Compare and Contrast Gary Soto's Moving Away and Cold as Heaven by Cofer
Abstract
Cold as Heaven begins with a description of the atmosphere which is cool. The poet seems to be having a conversation with her grandmother about the snow. She describes her experience in the snow, her struggles to find a place to shield herself from a blizzard (Cofer 4). The tone here is a sad one; it seems the grandmother can no longer experience these things for herself. Therefore, she has to hear about it from her granddaughter. She is anxious to know what seem to be happening in the places that she cannot reach. The poet's use of imagery is superb. She makes the audience imagine that they are in the same place where this conversation is happening. Her description of the atmosphere also works to this effect, the vividness with which she makes one sees the blizzard and the snow makes one to be able to relate to the cold.
She describes the snow as a cause of hardship to the people living there since it makes it difficult for them to find shelter. However, the snow is not completely a bad thing as they seem to find a way to make the best out of bad situation. At times, they lay in it and make shapes of bodies. The snow is a cause of challenges, but they embrace this challenge and see the best. They are positive people.
Analysis of Gary Soto's Moving Away Versus Cold as Heaven by Cofer
In Gary Soto's "Moving" away, he begins with the line, "Remember that you are moving away sister," (Soto 12). It shows that the woman's absence saddens him, and he has finally accepted that she will be going away. However, by using the word remember, it brings out a warning tone to indicate that there will be repercussions once she moves away, the thing will not just remain the way they are. Gary Soto seems to relate the event of this poem with his experience moving away as a child. The aim of composing this poem was to show that the results of people moving away from their current position. It shows that once you are apart from those or what you love, the bond that was there before will cease to exist.
The use of emotion is a common trait in the work of poets as they usually seem to elicit a reaction from their audience. The two poems below make good use of this to help us relate to the characters. Both Gary Soto and Coher Ortiz take the audience's minds to a place where the ir poems are set and make you feel what their characters are feeling and make you ask yourself, what will you choose?
Both Gary Soto and Coher Ortiz take the audience's minds to a place where their poems take place and make you feel what their characters are feeling and make you ask yourself, What will you choose? Would you rather leave your comfort zone and explore what lies beyond your limits or do you prefer to abandon those closest to you in the quest for greater glories. It all depends on how you look at it, from one perspective moving away can be heroic, from another a selfish act. Cold as Heaven goes further to illustrate that whenever people will fondly remember a something that seemed a formality changes, some aspects of the past. In the case of Soto's poem it the woman will be missed by those people who had become accustomed to her. In Coher's poem, the grandmother misses the ability to experience the cold and very snowy weather. The grandmother has to learn to live without the ability to experience some things; the man and woman have to learn to live without each other. It makes one wonder perhaps what would they do if they lost their sight, the ability to walk and even a close friendship, things whose significance often goes unnoticed.
The two poems show that once people get distant; they feel their need more; in other words, absence makes the heart grow fonder in people. From the first poem by Coher, the poet's description shows that her grandmother was once able to experience the snow for herself, but now due to some impairment, say blindness or being crippling, she cannot do this anymore. She now feels the urge to feel this through her granddaughter and therefore requests her to narrate it to her. The second one by Soto shows that the woman is loved and by moving away she makes will weaken the bond that was previously there and this is not a good thing. The two poems centre on the theme of absence and how it makes the heart grow fonder in people. Both Soto and Coher make good use of their words to induce the feeling of longing for something that was once there but is now not there. It makes one think if they value what they have at the moment, doesn't it?
Works Cited
Cofer Judith, O. Cold as Heaven: Language: English Publication: Reaching for the Mainland and Selected New Poems Database: Latino Literature,.2002 Print
Soto Gary. Moving Away: New and Selected Poems. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books,1995 Print.
