The Legend | Criticism

  • Douglas Dupler

    Dupler is a writer and college English teacher. In this essay, he discusses the effectiveness of Hongo's poetic style in expressing the themes that are important to the poet.

  • David Kelly

    Kelly is an instructor of creative writing and literature. In this essay, he examines how Hongo avoids sentimentalizing the situation in this poem by openly admitting his own shortcomings.

  • Sheldon Goldfarb

    Goldfarb is a published writer with a Ph.D. in English. In the following essay, he explores the themes of alienation and connection in "The Legend."

  • Suzanne Arakawa

    In the following essay excerpt, Arakawa calls attention to the impulse in Hongo's poetry to find individual identity and place it in the context of communion in the common experiences of humanity.

  • Phoebe Pettingell

    In the following essay, Pettingell focuses on the autobiographical themes of Hongo, who grew up in the United States as the child of Japanese immigrants, in a world between two worlds.