Imagery. Taken together, the images in a poem or passage are called its imagery. An image is the language that creates a concrete representation of an object or an experience. An image is also the vivid mental picture created in the reader’s mind by that language. Imagery can create mental pictures not only of things that can be seen, such as springtime or children playing, but also of ideas. How do these poems create imagery from the idea of saying goodbye to someone you care about?
Speaker. The speaker is the voice that speaks, or narrates, a poem. The speaker and the writer of a poem are not necessarily the same person. Think about the speaker of each of these two poems. Who does the speaker address in “There Is No Word for Goodbye”? Whom does the speaker address in “If You Should Go”?
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• Language Connection. The term goodbye came about in the late 1500s. It is an alteration of the phrase “God be with you.” Many languages have terms that mean the same as goodbye. For example, in Spanish, goodbye is adios. The Japanese word sayonara also means goodbye. Some languages do not have a term equal to goodbye. In French, the closest term, au revoir, means “until we see each other again.” In German, auf Wiedersehen means “until I see you again.”
Use a graphic organizer like this one to keep track of the main ideas in each poem.
How do you part with a friend or family member? What do you usually say?
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