For this Asian American culture class, I decided to choose the poetry book “Notes from the Divided Country” by Suji Kwock Kim. I went online and researched lots of Asian American poets by using sources such as Wikipedia, which I know is not reliable but they had information on Asian American poets unlike many other websites. So due to limited resources, I really did not have much choice but to use Wikipedia in order to find out who are Asian American poets. Once I put together a list of Asian American poets, I read their biographies and works to make sure that they were Asian American and not just Asian or American. After spending some time browsing information about Asian American poets that I was interested about, I finally settled on Suji Kwock Kim. I decided to choose her and her poetry book “Notes from the Divided Country” for two main reasons. First of all, I wanted to choose an Asian American poet of who was not of Chinese descent. Being a Chinese American, I know Chinese culture very well with all of its aspects, traditions, values, etc. I wanted to learn about a different Asian American culture because I felt like I needed some change in my learning of Asian American culture. Seeing the perspectives of other Asian American cultures is important in order for me to understand what the big picture of Asian American culture is about. Second, I read the summary for the poetry book “Notes from the Divided Country” and I was interested in the plot and poetry presented in the poetry book. I knew that if I used this poetry book for class I would not be bored and that I would learn a lot about Korean culture.
“Notes from the Divided Country” by Suji Kwock Kim is a collection of poems that depict aspects of the journey from Korea to America. There are poems written about historical events that occurred in Korea, family members, Korean occupations, and thoughts and feelings about life and events. The poetry book is short; only 74 pages long, but within its pages lay a wealth of information about the hardships and difficult journey of a lifetime to America. Anyone who reads this book will get a very good inside look into the challenges faced by Koreans and also by immigrants coming to live in America and trying to adapt to the new country that they live in. Suji Kwock Kim does not only write the poems to refer to others but she also makes the poems personal to evoke the emotional sense of feeling in readers. Her poems display the strength and vigor that moves readers to get a sense of the messages that she is giving out.
Three poems from the book that I especially liked are “Flight,” “Nocturne,” and “The Korean Community Garden in Queens.” “Flight” is written about the fleeing from the home country and the disastrous incidents encountered along the way. People were injured and many were violently killed. The setting is full of danger and sorrow. This poem was presented in a unique style where each line of the poem alternated back and forth between the left and right side of the page, giving it an effect that corresponds well with the plot of the poem. “Nocturne” is written about the challenging journey from Korea to America over the ocean. The setting of the poem is that the author is on a ship to America and she is describing what she is seeing on board. She is anxious and scared of the ocean and the environment on board the ship. However, as she arrives closer and closer to shore, she discovers that love has no barriers and that she will get through the rough times. I liked that setting of the journey across the ocean because it is a familiar scene for many immigrants that I could imagine myself going through which embodies the true, difficult nature of coming to America. The descriptions used throughout the poem are so well-worded that they seem realistic and they convey a number of emotions from the heart. “The Korean Community Garden in Queens” is written about fight of the plants to survive and reach up towards the sky like immigrants who fight to come to America. She describes the hardships that the plants have to go through for survival, such as seep through cracks to get sunlight and fight for food and territory with other plants. Near the end of the poem she presents a scene where flowers blossom, and says that they are like human souls who are ready to rise and live life to its fullest. Humans who perform actions only to benefit themselves do not stop to smell the roses and see the bigger picture of the meaning of life. All these poems caught my attention in different ways, but I liked that all of them presented messages through elegant style and portrayed events that personally touched me emotionally.
“Notes from the Divided Country” by Suji Kwock Kim is a collection of poems that depict aspects of the journey from Korea to America. There are poems written about historical events that occurred in Korea, family members, Korean occupations, and thoughts and feelings about life and events. The poetry book is short; only 74 pages long, but within its pages lay a wealth of information about the hardships and difficult journey of a lifetime to America. Anyone who reads this book will get a very good inside look into the challenges faced by Koreans and also by immigrants coming to live in America and trying to adapt to the new country that they live in. Suji Kwock Kim does not only write the poems to refer to others but she also makes the poems personal to evoke the emotional sense of feeling in readers. Her poems display the strength and vigor that moves readers to get a sense of the messages that she is giving out.
Three poems from the book that I especially liked are “Flight,” “Nocturne,” and “The Korean Community Garden in Queens.” “Flight” is written about the fleeing from the home country and the disastrous incidents encountered along the way. People were injured and many were violently killed. The setting is full of danger and sorrow. This poem was presented in a unique style where each line of the poem alternated back and forth between the left and right side of the page, giving it an effect that corresponds well with the plot of the poem. “Nocturne” is written about the challenging journey from Korea to America over the ocean. The setting of the poem is that the author is on a ship to America and she is describing what she is seeing on board. She is anxious and scared of the ocean and the environment on board the ship. However, as she arrives closer and closer to shore, she discovers that love has no barriers and that she will get through the rough times. I liked that setting of the journey across the ocean because it is a familiar scene for many immigrants that I could imagine myself going through which embodies the true, difficult nature of coming to America. The descriptions used throughout the poem are so well-worded that they seem realistic and they convey a number of emotions from the heart. “The Korean Community Garden in Queens” is written about fight of the plants to survive and reach up towards the sky like immigrants who fight to come to America. She describes the hardships that the plants have to go through for survival, such as seep through cracks to get sunlight and fight for food and territory with other plants. Near the end of the poem she presents a scene where flowers blossom, and says that they are like human souls who are ready to rise and live life to its fullest. Humans who perform actions only to benefit themselves do not stop to smell the roses and see the bigger picture of the meaning of life. All these poems caught my attention in different ways, but I liked that all of them presented messages through elegant style and portrayed events that personally touched me emotionally.
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