15 pages • 30 minutes read
Naomi Shihab NyeA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Poems about loneliness are common in the literary canon, particularly poems about multiculturalism and immigration. Immigration poems have expanded the literary context of poems about loneliness; often immigrants have a feeling of existing between two worlds. Naomi Shihab Nye is no exception. Raised in both America and Palestine, she grew up in two worlds. Her poems, starting with her first collection Different Ways to Pray (1980), consider the many cultures, religions, borders, and people that make up our global earth.
Nye’s poem “Kindness” is a strong example of a poem that explores multiculturalism, loss, and loneliness. The poem opens by saying that loss prefaces a knowledge of “what kindness really is.” (Nye, Naomi Shihab. “Kindness.” 1995. Poets.org). Using a second-person point of view, the poem tries to foster empathy between the reader and those of different cultural backgrounds and experiences: “[Y]ou must travel where the Indian in a white poncho / lies dead by the side of the road. / You must see how this could be you” (Lines 14-16). The poem concludes with the concept of kindness, genuine care for others from different cultures, and ultimately compassion.
By Naomi Shihab Nye
300 Goats
300 Goats
Naomi Shihab Nye
Alphabet
Alphabet
Naomi Shihab Nye
Blood
Blood
Naomi Shihab Nye
Burning the Old Year
Burning the Old Year
Naomi Shihab Nye
Different Ways to Pray
Different Ways to Pray
Naomi Shihab Nye
Famous
Famous
Naomi Shihab Nye
Gate A-4
Gate A-4
Naomi Shihab Nye
Jerusalem
Jerusalem
Naomi Shihab Nye
Kindness
Kindness
Naomi Shihab Nye
Making a Fist
Making a Fist
Naomi Shihab Nye
Morning Song
Morning Song
Naomi Shihab Nye
My Uncle’s Favorite Coffee Shop
My Uncle’s Favorite Coffee Shop
Naomi Shihab Nye
Shoulders
Shoulders
Naomi Shihab Nye
The Art of Disappearing
The Art of Disappearing
Naomi Shihab Nye
The Turtle of Oman
The Turtle of Oman
Naomi Shihab Nye
The Words Under the Words
The Words Under the Words
Naomi Shihab Nye
Valentine for Ernest Mann
Valentine for Ernest Mann
Naomi Shihab Nye