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Yellow Light at a Glance
"Yellow Light" Poem Overview | |
Poet: | Garrett Hongo |
Year Published: | 1982 |
Poetry Collection: | Yellow Light |
Poem Form: | Free Verse |
Literary Devices: | Alliteration, sibilance, personification, imagery, contrast, symbolism, simile |
Themes: | Diversity, the Asian American experience |
Message: | Even amidst the great diversity and multiculturalism of Los Angeles, Asian Americans struggle to be seen and heard. |
Yellow Light Poems (1982) by Garrett Hongo: An Introduction
Yellow Light is the first poetry book written by the Japanese American poet Garrett Hongo. The poetry book is made up of 21 poems including "Yellow Light," "Cruising 99," "Who Among You Knows the Essence of Garlic?," "Roots," "Issei: First Generation Japanese American," and "Something Whispered in the Shakuhachi."
Garett Hongo's poetry collection draws upon personal experiences as an Asian American living in Los Angeles, California. His poetry is also immersed in Japanese history and the experience of his immigrant ancestors. Yellow Light highlights the great diversity of culture and landscape that characterizes California. Hongo illustrates this diversity from close perspectives of everyday life.
Why does Garrett Hongo feel it is important to represent Asian American experience?
Garrett Hongo's ancestors were Japanese immigrants to Hawaii in the early 1900s when many immigrants came to work on plantations. Hongo seeks to represent immigrant experience and realities. His ancestors faced many hardships as immigrants and witnessed racist policies in America, including the Immigration Act of 1924, which prohibited immigration from Asian countries. Rather than allowing immigrant experiences to be lost, he seeks to shed light on them as a poet.
The title poem "Yellow Light" intricately and honestly details a working-class woman's walk home through bustling Los Angeles. Everything she passes points to the multiculturalism and diversity that defines the city.
Yellow Light: Full Poem
Below is the full poem "Yellow Light" by Garrett Hongo. While reading the poem, think about how the poet explores the theme of diversity.
One arm hooked around the frayed strap
of a tar‐black patent‐leather purse,
the other cradling something for dinner:
fresh bunches of spinach from a J‐Town yaoya,
sides of split Spanish mackerel from Alviso's, (5)
maybe a loaf of Langendorf; she steps
off the hissing bus at Olympic and Fig,
begins the tree‐block climb up the hill,
passing gangs of schoolboys playing war,
Japs against Japs, Chicanas chalking sidewalks (10)
with the holy double‐yoked crosses of hopscotch,
and the Korean grocer's wife out for a stroll
around this neighborhood of Hawaiian apartments
just starting to steam with cooking
and the anger of young couples coming home (15)
from work, yelling at kids, flicking on
TV sets for the Wednesday Night Fights.
If it were May, hydrangeas and jacaranda
flowers in the streetside trees would be
blooming through the smog of late spring. (20)
Wisteria in Masuda's front yard would be
shaking out the long tresses of its purple hair.
Maybe mosquitoes, moths, a few orange butterflies
settling on the lattice of monkey flowers
tangled in chain‐link fences by the trash. (25)
But this is October, and Los Angeles
seethes like a billboard under twilight.
From used‐car lots and the movie houses uptown,
long silver sticks of light probe the sky.
From the Miracle Mile, whole freeways away, (30)
a brilliant fluorescence breaks out
and makes war with the dim squares
of yellow kitchen light winking on
in all the side streets of the Barrio.
She climbs up the two flights of flagstone (35)
stairs to 201‐B, the spikes of her high heels
clicking like kitchen knives on a cutting board,
props the groceries against the door,
fishes through memo pads, a compact,
empty packs of chewing gum, and finds her keys. (40)
The moon then, cruising from behind
a screen of eucalyptus across the street,
covers everything, everything in sight,
in a heavy light like yellow onions."
Yellow Light: Summary
A woman is on the bus carrying a worn leather purse and food for dinner. She has spinach from the Chinese food store, mackerel from the Spanish grocers, and a loaf of bread from a California-based bakery called Langendorf.
She gets off the bus and passes Japanese and Mexican Americans playing war and hopscotch. She sees the wife of the Korean grocer walking around the neighborhood. The woman is in a Hawaiian area of the city after work and sees angry couples yelling and their children and turning on their TVs.
Notice how Hongo cleverly emphasizes the couples' anger by mentioning the "steam with cooking" and that they are going to watch "the Wednesday Night Fights" (14, 17). The poet portrays family life with an element of tension.
The speaker explains how in May the city is characterized by the beauty of nature—various types of flowers and insects are abundant. In May, the natural beauty cuts through the smog of the city. However, the poet states that it is currently October. In October, the sky gets darker earlier and the city seems to be burning bright and seething from all the artificial light.
The poem returns to the focus on the women. She climbs the stairs to her apartment in high heels and fumbles through her crowded purse to find her keys. The moonlight filtered through the eucalyptus leaves outside fills her room with a yellow light the poet compares to "yellow onions" (44).
Yellow Light Poem: Structure and Form
"Yellow Light" is a 44-line poem split into 5 stanzas of varying lengths. The first, fourth, and fifth stanzas detail the woman's journey to her apartment. The second and third stanzas speak more generally about the scenery of the city in May compared to October. These stanzas can be understood as the woman's thoughts on her walk home, as she likely does the same walk each work day but notices different things depending on the time of year.
The poem is written in free verse, meaning it does not have a set meter or rhyme scheme. However, each line is roughly 9 to 12 syllables, lending a uniform, block-like appearance to the text. This emphasizes the packed nature of the city and its abundance of life and activity. The rhythm of the poem is guided by the repetition of sounds, which will be analyzed in the following section.
"Yellow Light": Analysis of Literary Devices
The poem "Yellow Light" features literary devices including alliteration, sibilance, personification, imagery, contrast, symbolism, and simile.
Alliteration and Sibilance
The poem uses sound-related literary devices, such as alliteration and sibilance, to carry the poem along and mimic sounds in the woman's surroundings.
Alliteration is the repetition of the initial sounds of nearby words.
Sibilance is the repetition of sounds that create a hissing or hushing effect.
In the following passage from the first stanza of the poem, examples of alliteration are underlined and examples of sibilance are bolded.
"fresh bunches of spinach from a J‐Town yaoya
sides of split Spanish mackerel from Alviso's,
maybe a loaf of Langendorf; she steps
off the hissing bus at Olympic and Fig" (4‐7)
The word "hissing" is also an example of the literary device onomatopoeia. Onomatopoeia is when a word creates a sound that reflects what it means.
Hongo's use of alliteration carries the poem along at a quickened pace that mimics the woman on her journey. The repetition of the "s" sound creates a hissing that not only characterizes the bus but also reinforces the constant undercurrent of sound in a bustling city.
Alliteration and sibilance are used all throughout the poem. Try to think about the effect they have in different portions of the poem. How does the repetition of sounds help enforce the meaning of the words?
Personification
The poet uses personification to emphasize that the scenery of the city conveys its liveliness and everchanging nature.
Personification is when nonhuman things are given human characteristics.
"If it were May, hydrangeas and jacaranda
flowers in the streetside trees would be
blooming through the smog of late spring.
Wisteria in Masuda's front yard would be
shaking out the long tresses of its purple hair." (18‐22)
Garrett Hongo uses personification to show how the city comes alive as the end of spring nears summer. The poet portrays the city as awakening from the sleepy smog of the earlier months through the personification of wisteria growing. Hongo implies that summer comes with a sense of freedom and bounty as the overgrown plants resemble a woman letting her long hair down.
Imagery and Contrast
The poem "Yellow Light" is jam-packed with imagery, which reflects the crowded, busy nature of the city. The poet interestingly contrasts the imagery of Los Angeles in May versus October.
Imagery is the use of descriptive language that appeals to the senses.
Contrast is a rhetorical device used to emphasize opposite features.
While the poet characterizes May in Los Angeles through its flowering abundance of natural life, he describes October in the city through the imagery of harsh lights, commercial billboards, "used car lots," "movie houses," and "freeways" (28, 30). The poet uses words with violent connotations, such as "seethes" and "makes war", to point to the stark contrast between the bright lights and dull infrastructure in the city (27, 32). The striking contrast that exists in the city in different seasons and even on a single night emphasizes its diversity.
The contrasting imagery in May versus October can also be seen to reflect the woman's feelings or emotions at different times of the year. How do the seasons affect your feelings?
Simile and Symbolism
Garrett Hongo ends the poem with a simile that contains the symbol of yellow onions and lights.
A simile is a figurative comparison that uses the word 'like' or 'as.'
A symbol is something that holds an additional meaning beyond its literal meaning.
The final stanza of the poem follows:
"The moon then, cruising from behind
a screen of eucalyptus across the street,
covers everything, everything in sight,
in a heavy light like yellow onions." (41‐44)
The poet uses a simile to compare the filtered moonlight illuminating the woman's apartment to yellow onions. The yellow onions and yellow light depicted at the end of the poem symbolize Asian American experience. Onions are commonly used in Asian cuisine, and "yellow" is a term that has been used to describe East Asians based on skin color.
History of the Term "Yellow"
The term "yellow" is believed to have originated with a four-category classification of people from different regions that Carl Linnaeus ("the father of modern taxonomy") created in 1895. He referred to Asians as "luridus," which translates to "pale yellow."
Around the time of World War I, "yellow" was used as a derogatory term associated with the Yellow Peril—a term for the supposed threat East Asian civilization posed to Western Civilization. This propagation of this notion led to great racism towards Asian people.
In the later 20th century to the present, the term "yellow" has come to be embraced by many East Asian groups and people. However, it still holds controversial and racial connotations of the past.
The yellow moonlight that filters into the woman's apartment suggests that her entire experience is tinted or colored by her ethnic heritage. Comparing this light to yellow onions implies that the visibility of her ethnicity is strong, as the smell of onions is powerful and cannot be ignored.
In western culture, onions are often viewed as pungent and offputting, even though they are extremely versatile and add flavor. In a similar way, the woman's ethnicity can be viewed as a negative thing that categorizes her and sets her apart in society, or it can be seen as a positive thing that lends diversity to life.
Yellow Light: Themes
The poem "Yellow Light" focuses on the themes of diversity and Asian American experience.
Diversity in "Yellow Light"
The multicultural diversity in the city is emphasized from the very start of the poem as the woman carries food from various ethnic shops. She passes children of different ethnicities and walks through a Hawaiian neighborhood. Garrett Hongo paints an interesting picture of the abundance of cultures and ethnicities that come together to form a collective experience of Los Angeles.
However, it is important to notice that the cultures also remain distinctive and separate to a certain extent. The Japanese kids play battle with each other while the Mexican Americans play hopscotch together, and the wife of the Korean grocer stands out in the Hawaiian neighborhood.
Hongo highlights how cultural heritage is preserved even in a big American city. People—and even foods—continue to be defined by where they come from. This can be seen in a positive sense of maintaining cultural pride and identity, but Hongo also hints at aspects of isolation due to the distinctions and separation. At the end of the poem, Hongo portrays the quiet loneliness of the woman's apartment as "The moon then, cruising from behind / a screen of eucalyptus across the street, covers everything, everything in sight, / in a heavy light like yellow onions" (41‐44). The woman's skin color seems to "screen" and "cover" her. The poet implies that she is seen more as an Asian person than an individual human being.
The Asian American Experience in "Yellow Light"
The woman's experience is tinted by her ethnicity and everything is seen in a "Yellow Light." Her apartment has a lonely atmosphere as the moonlight shines through.
Yellow light is often perceived as softer or weaker than the white, fluorescent light that the city exudes. Hongo mentions how "a brilliant fluorescence breaks out / and makes war with the dim squares / of yellow kitchen light winking on / in all the side streets of the Barrio" (31‐34). This imagery suggests the struggle of Asian American's to be seen and heard.
The Barrio is a region of Los Angeles known for its history of Spanish-speaking immigrants. The "yellow kitchen light winking on" reflects the Asian woman's apartment. Hongo implies the isolation and unheard voice of Asian Americans through this picture of an Asian American woman living in a neighborhood where she does not fit in and the light of her apartment is dim compared to the "brilliant" white light of the city (31).
The poem ultimately conveys the message that even amidst the great diversity and multiculturalism of Los Angeles, Asian Americans struggle to be seen and heard.
Yellow Light - Key Takeaways
- "Yellow Light" (1982) is a poem written by the Japanese American poet, Garrett Hongo.
- The poem is from Hongo's first poetry book Yellow Light (1982), which explores Asian American perspectives and history.
- "Yellow Light" details a working-class Asian American woman's walk home in Los Angeles, California.
- The poem "Yellow Light" features literary devices including alliteration, sibilance, personification, imagery, contrast, symbolism, and simile.
- The themes of "Yellow Light" are diversity and the Asian American experience.
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Frequently Asked Questions about Yellow Light
What is the summary of the poem "Yellow Light"?
The poem "Yellow Light" tells the story of an Asian American woman's walk home through Los Angeles. She experiences and witnesses the diversity and multiculturalism of city life.
What are the themes in "Yellow Light"?
The main themes in "Yellow Light" are diversity and the Asian American experience.
Who is the author of the poem "Yellow Light"?
Garrett Hongo is the author of the poem "Yellow Light."
What is the message of the poem "Yellow Light"?
The message of the poem "Yellow Light" is that
even amidst the great diversity and multiculturalism of Los Angeles, Asian Americans struggle to be seen and heard.
What literary devices are used in "Yellow Light"?
Literary devices used in "Yellow Light" include alliteration, sibilance, personification, imagery, contrast, simile, and symbolism.
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