Literary Analysis

In Barbara Hamby’s Ode to American English stresses the little things that get under the narrator’s skin. She says that she misses the “pill-popping Hungarian goulash of everything…” which sets a sarcastic tone to the whole poem. Also throughout the poem the descriptions of the poem are taken from other countries and cultures, which really add to the saying America is a melting pot. Also in Tony Hoagland’s America he states the pop culture that adds to the American culture. He states that in his dream how he stabbed his father, and money flowed out, that gives the reader the impression that money clogs the carefree life that you live, and that it cannot “buy happiness”.