“Sonrisas” by Pat Mora and “The Victims” by Sharon Olds: Poems Internal Structure and Their External Form Essay

Introduction

As a rule, the internal structure of the poem coincides with the external form; in this case, the poem seems to be well-structured. However, some poems can have an internal structure that is different from its external form; in this case, there appears a specific effect when a reader is kept in suspense till the end of the poem. In this respect, two poems need thorough consideration, Sonrisas by Pat Mora and The Victims by Sharon Olds.

Pat Mora, Sonrisas

Sonrisas by Pat Mora is a poem that expresses the two-side life of the speaker. The internal structure and the external form of this very poem are connected with the help of the context; at the same time, the external form facilitates the understanding of the contrast between two worlds. This person, whose thoughts are expressed in the poem, does not live in a doorway between two rooms; this allegory is used to describe the two worlds of two different rooms. It seems that there is only one room, but the attitude and behavior of people in this room can be divided into two parts. The first part of the poem corresponds to the modern society of women where budgets, tenure, and beige suits are an integral part of their life; the atmosphere is silent and, perhaps, strained. It may seem that the onomatopoeia “click, click” is used to show the silence of the first room and the fact that even the ticking of a clock can be heard in the ‘cold air’ of the room. However, this stylistic device can be a symbolic expression of a routine life which became a distinctive feature of modern society.

In the second room as opposed to the first one; the first aspect which tells the reader about some changes in the tone of the poem is the external form. As the poem consists of two stanzas, the reader can suppose that the first stanza characterizes the first side/room/world and the second stanza is a vivid contrast to the first one. Instead of women in beige suits, we can see “señoras” that are chatting and making a lot of noise. The language of the second stanza contains some Spanish words that symbolize the vivid passionate temper of women. The stanzas can stand for the past where women “in faded dresses” were drinking milk coffee and chatting, whereas the modern women lack lively smiles and warmness of conversations.

Sharon Olds, The Victims

The Victims by Sharon Olds is a poem that consists of one stanza, which tells the readers about complicated relationships in the family, or rather about the consequences of the divorce experienced by her parents. The author expresses so much pain and hatred in the first part that it seems that children and their mothers are victims of the father’s cruelty and disregard. Nevertheless, the author does not tell about the actual reasons for the divorce; we can only guess why the poor woman “took it and took it in silence, all those years”, what was that misunderstanding that conditioned the divorce. Though the poem’s internal structure is focused on the problem of the consequences of the divorce and the life after it, the external form of the poem consists of a single stanza. The contradiction appears when we try to compare or contrast the internal structure and the external form: there is only one stanza that is logically divided (it can be understood from the context) into two parts – past and present.

The first part of the poem lets the readers know about the attitude of children to their father and the way their mother taught the children to hate their father. One more distinctive feature of the poem that helps to differentiate between the past and the present is tense: the past is written in the past tense, whereas the present is described with the help of the present tense. The motives of the mother are not clear, either are the consequences of the divorce. It looks like a flashback which was provoked by the look of bums; the speaker wonders whether her/his father is a bum and what happened to him after all. Now, after many years the speaker seems to have realized that everything could have happened in another way; there could be an alternative side.

Conclusion

As you can see, the internal structure of the Sonrisas by Pat Mora fits the external form of the poem; the poem tells about two worlds which are graphically divided into two stanzas. Meanwhile, the external form of The Victims by Sharon Olds should be divided at least into two parts of before and after, then and now.