Kindness
By Naomi Shihab Nye
Before you know what kindness really is
you must lose things,
feel the future dissolve in a moment
like salt in a weakened broth.
What you held in your hand,
what you counted and carefully saved,
all this must go so you know
how desolate the landscape can be
between the regions of kindness.
How you ride and ride
thinking the bus will never stop,
the passengers eating maize and chicken
will stare out the window forever.Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness
you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho
lies dead by the side of the road.
You must see how this could be you,
how he too was someone
who journeyed through the night with plans
and the simple breath that kept him alive.Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
You must wake up with sorrow.
You must speak to it till your voice
catches the thread of all sorrows
and you see the size of the cloth.
Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,
only kindness that ties your shoes
and sends you out into the day to gaze at bread,
only kindness that raises its head
from the crowd of the world to say
It is I you have been looking for,
and then goes with you everywhere
like a shadow or a friend.
Summary of Kindness
- Popularity of “Kindness”: Written by the popular American poet Noami Shihab Nye, this succinctly precise poem occurs in her collection, Different Ways to Pray, published back in 1980. Since then, the poem has become highly popular due to the metaphorical presentation of the feeling of kindness. Therefore, it has been republished in several other collections, such as Words Under the Words in 1995. The beauty and popularity of the poem lie in the presentation of kindness as a feeling as well as a way of life.
- “Kindness” As a Representative of Kindness: Noami Shihab Nye presents a speaker who states that if you require kindness, then you must lose everything and become a penniless pauper. Then you will stare at the people eating things on buses when you go from one place to another place, but you just need one more thing to learn this. She is of the view that this is how an American Indian dies on the pavement. It is because the reader will experience the things that have led to the death of the Indian and will feel inside him how to deal with such a scenario. In the third stanza, she presents how to recount things to become kind. These things involve feeling sorrow, speaking about such sorrows from the core of one’s heart, and then becoming kind. It is the kindness personified that identifies its pursuer and becomes his/her friend.
- Major Themes in “Kindness”: Experiencing sorrows, marginalization, and being destitute to become kind are major themes of this poem. It is unclear why Naomi Shihab refers to an Indian for her readers to experience sorrow, but it must be kept in mind that this is a marginalized community within the United States, and feeling like an Indian means imbibing sorrow. Therefore, she refers to an Indian to point out that sorrows must be experienced like an Indian. Then the person should travel from place to place and experience how people treat him and become destitute so that he can be on the lookout of a kind person. This is how kindness reaches the person pursuing it. This is how a person learns kindness when other people treat him with kindness.
Analysis of Literary Devices Used in Kindness
Naomi Shihab is never short of using literary devices in her poems. Some of the major literary devices she used in this poem are as follows.
- Anaphora: It means to repeat words, phrases, or clauses at the beginning of successive verses. The poem shows the use of anaphora, such as “You must” in the last stanza.
- Allusion: It is a reference to a literary, historical, and social event or incident, or figure to show its importance in the existing context. The poem alludes to the Indian to show how a destitute or a marginalized person lives.
- Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /a/ in “how desolate the landscape can be” and the sound of /o/ in “from the crowd of the world to say.”
- Alliteration: Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line in quick succession, such as the sound of /h/ in “how he.”
- Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /n/ in “between the regions of kindness” and the sound of /s/ in “you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.”
- Enjambment: It means the use of a verse that rolls over to the next verse without any pause. The poem shows the use of enjambments, such as
only kindness that raises its head
from the crowd of the world to say
It is I you have been looking for,
and then goes with you everywhere
like a shadow or a friend.
- Imagery: Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. Naomi Shihab Nye used imagery in this poem, such as “you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing”, “You must wake up with sorrow” and “You must speak to it till your voice.”
- Metaphor: It is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between objects that are different in nature. The poet used the metaphor of kindness, showing a person who could be won as a friend.
- Personifications: It means to attribute human traits to inanimate objects and ideas. The poem shows the use of personification of voice that has the power to catch the threads of sorrow. Therefore, the poet personified the voice. Secondly, the poet has also personified kindness by the end of the poem.
- Simile: It means the direct comparison of things for understanding. The poet has compared the dissolution of the future to salt that dissolves in a weakened broth.
- Symbolism: Symbolism is using symbols to signify ideas and qualities, giving them symbolic meanings that are different from the literal meanings. The poem shows symbols such as flowers, bowers, birds, moons, and stars to show the blessings of God.
Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in Kindness
Poetic and literary devices are the same, but a few are used only in poetry. Here is an analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem.
- Diction: It means the type of language. The poem shows good use of formal and poetic.
- Free Verse: It means to write poetry without any pattern of rhyme or meter. This poem is written in free verse.
- Repetition: It means to repeat words, phrases, or verses for impact. The poem shows the use of repetition, such as “only kindness.”
- Stanza: A stanza is a poetic form of some lines. There are three stanzas in this poem, with each comprising a different number of verses.
- Tone: It means the voice of the text. The poem shows a didactic, loving, and kind tone.
Quotes to be Used
The following lines are useful to quote when teaching kindness in self-improvement classes.
Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,
only kindness that ties your shoes
and sends you out into the day to gaze at bread,
only kindness that raises its head
from the crowd of the world to say
It is I you have been looking for,
and then goes with you everywhere
like a shadow or a friend.
