Custom «My Grandmother Would Rock Quietly and Hum» Essay Paper Sample

The Poem 'My Grandmother Would Rock Quietly and Hum' by Leonard Adam is about his grandmother who played a very important role in his life during his childhood. His grand mother is dead and his memories of her shows that he loved her very much now that he is mature. Leonard was originally a Latino but he has been absolved in the society and learns their ways of life and this is a loss to him. The speaker is now mature and he remembers the good moments which he had when he used to spend mornings with his grandmother even though the environment was marked with poverty. Spending time with her grandmother made him not to realize that the area was poverty stricken.

Leonard believes that it is through the efforts made by her grandmother and also efforts by her grandmother's father who did not achieve his goal which have led to his success in the society and he also sees the possibility of these sacrifices seizing from operating. Retaining the culture and traditions is a symbol of backwardness in the society. The speaker respects her grandmother but because of his ethnicity he can achieve her level. He has changed from the old culture to a new one. In the beginning of the poem the grandmother is said to be locking herself in armchair quietly until her swollen hands calm. This portrays the image of elderliness where many people like sitting alone quietly without being disturbed (Smith 45)

The author says that when her grand mother got her cheque she paid less and the author laughed greedily when he was given a quarter. This portrays poverty because she is not in a position to meet all her expenses. Leonard laugh's because the much he is given is not enough for him. There is poverty in that environment which made the people not to live according to the expected standards. According to the poem she could sometimes wake up without knowing what to eat. In such instances she could roll flour tortillas and crack papas which produced so much noise that woke the narrator up. This shows how badly she was affected by poverty.

Her grand mother had lost all her teeth and when she ate she soaked her bread. Most people loose their teeth during old age. The narrators' grandmother is portrayed as a very old woman depending on these descriptions. Mexico epidemic relatives shot her fathers hopes of this country is a metaphor. It means that the father of her grandmother died as a result of epidemics which affected Mexico. It is because of this that he could not accomplish what he had started (Penfield 254)

Allegory comes in when the narrator's grandmother tells him of her story during her childhood. She also tells the narrator what led to the death of her father, which he died out of epidemic which affected Mexico as a city. The way the narrator stayed with her grandmother is something he can never take away from his mind. He says that he visits the house and when sees the old stove that she used, the memories of her grandmother comes fresh in her mind. This is an indication of how greatly the Narrators life was influenced by her grandmother.

The Narrator wanted to learn as much as possible from her grandmother who seemed to always have some knowledge. In the poem 'her eyes were clear, and she could see as I can not yet see through her eyes she gave me herself '.Her grandmother gave the knowledge that he had to him. During summer it's usually hot but the narrators grandmother is seen putting on thick stocking sweater and grey braids characteristic mostly observed from elderly people. They tend to put on warm clothes regardless of the weather condition. In most cases whether cold or hot they tend to put on warm clothing (Heide 100)

Some words in the poem rhyme. I laughed greedily and she would rock quietly in the first and third stanzas. Greedily and quietly are rhyming words. We also have other words like soaked and talked.

This poem therefore revolves around the life of the narrator ,how he grew up under the influence of her grandmother and the impacts later in life .He is having a lot of sweat memories from his grandmother even long after her death.