Topic > "Joy Harjo's "Eagle Poem: Prayer for Change in the World

Joy Harjo is a Native American poet. Harjo began writing poetry to make her voice heard and spoke on behalf of Native American women. 1973 it was the year of awareness of Native American issues by the Native rights movements. At that time, Native Americans were being scattered, ignored, and Harjo couldn't sit silently and let that happen this poem is really about the natives and all the violence and fear they have endured, and she is praying for change world without violence and inequality Get a custom essay on “Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't be banned"? Get an original essay One approach to convey your thoughts and ideas and also to inspire readers is through poetry. In order to understand what a poem says you have to analyze it. This poem was really convincing to me because of its inspiration and its positive feeling. Also, the way it makes you analyze your life (how you live it). Harjo explains the circle of life perfectly. One thing I liked about Harjo's poetry is that the prayers he talks about aren't addressed to a specific being, so they tend to be whatever we put our faith in, or it doesn't matter if we have a religion. Harjo uses an in-nature style in his sonnets. In Eagle Poem, he mentions the contrast between nature and the belief in what cannot be known. The cycle of lives, he urges, follows an authentic circle of movement, like the eagle's bow crossed by the breeze. Harjo's “Eagle Poem” deals with the entire circle of life and prayers. He does this through animals and nature (life), as represented through the eagle flying in circles. He argues that, despite being united with nature, we believe we are in a place where we have not imagined and the things we could not imagine anything better to do in that relaxing and bright place. Harjo uses a metaphor representing a prayer to an eagle and addresses how supplications are outside of individuals' ability to control. Harjo recounts the frequency with which prayers are said and performed for people's souls and for "the sky, the earth, the sun, the moon." Harjo highlights the recognition throughout the poem that we are truly blessed and honored because we were conceived and destined to die soon within a true circle of motion like the eagle. In lines 1-3, “To pray, open your whole self. To the sky, to the earth, to the sun, to the moon. To the one voice that is you,” means you are welcome to open yourself, to your voice, to your reality, and that voice will be entirely whole. In lines 4-8, “And know that there is more .You can't see, you can't hear; our little minds can grasp through sound and sight; that sound can be "circles of movement, not simply the dialects we think we convey." In lines 9-12, “Like the eagle that Sunday morning. Circled in the blue sky, you swept away our hearts sacred wings. Now the eagle becomes a different language that can speak to us. The term has swept away our hearts with sacred wings always takes my breath away, no matter how often I speak it or hear it 13-15, “We see you, we see ourselves and we understand. That we must pay maximum attention. And kindness in all things", shows us that the eagle hovering helps us to remember ourselves, our duty to constantly act with caution and kindness..