Select one of the poems and explain why the poet is effective in presenting his message. Consider such elements: rhythm, rhyme, diction, imagery, and purpose. In this Petrarchan sonnet, Dunbar makes clear his message and expression of the pain of racial injustices after the Civil War. Douglass, as depicted as a great leader, is called upon for comfort through this problem that America faces. The purpose of this poem I feel is to represent the struggles the African Americans had to endure during their time being slaves while offering hope for the black community, letting the reader knows that one day someone will lead them out of this struggle and into their promise land.
Langston Hughes Research Langston Hughes (1902-1967) is one of the most influential African-American writers of the 20th century. His poetry represented a significant chapter in American literature. He always wrote about the current events of what is happening to African-Americans in his time. It is because of his original poetry that engraved his name forever in not only African American history, but in American Literature as well. “Through his long career as a professional writer, Hughes remained true to the African American heritage he celebrated in his writings, which were frankly ”racial in theme and treatment, derived from the life I know” (1131 Meyer) .
Finding WPA murals overwhelming, Lawrence concentrated on traditional painting instead. He produced his first major works in the late 1930s, most notably the Toussaint L Ouverture series, images that document the life of the revolutionary hero and Haiti’s struggle for independence. Other significant works include visual narratives of the lives of abolitionists Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass. In 1940, Lawrence received the prestigious Julius Rosenwald Fellowship making it possible to purchase his first art studio on 125th Street in the heart of Harlem. He soon portrayed Harlem street life in paintings that became commentaries on the role of African Americans in United States society with highly developed themes of resistance and social opposition.
ENG 240: Peer Review 1) The writer chose to analyze “If We Must Die” by Claude McKay; the specific argument that the writer is making is: During Slavery, the Civil War and the Reconstruction Era, African Americans gave us songs, poems and many other things that show us what they went through. These poems and songs as well as the poem, “If We Must Die” represented images that can be linked back to the oral tradition; no this argument is not unique, because we have learned in class that songs and poems created during these times shows us what they were enduring during hard times and his thesis is kind of general; The essay partially fulfills what the writer promised to talk about because the writer to the poem line by line and analyzed the poem by telling the reader what he thought each line meant but he didn’t specifically state what his main topics/arguments would be. Since his thesis is kind of general, the writer should possibly go through his essay and look for specific examples that he talked about and add some more to his thesis to make it more specific. 2) His fourth paragraph had the best evidence and analysis but it needs to be cut because it’s too big, I think the reader should focus more on the images from specific parts of the poem and talk more on the significance of the specific parts rather than analyzing the poem line by line; His first paragraph should be explained more and have examples from the text; his second paragraph could somehow be intertwined with his first paragraph since this poem paper isn’t really about the author it’s more about analyzing the essay. 3) The writer partially supports his thesis with evidence.
She states that although roses are small and lovely they are also a never changing force. Oliver also uses complex descriptions and goes in depth about the bird. She describes the owl in the first paragraph: different types of owls, its outer appearance, and a little about its diet. In the second paragraph, she even describes an owl’s waste by using a simile to compare the sound it makes to dropping stones. “Owls” written by Mary Oliver is all over the place.
Symbolism is used to create a better comprehension, an atmosphere that surrounds the symbol, and analyze the symbolic meaning. Every story, poem or song utilizes symbols, whether it is obvious or hidden; it still conveys its message and purpose. In the short stories “A Worn Path” by Eudora Welty and “Signs and Symbols” by Vladimir Nabokov, both stories are evidently different, but both use strong sense of symbolism of birds. The protagonist in “A Worn Path” is a woman named Phoenix Jackson, who is an elderly African-American who has poor eyesight. She lives in a small community who travels through the fields and wilderness to get medicine for her sick grandchild.
Choosing to end the novel with ‘1973’ also indicates that Alice Walkers wants the reader to place the texts historically, after the years of the apartheid in America, when segregation was law. It also means that the reader may then understand why Dee is so confused about her identity and why her family find it so difficult to move on and away from their southern African American routes. ‘Everyday Use’ is specifically from a woman’s point of view, it is a personal account of a woman’s experience of history. Quilting for example was a huge part of African American culture for women, often associated with the south. ‘In the 1980’s, partially inspired by Walker’s works, many studies, including those by cultural and feminist critics such as Elaine Showalter, explored the relationship between the
The experiences of the characters are based on years of history that African Americans have endured in America since the age of slavery. The painting titled, “Piano Lesson”, was Wilson’s primary source of inspiration. The painting was by Romare Bearden and the play is set in Pittsburgh in the year of 1936. The heritage that slavery has left behind is an open sore in the hearts of many African Americans and Wilson’s primary goal was to express this anguish within his writing. He was able to display the relationships that families of that era adorned on society during the Great Depression.
Nhi Tran Professor Nicholas Cox History 1301 25 November 2014 Persuasive Strategies from Harriet Jacobs Anti-slavery or abolitionism is a movement to end slavery in the nineteenth century. Many abolitionists and writers such as William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass, and Lydia Maria Child use literature to fight for slaves’ freedom and human equality. Another standout abolitionist is Harriet Jacobs, an African- American writer who escapes from slavery and becomes abolitionist speaker. She contributes to anti-slavery movement in American history with her Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, one of the first autobiographical slave narratives. Under the pseudonym Linda Brent, Jacobs uses her pen to describe her struggle for freedom,
This is a timeless piece that exhibits a collage of graphic incidents of racial brutalities, and the religious fervor of the 1940 “Negro.” This painting is as relevant today as it was in the forties. Baker was inspired to create a collection of pieces called the, “Negro Spiritual Series,” while traveling through Mississippi and Louisiana. Bakers painting display a clear influence of the social realism and regionalism painting style, by focusing on the plight of the “Negro.” The police brutality depicted in this piece is still very valid today. In cases like Abner Louima who was sodomized with the handle of a plunger by New York City police in 1997 (Alvarez), or Sean Bell