Select three of the following poems and discuss how the themes of “culture” and “language” drive them. Why are the two different rooms, or worlds, in “Sonrisas” contrasted? What is the fundamental difference between them? You may also discuss what it means to “live in a doorway” Discuss the significance of setting, culture, and place in our poems from this week.
Tennessee Williams: A Streetcar Named Desire (1925)
Jhumpa Lahiri: “Interpreter of Maladies” (470)
Judith Ortiz Cofer: “The Latin Deli: An Ars Poetica” (849)
Richard Blanco: “My Father in English” (892)
Pat Mora: “Sonrisas” (954)