I Lost My Talk

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 2007

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Form and Meter

“I Lost My Talk” is a free-verse poem with no consistent rhyme scheme, meter, or form. The poem has four stanzas: one quatrain with four lines, one cinquain with five lines, and two tercets with three lines each.

Each stanza ends with a period to show a finality of thought, though a connection to the next stanza is also present, as if the poet is attempting to craft a well-structured essay. Related to this use of punctuation is the use of enjambment, or ideas flowing from one line to the next. Joe uses enjambment to force lines that seem like they could have punctuation into the next line, showing the speaker’s increasingly emotionally-charged agitation. The most prominent example of this is “I speak like you / I think like you” (Lines 6-7), a run-on sentence that builds intensity as the speaker laments that losing her language has meant completely losing herself as well.

Each line is generally short and to the point, with simple and conversational diction, as Joe writes to convey a clear message that cannot get lost in translation.

Alliteration

Even though there is no clear meter, a sense of rhythm develops due to the incorporation of alliteration, the repetition of initial consonant sounds throughout the poem to create emphasis and euphony. In the second line of the poem—“talk you took away”—the repetition of the voiceless “t” sound has a firm, assertive tone. The “t” sound comes back again in Line 10 with “Two ways I talk” and in Lines 14-15 with “talk” and “teach.” In the fourth line, when she talks about being at “Shubenacadie school” as a little girl, the “s” sounds soften in order to direct the reader’s attention to the innocence of youth, intensifying the outrage of the speaker’s situation.

Repetition

The literary device of repetition conveys emphasis and stress; in this poem, repetition is linked to the use of alliteration. The alliterative “t” indicates the fact that the word “talk” is repeated throughout the poem. Used as a noun to mean the speaker’s means of self-expression, the word poignantly dwells on the speaker-poet’s relationship to her native language. Because Joe uses the word at least once in every stanza, when she uses the synonym “speak” (Line 6), it is a jarring reminder of her need to assimilate the diction and usage of the dominant culture.

In the second stanza, the poet another type of repetition, epistrophe, in which the words at the end of the line repeat: “I speak like you / I think like you / I create like you” (Lines 6-8). The accusatory repetition of “like you” emphasizes the white “you” that has oppressed her: the teachers and administrators at the Shubenacadie school, the white power structure of Canada, and potentially the reader.

Additionally, the use of repetition echoes the repetitive drills used to force the speaker and her peers to master English vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation.