Sonrisas
By Pat Mora
I live in a doorway
between two rooms. I hear
quiet clicks, cups of black
coffee, click, click like facts
budgets, tenure, curriculum,
from careful women in crisp beige
suits, quick beige smiles
that seldom sneak into their eyes.I peek
in the other room señoras
in faded dresses stir sweet
milk coffee, laughter whirls
with steam from fresh tamales
sh, sh, mucho ruido,*
they scold one another,
press their lips, trap smiles
in their dark, Mexican eyes.
Summary of Sonrisas
- Popularity of “Sonrisas”: The poem ‘Sonrisas’ was written by Pat Mora, an American poet and writer. This symbolic poetic piece first appeared in 1986 in her book, Borders. The poem is about the two rooms where the poet has difficulty in deciding where to live. The poem is beautiful because it uses the two-rooms metaphor to depict the world.
- “Sonrisas” As a Representative of Diasporic Lifestyle: Mora opens the poem with her expression of facing the dilemma of living between two rooms. According to her, she has the ability to hear everything that comes out of each one of them. She gazes into every room and observes grins, coffee, merriment, tamales, and even admonishments, and subsequently discovers that the majority of the occupants are Mexicans who possess aspirations and positive outlooks towards an improved life in the times ahead.
- Major Themes in “Sonrisas”: Living a desperate life, fear of the future, and search for identity are three major themes of this poem. Although consisting of only two stanzas, the poem broadens the scope of poetic imagination to encompass the vast landscape of human existence, compelling the poet to first consider the sounds within the room and subsequently explore its inhabitants. She talks to them and notices that their dark eyes show both fear and excitement about what’s to come.. She can feel this disgraced lifestyle of her people, who are also searching for identity like her, as she inserts Latino words in the middle of the poem to show it.
Analysis of Literary Devices Used in Sonrisas
literary devices refer to the specific tools that the writer uses in their writings to convey their messages in an appealing way. The analysis of the devices used in this poem is as follows.
- Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /i/ in “coffee, clicks, clicks like facts” and the sound of /e/ in “faded dresses stir sweet”,
- Alliteration: Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /s/ in “seldom sneak” and the sound of /f/ in “from fresh.”
- Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /k/ and the sound of /f/ in “coffee, click, click like facts” the sound of /s/ and /p/ in “press their lips, trap smiles” and the sound of /t/ in “that seldom sneak into their eyes.”
- Enjambment: It is defined as a thought in verse that does not come to an end at a line break; rather, it rolls over to the next line. For example,
from careful women in crisp beige
suits, quick beige smiles
that seldom sneak into their eyes.
- Imagery: Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. For example, “suits, quick beige smiles”, “that seldom sneak into their eyes” and “they scold one another.”
- Metaphor: It is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between the objects that are different in nature. The poet used the metaphors of sound such as coffee and laughter.
- Personification: Personification is to give human qualities to inanimate objects or ideas, such as laughter, smile and eyes are presented as having life and emotions of their own. The poet has personified them.
- Symbolism: Symbolism is using symbols to signify ideas and qualities, giving them symbolic meanings that are different from literal meanings. Here, the poet has used symbols such as clicks, cups, and suits to show the activity of women.
Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in Sonrisas
Poetic and literary devices are the same, but a few are used only in poetry. Here is the analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem.
- Diction and Tone: The poem shows descriptive diction with words from Latino and a nostalgic tone.
- Free Verse: The poem does not follow any rhyme scheme or metrical pattern. Therefore, it is a free verse poem.
- Stanza: A stanza is a poetic form of some lines. There are two stanzas with eight and nine verses, respectively.
Quotes to be Used
The lines stated below from “Sonrisas” are useful to use while talking the Mexican wisdom.
they scold one another,
press their lips, trap smiles
in their dark, Mexican eyes.
