A Study Guide for Naomi Shihab Nye's "All Things Not Considered"

By Gale and Cengage

A Study Guide for Naomi Shihab Nye's "All Things Not Considered," 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 28, 2016
• ISBN: 9781535817936

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All Things Not Considered

Naomi Shihab Nye

2002

Introduction

All Things Not Considered, by Naomi Shihab Nye, is a poem about the innocent casualties of the long-standing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Nye, an Arab American whose father was part Palestinian, uses her work to argue for peace. She points to the deaths of children as an indication of the irrelevance of the argument that the conflict is justifiable as a religious war. Nye, who worked in public schools for twelve years, writes about and for children and teens, and this poem is no exception. The topic of All Things Not Considered is difficult but timely; the collection of Nye's this poem first appeared in, 19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems about the Middle East, was released just one year after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, in the United States. Over the next decade, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict continued to escalate, making the need for a peaceful solution greater than ever.

First published in 2002, 19 Varieties of Gazelle is a collection of sixty poems, approximately half of which are new, about life in the Middle East and about Nye's experiences as an Arab American. This collection drew wide praise from critics for its even treatment of hot-button issues. Nye does not take sides, and her message is always one of peace. The poems in this book will help American students see life in the Middle East from a new—and sometimes familiar—perspective. Nye's 19 Varieties of Gazelle was a finalist for the National Book Award.

Author Biography

Naomi Shihab was born on March 12, 1952, in St. Louis, Missouri, to Aziz Shihab, a journalist, and Miriam, a teacher. Her father was a Palestinian immigrant who loved to tell Middle Eastern folktales to his children. Her American mother had a fine