Poetry: Bilingual Sestina

Bilingual Sestina by Julia Alvarez

For this poem, Alvarez strategically chose to write in a Sestina format. The sestina is a poetic form containing six stanzas, each with six lines, followed by an envoi (or “tornada”) of three lines. The end-words of each stanza follow a strict pattern throughout the poem. When writing sestinas, it is important to choose strong end-words—words that will each appear seven times throughout the poem add depth. This poetic form allows the reader to be challenged with understanding. I think it’s genius, forcing the readers to into slight confusion. The bilingual mind can push together or even pit two languages against each other in his own mind, Alvarez beautifully captured the struggle that comes with the impact of language and cultural loss.