Read the excerpt below from the poem "Exile" by Julia Alvarez and answer the question that follows. Or like, Papi, two swimmers looking down at the quiet surface of our island waters, seeing their faces right before plunging in, eager, afraid, not yet sure of the outcome. Examine the literary device or devices being used in this excerpt from the poem. How does each literary device that you identify affect the theme of the poem? Defend your response with evidence from the poem.

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English

Lilianna Burton

Yesterday, 23:11

Read the excerpt below from the poem "Exile" by Julia Alvarez and answer the question that follows. Or like, Papi, two swimmers looking down at the quiet surface of our island waters, seeing their faces right before plunging in, eager, afraid, not yet sure of the outcome. Examine the literary device or devices being used in this excerpt from the poem. How does each literary device that you identify affect the theme of the poem? Defend your response with evidence from the poem.

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Aaliyah Branch · Answer 1

It is vital to realize that this poem explores the mixed feelings of the speaker and her father at having arrived in America. Although they have left a place of danger and insecurity behind them, they feel overwhelmed by the vast differences between their new home and their old. The speaker says how they desperately were "trying hard to feel luckier / than we felt."