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.

Hongo's poem “The Legend” shows the power of well-intentioned brevity, as therein a few incidents drawn from common life reveal meanings beyond their specific time and place. The poet efficiently endows this poem with several levels of meaning, conveying genuine emotion and insight with the use of simple language and a few images economically evoked. Indeed, Hongo has stated his dedication to conciseness of expression and his firm belief in the power of the written word. In Volcano: A Memoir of Hawai'i, he expresses this artistic credo in contemplating time spent with a mentor:

I learned that a generation has an emotional note which can be captured in a song, that entire lifetimes of experience . . . could be figured...