Introduction:
Judith Ortiz and E. Cummings can be said to be poets whose works have a lot of similarities. In most cases, their poems have been said to have more or less analogous connotations. In their poems, “next to of course god America I” and “Latin Women Pray” respectively, these two poets present to lovers of poetry two magnificent poems. In these poems, the poets carefully and artistically bring out two different issues which the personas in their poems go through. In this essay, the key focus is the particularities of meaning introduced by the poets. The paper further attempts to underscore how the poets’ ability to control connotation contributed the various ideas in the poems.
Connotation:
In poetry, connotation is an imperative literary device. Connotation simply means that a poetry analyst must look beyond the literal meaning of words used in a poem. This, therefore, means links which can be connected to a word or symbol used in poetry. In the poem Latin Women Pray, Judith’s description of the nature of Latin women’s prayer can be seen in lines, three and four where the women are said to pray in Spanish to a God who does not belong to their culture. The connotation of this can be said to be that the women have an immense commitment to prayer. On the same note, the poem, next to of course god America I, there is two personas where the first persona emerges as a patriot, somebody who likes his country. The amazing thing is that the second persona repots the feelings of the perceived patriot and his commitment to America. The poems bring out two types of persons. The poem, Latin women pray, poet shows the commitment of the Latin women to prayer. The most discouraging thing for a reader is why the God the women are committed to does not seem to answer them. It appears as sarcasm to bring the connotation of this God who does not turn his ears to answer their prayers.
In the poem, next to course god America I, the patriotic persona is also brought out in a way to show some forms of sarcasm in the sense that the persona does not seem to speak about it proudly. Sarcasm clearly appears in lines 9-11 ‘why talk of beauty what could be more beautiful than these heroic happy dead, who rushed like lions to the roaring slaughter’. The mood of this line lacks the happiness one would use to refer to a patriotic person. The connotation here can be said to be that somebody talks of being patriotic to the American state yet the persona does not see the reason for that. This can be because the ‘patriot’ cannot compare to the real heroes who died to liberate the country from colonialism. To the persona, these should be the true patriots, the soldiers who gave up their lives for America.
Judith also brings out another interesting point in the poem, ‘Latin Women pray’. The God the Latin Women pray in the 5th line is said to be a great white father who looks down upon the women but does not do anything to grant the women their wishes. The use of the term ‘great white father’ can connote that the God did not belong to the Latin culture. The amazing thing appears to be that the women had no choice but to keep praying the white father. It can also imply that the god had been imposed on to these women and had no obligation but to keep on praying.
The two poets’ ability to control connotation bring out two extremely classic poems. The poems appear to be simple but a careful reader can bear witness that there is deep and important meaning surrounding the poems. The ideas in these poems can spur, misunderstanding especially because they tackle real issues in real literal people. The amazing thing is that the poets appear to come up with the same themes in their poems.
In wrapping up this essay, the two poems separately pass the message as a point of concern from the poets. In Judith’s poem, she shows how the Latin women pledge allegiance to the God yet the patriotism to him does not bear any fruits whatsoever. In E. Cumming’s poem, the poem also shows how real patriots failed to be noticed yet others who do not qualify as patriots were claiming the title. The artistic value of these two poems comes out clearly due to a careful use of connotation.
