Similarities Between Many Different Cultures Seen Through Poetry

http://www.studentpulse.com/articles/394/contemporary-poetrys-influence-on-cross-cultural-perceptions

                Kristina S. Ten wrote an article called "Contemporary Poetry's Influence on Cross-Cultural Perceptions", in which she shows that through literature, such as poems people that come from different cultures can have more similarities than they seem to think. Her purpose in writing this essay is to demonstrate that many people from different parts of the world are culprits of stereotyping others from other places in the world before they have even met them. Everyone across the world is subject to being misinterpreted or even prejudged based on where they live and not based on who they are as a normal person who just so happens to inhabit a different part of the world than someone else. In her article Kristina Ten is trying to accomplish the idea of showing people that if they just take the time to get to know someone on an individual basis, instead of holding on to what society around them says about the other person's culture and background they will be able to better identify with one another, and not feel like they could never understand each other because of their different cultures. This statement is also close to her thesis in which she talks about how people let small differences stop them from getting to know someone on individual basis. I think this is a very important point because everyone forms stereotypes about someone from a different culture whether they recognize it or not and it can stop them from getting to know someone who may be able to contribute a lot to the world but our never given the chance. This thesis however, could be seen as controversial because some people will say that they never formed stereotypes at all and they are not judgmental, but deep down they know that when they see someone they already start forming ideas about them based on the color of their skin, their culture, or the way they dress before they even meet them.
                Ten's intended audience seems to be every person throughout the world. Ten does seem to be aware of her audience because she uses words like "our" and "we". This means that she is including herself as well as everyone else throughout the world. This shapes her writing because all her thoughts and examples that were used are directed at the person reading her article as well as herself. She doesn't exclude herself by saying "you" but rather includes herself as being someone who also has formed stereotypes at one time or another. In order to support her thesis and accusations against people throughout the world the author uses two poems from two very different authors to show that through literature people from all across the globe can find connections to each other.She also uses many articles to prove a similar point. The poems she selected are called "I Do Not" by Michael Palmer and "Tourists" by Howard Moss. She uses both these poems because they effectively show how people from other countries treat outsiders. These two poems are very important to the author's essay because they both go into extensive detail about how people from other countries treat foreigners who come into their country because they believe that they can't keep up with them because of the language barriers or because of the fact that foreigners don't fit in with the people. They believe that foreigners will not try and embrace new things from the culture they are visiting but rather stick to what they are used to. But through these types of poems people are able to understand other cultures and how they feel about certain things which allows them to relate to each other and find similar values and similar interests.
      This essay was written and formatted in a very easy to follow and understandable way. Ten started out with an overall summary about what her paper would be about giving the reader some background about what she would be addressing and trying to prove. Her introduction was very powerful because it showed that she was very passionate about what she was writing about and she wanted others to really understand her point of view. She then when on to take quotes from the poems and other articles and back them up with commentary so that they could prove her overall point. I think that the way she set up her essay was very effective because it made the essay easy to follow and it was clear what her thesis was and how she was going to prove it. The author does not use transitions, but she does take the time to make her essay flow from paragraph to paragraph. It is easy to follow when she is going to begin talking about a new topic because her closing sentence from the previous paragraph sets it up very well. The author also does use powerful diction. Her words are selected carefully so that they drive home the point she is trying to prove. She does not try and sugar coat what she is saying. Her words are to the point and they say exactly what she wants. Her word choice is serving her purpose because she is passionate about what she is writing about and she wants people to understand her. The author also did not use any similes or metaphors, but she did use a lot of comparisons when she wrote. She spend a great deal of time showing how the poems and articles she used were similar in the points they were trying to prove and then furthered to prove her thesis. I do think the author is a credible authority on the subject just because she pulled from so many different sources that allowed to her to fully prove what she was so passionate about. She used comparison to really further her arguments and show that she was credible.
          I don't believe that this essay contradicts any of the rules I was told to follow whenever I go to write an essay of my own. Kristina Ten opened up her article with a clear and concise introduction and then moved into her body paragraphs in which she provided adequate information and evidence to support her overall thesis. She pulled from many different sources so that her opinion or the opinions of the articles she pulled from could not be biased in anyway. The article did surprise me in the fact that she was very passionate about what she wrote about and she really wanted people to see her point of view so that they could then think to themselves about if what she said was really right. I don't believe her writing was unconventional she did follow the basic outline with what an essay looks like. In a sense that she did have quotes or evidence backed up with commentary. Her ideas may be a little unconventional because others may not see the same topic from her point of view and may have their own ideas about it, but she sufficiently proved her own thoughts . Overall this essay doesn't contradict anything I have learned and I think that it is a very well written essay that had a lot of good information and ideas to look at.