Song and Literature through Vernacular Tradition For many years African Americans struggled with racism, prejudice inequality and oppression. They were taken from their families deprived of reading, writing, and learning and had their god given rights taken away. Through all the struggle, fighting and battles they never gave up and kept pushing forward for a brighter day. They did this so through music, song and dance known as the Vernacular Tradition. These were forms of expression, which enabled them to make it through those hard times and gave a voice and a form of self -awareness and endurance.
Cristine Aye Easto English IV DC-4 28 March 2011 “Mother to Son” Poetry Explication The Harlem Renaissance was a time where many forms of artistry emerged. Art served, not only as a form of self expression, but as a release of the building racial tension. Poetry, in particular, played a huge role during that time period, because poets addresses hard hitting issues like inequality and injustice through their powerful words. Langston Hughes used his poetic influence to not only inspire the African American community, but to shine a light on the injustice and tribulations they faced on a daily basis. In Mother to Son, a woman is telling her son of the battles he may face in life and to continue on despite what life throws his way.
Analytical Essay of Sympathy and Chicago The “American Dream” is something everyone strives for, but it is just that- a dream. It provides hope for people in need of it and pride for those who believe they have already reached it. Carl Sandburg and Paul Dunbar have had quite an impact on American literature. Their thought-provoking poems make you think about what “The American Dream” meant during that time period. Paul Dunbar’s poem Sympathy uses an extended metaphor to compare his feelings of isolation and oppression to that of a caged bird.
By creating art, which they weren’t able to do before, the African Americans felt as though they were American. But by being black, having a different background and facing life differently as a typical American would, those same African Americans also felt an altered sense of self beyond American. Numerous African Americans from the Harlem Renaissance created works of art which portrayed that experience of “double-consciousness” and one of those African Americans was poet, Langston Hughes. Through his poem “The Weary Blues”, Hughes creates a scene that is perfect for showing the reader an African American’s experience in the Harlem Renaissance and how they faced two sides of their own being. In Langston Hughes’ poem “The Weary Blues”, the speaker describes an evening of listening to a blues musician in Harlem.
Hughes's foreshadowing indicates the speaker’s optimistic future that is planned for himself, while O'Hara's authorial intrusion shows the speaker’s struggles and his position in the poem intensively to get understandings from the readers. In "I, Too" by Langston Hughes, the speaker feels discriminated by the people around him because of the difference in behavior of others towards him. Since the speaker of the poem is African-American and others around him are not, he has to deal with the racial discriminations and the injustices from the society that he is in. From the lines 1-2, "I, too, sing America. / I am the darker brother," we can tell that he is different from
Call-and-response patterns, as well as improvisation of lyrics and melody were encouraged in these societies. As slaves were brought to the United States, they brought their music with them in an attempt to preserve their heritage. Slaves would often sing while they worked. The songs told of the slave's hopes, dreams, and torture they experienced in their everyday lives, and served as rhythmic accompaniment to their difficult labor. Following the emancipation of slaves, rhyme songs, ballads, and blues became abundant in the African American community.
An example of this would be “let freedom ring”. This quote has been used by Martin to stress how badly the Black people have been treated due to the segregation. It illustrates the suffering and hardship the black people were going through at the time. This quote give the black people hope as they’re need for freedom is being repeated By Dr Martin. The word ‘ring’ makes the audience think of a bell’s sound reverberating through the nation.
STILL I RISE BY MAYA ANGELOU- She is speaking to her audience of oppressors about how she has overcome racism, criticism, sexism, and personal obstacles in her life with pride and grace. this poem is also historically rooted with the mentions of slavery. HARRIET TUBMAN BY ELOISE GREENFIELD. LANGSTON HUGHES- MY PEOPLE, I TOO SING AMERICA.- this poem describes the pain felt by an african in a world dominated by the whites. lansgton expresses the agony with a hope that tomorrow will definitely bring a change( whites will treat blacks with equality in all the aspects of life) AFRICAN AMERICANS HAVE PLAYED AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN THE GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNITED STATED AND ALSO THE WORLD.
The Reawakening of the Soul People express their inner-self through several mediums, from writing, to painting, to playing music. Langston Hughes, influenced by the struggles presented in the Harlem Renaissance, expressed his inner-self though his poetry. Langston Hughes emphasizes how music replenishes the soul through emotional connections by the use of form and language in his poems “The Weary Blues”, “Jazzonia, and “Danse Africaine”. Langston Hughes, in “The Weary Blues”, expresses that the working class communicates their societal and personal problems through music, similar to the songs “played on Seventh Street”, as described by Langston Hughes himself (“Songs on Seventh Street”). The speaker’s repetition and personification of the “[piano's] moan” portrays the transfer of struggle from the speakers heavy soul to the instrument which reveals the ordeals that have troubled the musician and have caused him to display his emotional distress through his music.
In the poem "Ballad of Birmingham", by Dudley Randall, written in 1966, Mr. Randall uses tone and irony to describe the events of the mothers decisions, and as well as her concern for her child's well being. In the first stanza, irony is used in order to make reading the poem more interesting. The situation in this first stanza is also very important. The little child is in a desperate situation and wants to help better the lives of the African Americans. Randall also focuses on specific culture here.