Difficult Names Literary Elements

The speaker is Warsan Shire, author of this poem. She speaks in first and second person point-of-view. The first half of this poem indicates Shire speaking in second person point-of-view, to parents of daughters. The last half of this poem shows Shire speaking in first person point-of-view about her own name.

This poem is in the form of free verse. It follows no specific structure and does not rhyme. At least iamb and dactyl meters appear in this poem.

The metaphor "full use of tongue" suggests that Shire wants people to say daughters' difficult names in a vigorous, well-rounded manner, as a sign of respect to them.

This poem appears to have some alliteration, although not all words are closely located in the same sentence. For example, the first sentence consists of "daughters" and "difficult" in adjacent location. Also, the following sentences focus on three key words that all start with the letter "t": tongue, truth, and trust.

Although Shire tells parents to give their daughter difficult names, she's encouraging them to carve out a triumphant path for their daughters. In other words, those difficult names should help their daughters gain victory over there life challenges regarding the unhealthy social pressure to conform. Yet this victory starts within through the internalization of beauty and power tied to their difficult names.

Prose poetry

N/A

Virtuous, confident, courageous, forceful

Although this is not a narrative poem, a protagonist(s) and antagonist(s) are implied. The protagonist persona is attributed to parents, their daughters, and Shire herself. The antagonist persona is attributed to (the personification of) patriarchy/the oppressive culture in society.

The major conflict is the preservation of cultural identity in the midst of social pressure to do otherwise. Daughters possessing difficult names are a symbolic representation of this cultural defiance.

The climax can be found in the last sentence of this poem. This is where Shire admits the need to protect herself from those who cannot pronounce her name right. In her eyes, such individuals lack genuine respect for her cultural identity. Ultimately, she wants daughters with difficult names to possess the same self-assurance and only accept the respect they deserve.

Although a setting(s) is not explicitly expressed, this poem suggests a future event of mothers giving birth to daughters. Shire tells parents to give their daughters difficult names within the first two sentences, which means such daughters have not yet been born. Otherwise, they would already have names.

The understatement lies in the second sentence where Shire says "full use of tongue." Even though she says that, Shire wants mothers to give their daughters names that do more than command the full use of tongue. Such names should inspire people to internalize the richness and culturally dynamic essence of them. Furthermore, such names should command respect from those speaking them.

Shire completely focuses on daughters instead of sons in this poem. This is partially because she is a daughter who possesses a difficult name. She understands how hard it is to endure life this way. Yet referring to daughters instead of sons alludes to the challenges women and girls face in a patriarchal society. She's alluding to multi-dimensional hardships, such as with self-esteem, beauty standards, education, economics, and more.

The metonymy of difficult names refers to a persona/character of rebellion, cultural preservation, social esteem, and self-respect. The synecdoche is difficult names, which is part of the entire character Shire wants daughters to strive for.

Although personification is not explicitly expressed, Shire does appear to personify the patriarchy she speaks against in this poem. Patriarchy possesses attributes that are the opposite of the truth and trustworthiness Shire mentions and desires from people.

N/A

N/A