inanimate objects and cannot literally be "lined up" in a person's throat. The author is saying that people had one thing after another to whine about as if the "words were lined up in [their] throats." 
Effect on reader: Personification is used to give emphasis or put more meaning on the line. By saying that the "words were lined up in our throats," the author is trying to emphasize that people did not just keep whining, it seemed as though they could not stop.

]]> 2017-01-13 19:25:08 UTC https://padlet.com/kealohi_young/poemanalysis/wish/147137136 kealohi_young https://padlet.com/kealohi_young/poemanalysis/wish/147962801 Stanzas - A division of a poem created by arranging the lines into a unit, often repeated in the same pattern of meter and rhyme throughout the poem; a unit of poetic lines.

Example in poem: Stanzas are used in the poem to separate sections of the poem that describe different parts of the story. 
Effect on reader: Stanzas in the poem give the reader three different sections to focus on. Without the stanzas, the reader would have to read it all together and would be too much at once. Separating them gives the reader a chance to digest and think about the meaning before moving on to the next part of the poem. ]]> 2017-01-18 21:46:11 UTC https://padlet.com/kealohi_young/poemanalysis/wish/147962801 kealohi_young https://padlet.com/kealohi_young/poemanalysis/wish/147963431 Stanza #1: The first stanza is very literal in the sense that he says, "We used to like talking about grief" and means it. They talked about grief because that was normal. They almost needed to talk about it and longed "for the charm 
of a distressed face."
Stanza #2: The author explores how everybody had to talk about grief and how suddenly there was actually a lot to grieve about. They had lost everything. They were stuck in the present and complaining about the past. Their ambitions [were] worn away by immediate needs." The grieving seemed to never stop, it just kept coming.
Stanza #3: After hitting rock bottom, people started to accept the tragedy or least not be stuck in grief anymore. "Smiles began to brighten [their] faces" and there was finally some happiness being spread instead of grief. "Nothing" could bring them down again. ]]> 2017-01-18 21:50:38 UTC https://padlet.com/kealohi_young/poemanalysis/wish/147963431 kealohi_young https://padlet.com/kealohi_young/poemanalysis/wish/147965012 The author wrote the poem in first person because he told the story from his point of view. He tells the story with kind of emphasis that comes from experience. It is obvious from lines like, "Grief seemed like an endless river— the only immortal flow of life" that the experience affected him deeply and that the events were life-changing and seemed permanent at the time. The attitude is sad and depressing, expressing dolefulness in the first stanza. The author describes the grief in detail and feels as though they could not escape a maze of grief. In the last four lines of the third stanza, the author's attitude changes to hopeful and strong. Everybody begins to recover and I can tell this through the author's wording. "We laugh a lot, at our own mess."]]> 2017-01-18 22:01:08 UTC https://padlet.com/kealohi_young/poemanalysis/wish/147965012