Questões sobre interpretação de músicas e poemas em inglês

(ENEM MEC/2021) 

The British (serves 60 million)

Take some Picts, Celts and Silures

And let them settle,

Then overrun them with Roman conquerors.

Remove the Romans after approximately 400 years

Add lots of Norman French to some

Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Vikings, then stir vigorously.

[…]

Sprinkle some fresh Indians, Malaysians, Bosnians,

Iraqis and Bangladeshis together with some

Afghans, Spanish, Turkish, Kurdish, Japanese

And Palestinians

Then add to the melting pot.

Leave the ingredients to simmer.

As they mix and blend allow their languages to flourish

Binding them together with English.

Allow time to be cool.

Add some unity, understanding, and respect for the future,

Serve with justice

And enjoy.

Note: All the ingredients are equally important. Treating one ingredient better than another will leave a bitter unpleasant taste.

Warning: An unequal spread of justice will damage the people and cause pain. Give justice and equality to all.

Disponível em: http://www.benjaminzephaniah.com. Acesso em: 12 dez. 2018 (fragmento).

Ao descrever o processo de formação da Inglaterra, o autor do poema recorre a características de outro gênero textual para evidenciar

(ENEM MEC/2020) 

A Minor Bird

I have wished a bird would fly away,

And not sing by my house all day;

Have clapped my hands at him from the door

When it seemed as if I could bear no more.

The fault must partly have been in me.

The bird was not to blame for his key.

And of course there must be something wrong

In wanting to silence any song.

FROST, R. West-running Brook. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1928.

No poema de Robert Frost, as palavras “fault” e “blame” revelam por parte do eu lírico uma

(ENEM MEC/2020) 

A Mother in a Refugee Camp

No Madonna and Child could touch

Her tenderness for a son

She soon would have to forget…

The air was heavy with odors of diarrhea,

Of unwashed children with washed-out ribs

And dried-up bottoms waddling in labored steps

Behind blown-empty bellies. Other mothers there

Had long ceased to care, but not this one:

She held a ghost-smile between her teeth,

and in her eyes the memory

Of a mother’s pride… She had bathed him

And rubbed him down with bare palms.

She took from their bundle of possessions

A broken comb and combed

The rust-colored hair left on his skull

And then — humming in her eyes — began carefully

[to part it.

In their former life this was perhaps

A little daily act of no consequence

Before his breakfast and school; now she did it

Like putting flowers on a tiny grave.

ACHEBE, C. Collected Poems. New York: Anchor Books, 2004.

O escritor nigeriano Chinua Achebe traz uma reflexão sobre a situação dos refugiados em um cenário pós-guerra civil em seu país. Essa reflexão é construída no poema por meio da representação de uma mãe, explorando a(s)

(ENEM MEC/2019) 

Classifying

Philip and Annie wear glasses

and so do Jim and Sue,

but Jim and Sue have freckles,

and Tracey and Sammy too.

Philip and Jim are in boy’s group

but Philip is tall like Sam

whilst Jim is small like Tracey and Sue

and Clare and Bill and Fran.

Sue is in Guides and football

whilst Helen fits in most things —

except she’s a girl and quite tall.

Jenny is curly and blonde and short

whilst Sally is curly but dark;

Jenny likes netball, writing and maths

but Sally likes no kind of work.

Philip and Sam are both jolly,

Fran’s best for a quiet chat:

now I

have freckles, like joking, am tall, curly, dark,

in Guides, football

and play penny whistles and the piano…

how do I fit into all that?

NICHOLS, J. In: COLLIE, J.; LADOUSSE, G. Paths into Poetry. England: Oxford University Press, 1993.

No poema Classifying, a escritora inglesa Judith Nichols compara várias pessoas com o objetivo de

(ENEM MEC/2019) 

Englishman in New York

I don’t drink coffee I take tea my dear

I like my toast done on one side

And you can hear it in my accent when I talk

I’m an Englishman in New York

See me walking down Fifth Avenue

A walking cane here at my side

I take it everywhere I walk

I’m an Englishman in New York

[…]

I’m an alien, I’m a legal alien

I’m an Englishman in New York

I’m an alien, I’m a legal alien

I’m an Englishman in New York

Modesty, propriety can lead to notoriety

You could end up as the only one

Gentleness, sobriety are rare in this society

At night a candle’s brighter than the sun

STING. Nothing Like the Sun. Studio Album. United States: A&M Records, 1987 (fragmento).

Na letra da canção Englishman in New York, a fala do eu lírico evidencia uma atitude de

(ENEM MEC/2018) 

Don’t write in English, they said,

English is not your mother tongue…

… The language I speak

Becomes mine, its distortions, its queerness

All mine, mine alone, it is half English, half

Indian, funny perhaps, but it is honest,

It is as human as I am human…

…It voices my joys, my longings my

Hopes…

(Kamala Das, 1965:10)

GARGESH, R. South Asian Englishes. In: KACHRU, B. B.; KACHRU, Y.; NELSON, C. L. (Eds.). The Handbook of World Englishes. Singapore: Blackwell, 2006.

A poetisa Kamala Das, como muitos escritores indianos, escreve suas obras em inglês, apesar de essa não ser sua primeira língua. Nesses versos, ela

(ENEM MEC/2017) 

If You’re Out There

If you hear this message

Wherever you stand

I’m calling every woman

Calling every man

We’re the generation

We can’t afford to wait

The future started yesterday

And we’re already late

We’ve been looking for a song to sing

Searched for a melody

Searched for someone to lead

We’ve been looking for the world to change

If you feel the same, we’ll go on and say

If you’re out there

Sing along with me if you’re out there

I’m dying to believe that you’re out there

Stand up and say it loud if you’re out there

Tomorrow’s starting now…now…now […]

We can destroy Hunger

We can conquer Hate

Put down the arms and raise your voice

We’re joining hands today […]

LEGEND, J. Evolver. Los Angeles: Sony Music, 2008 (fragmento).

O trecho da letra de If You’re Out There revela que essa canção, lançada em 2008, é um(a)

(ENEM MEC/2016) 

Ebony and ivory

Ebony and ivory live together in perfect harmony

Side by side on my piano keyboard, oh Lord, why don’t we?

We all know that people are the same wherever we go

There is good and bad in ev’ryone,

We learn to live, we learn to give

Each other what we need to survive together alive

McCARTNEY, P. Disponível em: http://www.paulmccartney.com. Acesso em: 30 maio 2016.

Em diferentes épocas e lugares, compositores têm utilizado seu espaço de produção musical para expressar e problematizar perspectivas de mundo. Paul McCartney, na letra dessa canção, defende

(ENEM MEC/2015) 

My brother the star, my mother the earth

my father the sun, my sister the moon,

to my life give beauty, to my

body give strength, to my corn give

goodness, to my house give peace, to

my spirit give truth, to my elders give

wisdom.

Disponível em: http://www.blackhawkproductions.com. Acesso em: 8 ago. 2012.

Produções artístico-culturais revelam visões de mundo próprias de um grupo social. Esse poema demonstra a estreita relação entre a tradição oral da cultura indígena norte-americana e a

(ENEM MEC/2014) 

Masters of War

Come you masters of war

You that build all the guns

You that build the death planes

You that build all the bombs

You that hide behind walls

You that hide behind desks

I just want you to know

I can see through your masks.

You that never done nothin’

But build to destroy

You play with my world

Like it’s your little toy

You put a gun in my hand

And you hide from my eyes

And you turn and run farther

Whe the fast bullets fly.

Like Judas of old

You lie and deceive

A world war can be won

You want me to believe

But I see through your eyes

And I see through your brain

Like I see through the water

That runs down my drain.

BOB DYLAN. The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan. Nova York: Columbia Records, 1963 (fragmento).

Na letra da canção Masters of War, há questionamentos e reflexões que aparecem na forma de protestos contra