Poem

In Alexander Pope's "The Quiet Life" the topic of identity is explored in the context of not being known. The identity that is described is one that is built off of the very ground in which one lives. Pope goes on to explore the idea of self sufficiency and the blessed nature of those who are "content to breath his native air". The want for anonymity is hit upon in the last stanza with his request to have "not a stone tell where [he] lies". The rhyme scheme used throughout is abab but the a is based off of a sound rhyme. Care and air to not rhyme by sight but when pronounced they are. This use emphasizes the endings of the a lines adding to the message of identity and anonymity.

Gary Soto has a very different take on identity in his poem "Mexicans Begin Jogging". In this poem, the identity or, once again, the lack there of is explored in the lives of undocumented workers. Even though the speaker protests that he is an American, legal to be working, the boss wants to help and shoves him out the door after giving him money. The second stanza tells of the American speaker running as a part of the Mexican groups, "the wag to a short tail". This man is being grouped with different people multiple times but still seems lost as to which is his actual identity. The lack of a rhyme scheme adds to the free, floating nature of the poem and the speaker'a wishy-washyness on personal identity. The landscape/sight descriptors that "blurred like photographs" adds to the quick nature of the speaker'a adventure that propels him into "the next century".