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Juan Felipe Herrera's Poem Meaning

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Juan Felipe Herrera's Poem Meaning
Juan Felipe Herrera's poem, reflecting on the tragedy of the Charleston church shooting of 2015, where multiple African Americans were killed during a Bible study at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, captures the huge emotional impact of the occasion. Through the carefully crafted use of poetic elements such as imagery, repetition, symbolism, and poetic structure, Herrera conveys complex meanings and invokes a demand for societal change.

To begin, Herrera uses imagery to portray the setting and the violence causing the loss in the Charleston church shooting. Herrera begins with "9 killed in Charleston, South Carolina" and continues with "they are not 9 they are each one alive." The imagery here serves as a reminder
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