Blog 1 poetry

Alexander Pope's "The Quiet Life" expresses views about identity and culture through its use of literary elements. The central theme of the poem is that identity shines through when one is alone, but culture can shadow ones identity by the interruptions of a busy and complex life. The first line states, "The happy man whose wish care" implies that the man wishes for this solitude with only nature surrounding him. The poet then describes how he is content and happy in his native air and his home in which he was raised. The deeper meaning is that culture tries to blend everyone into a melting pot, causing all the separate identities and cultures to melt into one culture. The unique identities can be lost this way sadly, and it destroys the individualism of people. Pope includes "peace of mind; quiet by day" to convey the calamity from being in a small environment. On the other hand, this shows that a big and hectic city is loud and disruptive to oneself. In such a large population, the melting pot phenomenon is confirmed because peace of mind does not exist. Instead, the individual identities get lost for the sake of the one big merger or cultures. Unlike the salad bowl phenomenon, in which one place has several unique cultures and traditions, the melting pot views culture as one big power house in which everyone comes together and loses the small identities for the sake of one big one. This is like one Superstore Walmart that is powerful as opposed to one hundred small family businesses that have unique ways and traditions. Alliteration is used in "sound sleep by night; study and ease" to show the pattern of calmness that arises from the small and bounded environment. The alliteration shows that this is an easy way of life that makes more sense.
"The Quiet Life" and Gwendolyn Brooks' "We Real Cool" both discuss culture and identity, but "We Real Cool" does so in more of a contemporary manner. "We Real Cool" uses the repetition of we followed by a verb and either an adjective or noun to show that this life has a rhythm to it, just like the poem. This culture is ruitine and expected. It also uses alliteration in "strike straight" and "sing sin" to again prove this ruitine of life that doesn't really change. This contrasts to "the Quiet Life" because it isn't as calm and peaceful. Instead, the outcome of every day is planned and not open for one to chose. The two poems are similar in their meaning of culture being a melting pot because they portray a melting pot culture in a negative manner. The second poem also confirms that life would be more interesting if everyone had his own identity that makes his culture, instead of just conforming to the big popular culture. Despite the era of the poem, both discuss identity and culture in a way that values individualism.