Analysis of Hiraeth
A Vietnamese immigrant at the age of 16 months,
brought to the United States on a plane
held by the loving arms of my parents,
raised to know parts of my culture,
speaking Viet at home and English everywhere else.
Wearing silk dresses in February,
bowing gracefully to my elders
I ate, behaved, lived Vietnamese--
but in an American society.
Mẹ, how do you say this word?
Bố, how do you make this dish?
Vietnam is far away.
take me to its lush hills,
serene riverbeds, and bustling city life.
I can only go so far in my parents’ memories.
I dream of a life I never lived,
of coming home.
Scheme | X X X X X A X X A X X X X X X X X |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 0000110010111 1100101101 1101011110 11111110 100111010101 101100100 101001110 110110001 10101000100 1111111 1111111 011101 111111 0110100101 11101110110100 111011101 1101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 640 |
Words | 151 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 17 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1 |
Lines Amount | 17 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 27 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 7 |
About this poem
ekphrasis - responding to art with art This poem was written in response to Mai Trung Thu’s Les Enfants au Bain (Children Bathing), ink and gouache on silk
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Written on July 17, 2022
Submitted by ysave_tuanh on July 20, 2022
Modified on April 23, 2023
- 45 sec read
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"Hiraeth" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 10 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/133375/hiraeth>.
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