Identity

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1977

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Symbols & Motifs

Flowers and Weeds

Unlike many poems that use flowers as symbols, Noboa Polanco’s “Identity” does not describe the flowers as aesthetically pleasing. In most cases, poets would use particular flowers and invoke their particular symbolic meanings. Roses symbolize love, for instance, and orchids symbolize beauty. Noboa Polanco’s speaker challenges this tradition and instead refers to flowers as an undifferentiated mass that exist “in clusters” (Line 16). The only suggestion the poem makes of particular flower species is in Line 20, when it references “fragrant lilac” (20). Otherwise, the flowers are not depicted as individuals. Instead, they are used as symbols of interdependence, conformity, and passivity. Weeds are described, in contrast to the poem’s flowers, as free, independent, and self-determining.

Height

Height plays a vital role in Noboa Polanco’s “Identity.” Not only are the weeds always described as “tall, ugly weeds,” suggesting the heartiness and health of the plants (Lines 4, 22), but the weeds are shown to be geographically higher than their flower counterparts. Weeds grow on “cliffs,” cross “beyond the mountains,” and are compared to “an eagle wind-wavering above high, jagged rocks” (Lines 5, 12, 5-6). Vertical height is often associated with being closer to God, actualizing one’s true self, or simply climbing the ladder of success. And while the weeds climb these heights, the flowers are in a valley, a comparatively low area.

Earth

The Earth, and earth more generally, takes on a variety of roles in Noboa Polanco’s “Identity.” The emphasis the speaker places on flowers and weeds means that the soil they grow in, by association, becomes highly symbolic. For instance, the “Pot of dirt” (Line 3) that the flowers grow in is detached from the Earth and artificially suspended in a pot—itself potentially made of clay, another kind of earth. The speaker uses dirt in this instance as a pejorative, and the connection between the dirt and pot may suggest potting soil, a consumer product. These associations, along with the “fertile valley” in Line 16, work to emphasize the fragility and neediness of the flowers.

The weeds focus on a different aspect of dirt. They are depicted as “clinging on cliffs” and “jagged rocks” (Lines 5-6), and having their seed carried “Beyond the mountains” (Lines 9-10). The weeds, unlike the flowers, do not need a fertile place to grow. Rather, they grow as if self-nurturing, being able to break “through the surface of stone” in order “to live” (Lines 7-8). This suggests that the weeds are not even dependent on their environment.