Poem Analysis: A Small Town With One Road
Joseph Chen, David Seo, Jodi Wang, Stacy Zhou
Ms. Goldstein
English 2
1 April, 2017
“Barbie Doll”, “A Sign for My Father Who Stressed the Bunt”, “A Small Town with One Road” When one first looks at a reading, the first thing they see is the title. The title can offer a multitude of meanings for the reader to interpret. Readers can extract connotative meanings from the poems based off their denotative meanings, to help create a perspective on the definition of the title. When the reader reads through the three poems, “Barbie Doll,” “A Sign For My Father Who Stressed The Bunt,” and “A Small Town With One Road,” they can perceive how the connotative meanings of the titles can change dramatically throughout the text. The denotation and connotation of “Barbie Doll,” prior reading the poem, contradicts the connotative meaning expressed by the poem in the title. One perceives a Barbie doll as an illustration of the ideal look of a woman, since it is denoted as a toy that serves to represent a conventionally attractive young woman. At first glance, the connotative meaning would be a …show more content…
Most readers portray the denotation as a son who indicates a sign to his father to show that he has learned the importance of the bunt, as for the connotative meaning it can mean the importance of sacrifice for something bigger or more important. According the Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, to bunt is “to push or tap (a baseball) lightly with a bat without swinging.” In simpler terms, an out is sacrificed in exchange for a run. The denotation is rather straight-forward, and the connotation for bunt is essentially sacrifice. Another word that reveals the poem’s meaning lies in the word “sign”. The denotation for “sign” suggests an object, quality, or event whose presence or occurrence indicates
Ms. Goldstein
English 2
1 April, 2017
“Barbie Doll”, “A Sign for My Father Who Stressed the Bunt”, “A Small Town with One Road” When one first looks at a reading, the first thing they see is the title. The title can offer a multitude of meanings for the reader to interpret. Readers can extract connotative meanings from the poems based off their denotative meanings, to help create a perspective on the definition of the title. When the reader reads through the three poems, “Barbie Doll,” “A Sign For My Father Who Stressed The Bunt,” and “A Small Town With One Road,” they can perceive how the connotative meanings of the titles can change dramatically throughout the text. The denotation and connotation of “Barbie Doll,” prior reading the poem, contradicts the connotative meaning expressed by the poem in the title. One perceives a Barbie doll as an illustration of the ideal look of a woman, since it is denoted as a toy that serves to represent a conventionally attractive young woman. At first glance, the connotative meaning would be a …show more content…
Most readers portray the denotation as a son who indicates a sign to his father to show that he has learned the importance of the bunt, as for the connotative meaning it can mean the importance of sacrifice for something bigger or more important. According the Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, to bunt is “to push or tap (a baseball) lightly with a bat without swinging.” In simpler terms, an out is sacrificed in exchange for a run. The denotation is rather straight-forward, and the connotation for bunt is essentially sacrifice. Another word that reveals the poem’s meaning lies in the word “sign”. The denotation for “sign” suggests an object, quality, or event whose presence or occurrence indicates