A Study Guide for Naomi Shihab Nye's "Shoulders"

By Gale and Cengage

A Study Guide for Naomi Shihab Nye's "Shoulders," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Poetry for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Poetry for Students for all of your research needs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cengage Learning - Gale
• Release date: Sep 2, 2016
• ISBN: 9781535833097

Book preview

10

Shoulders

Naomi Shihab Nye

1994

Introduction

Naomi Shihab Nye had been publishing poetry for fourteen years before Shoulders appeared in the 1994 collection Red Suitcase. Like most of her poetry, Shoulders presents a slice of life in which an everyday, simple act—in this case, a man carrying his son on his shoulders across a street—becomes a metaphor for something much larger than itself.

Unlike some poets, Nye seeks to say exactly what she means so that the reader understands her message precisely. Her themes of love and people caring for each other are understood in virtually any culture, a fact that pleases Nye since she is herself a product of two cultures, Palestinian and American.

Shoulders is immediately accessible and can be understood on a first reading, but closer examination is also rewarding. A second reading reveals carefully chosen words that paint for the mind's eye a picture rich in color, sound, and texture. The simplicity of the poem's form and meaning are a result of the care with which Nye constructed this work.

Because of its message of human kindness and caring, Shoulders has appeared in the anthology In the Arms of Words: Poetry for Disaster Relief (2005/2006), the proceeds of which are donated to an international relief