Speaker or Narrator, and Point of View
“The Window” is told from the perspective if a second person subjective point of view.
Form and Meter
The poem “Names” has no form and meter since it is written in free verse.
Metaphors and Similes
The maim metaphor in the poem “The window” is the window near which the narrator sits while she has an argument with her mother. In that moment, the narrator thinks about killing herself and the window becomes used as a metaphor for her desire to die and escape from a difficult existence.
Alliteration and Assonance
We have an alliteration in “The Importance of Tea” in the line “in Hong Kong, normal tea is green”.
Irony
One of the ironic elements which can be found in all the poems is how the narrator tries to make happy everyone around her but the others have no interest at all to make her happy and to accept her decisions.
Genre
“The Window” is a meditative poem.
Setting
The action in “The Importance of Tea” takes place inside the narrator’s home.
Tone
The tone used in the poem “The Window” is a depressive and violent one.
Protagonist and Antagonist
The protagonist in all poems is the narrator while the antagonist is the mother and the aunt, two people who are unable to accept the narrator’s sexual orientation.
Major Conflict
The major conflict in the poem “Names” is between the narrator’s desire to be with the person she loves and the desire to make her mother happy.
Climax
“The Window” reaches its climax when the narrator realizes that even though her mother is being harsh with her, the mother still loves her daughter.
Foreshadowing
The first sentence of the poem “The Importance of Tea” foreshadows the way in which the aunt will make the author’s life extremely difficult.
Understatement
N/A
Allusions
One of the main allusions in the poem “The Window” is how even though a person may feel at times as if they are no longer loved by their families because they are unable to accept their life choices, this is far from being the truth as in some cases, a more violent attitude may be used as proof of real concern and love.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
The term is used in the poem with the same name as a way to refer to a person’s identity and personal beliefs.
Personification
The line “her name keeps me sheltered” contains a personification. This line appears in the poem “Names”.
Hyperbole
We find a hyperbole in the poem “The Window” in the lines “declare yourself genderless/as hawk or sparrow”.
Onomatopoeia
We find an onomatopoeia in the poem “Names” in the line “no sound on her lips”.
