Explicate/analyze the poem, “still life with my mother’s hijab” by Safia Elhillo.

Address/explore the following:
1) Introduce title and author; place title of a poem in quotation marks.

2) Briefly summarize what the poem is about in a few sentences.

3) HINT: Also read up on prejudice that is often directed towards the Muslim culture–how might this cultural baggage have an effect on the speaker of the poem? The mother?ote: The poet did not kill herself. She has taken on a persona or the voice of the young colleggirl.

4) Tone–what is the overall tone of the poem and does it remain the same or does it change?

5) Imagery (the images/word-pictures the poet uses and why; what might they symbolize? In other words what do they mean on deeper level?

6) Sound play–does the poet use alliteration or assonance? You can address this earlier on if you’d like to.

7) Content: explore the meaning of the poem.

8) What metaphors/similes does the poet use? What is she trying to show us with them? Is there an extended metaphor? There may not be any metaphors in this poem, but check anyway.

9) What is the theme? (large, deeper, meaning, or could speak to cultural issues, identity, etc.)

10) Structure–why the poem is shaped in a certain way, lines, stanzas, etc.

11) Also check out and address why you think the poet decided to use all lower case letters for the title. Elhillo means this to be kind of a social commentary. What do you think she meant to show by that? (You can do this part earlier in the beginning of your essay if you want to.)

NOTE: You MUST include quotes (also called in-text citations) from the poem within each body paragraph as evidence to underscore your analysis/observations. Please see the example explication/close reading to see how to set up your quotes.

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