Hard Rock Returns to Prison from the Hospital for the Criminal Insane The prisoners see Hard Rock as their “Destroyer”. He will do things nobody else in the prison will do. He will stand up to the other prisoners and even the other guards. I chose this poem because I felt I had a very good understanding of the writing. While reading the poem, I never felt puzzled or confused. I enjoyed the emotion and story behind the poem as well. Hard Rock is sent to a Hospital for the Criminal Insane because of his disobedience, yet when he returns he is not the same man he used to be. The structure of this poem is very standard. It is what I usually see when reading a poem. I believe it is easier to comprehend when a poem is structured the way Knight’s …show more content…
poem is. Out of all of the poems we have read, I believe this is one of the longest. I enjoyed the length of the poem because Knight captured my attention immediately. Although there is no rhyme scheme in the poem, there are other parts in the structure that stick out to me. In the poem “WORD” was used twice in one stanza. In my opinion, the “WORD” meant “the deal”. Meaning this was how people viewed Hard Rock. Another part of the poem that stuck out to me was when Knight said, “/ was /”. The author used past tense throughout the poem because the story had already. happened.
He wanted ‘was’ to stand out because that was how Hard Rock was known before his surgery. In this poem, the author is telling the story in first person plural. Knight is telling the story from his point of view, along with the other prisoners. The detail the author gives in the poem allows me to create many images of his physical features while reading. “Split purple lips, lumbed ears, welts above his yellow eyes, and one long scar that cut across his temple and plowed through a thick canopy of kinky hair.” These lines in the poem give me a vivid description of Hard Rock. In my opinion, the author portrays a serious tone throughout the poem. Knight’s tone at the end of the poem even …show more content…
saddens. Before he had surgery, the prisoners viewed Hard Rock as intimidating and crazy.
One inmate even said, “Ol Hard Rock! Man, that’s one crazy nigger.” They said he was “known not to take no shit from nobody”, which means his fellow inmates knew not to mess with Hard Rock. Although I do not know the name of the actual procedure, I can infer that Hard Rock had some type of neurological procedure. In the poem, the author even states that they, “bored a hole in his head, cut out part of his brain, and shot electricity through the rest.” As the reader, one can infer the surgery was done because of his outrageous behavior. After the procedure, Hard Rock doesn’t act the same. The other inmates try to start fights, but he just does nothing. “A hillbilly called him a black son of a bitch”, yet hard Rock does not retaliate. He even grins. When the author says, “We dreamed of doing but could not bring ourselves to do” it makes me feel as though they looked up to Hard Rock. They thought of him as their “Destroyer”. The other inmates are saddened that Hard Rock is not the
same. In summation, this poem was a very good read. Knight reals his readers in almost immediately when he states, “known not to take no shit from nobody”. The author portrays Hard Rock as “the doer of things we dreamed of doing but could not bring ourselves to do”. The prisoners even admired Hard Rock. I believe that the author effectively conveyed the message he was intending to convey. In my opinion, Knight was trying to give his readers an inside look on what prison relationships are actually like. The poem made me question my previous assumptions of prison. I do not believe Hard Rock deserved to have such a procedure done because of his behavior. The prison should have taken different measures in order to tame Hard Rock.
One of the ways the author does this is by using enjambment to make the title and the first line of the poem flow into one single line. This symbolizes how when you are in jail there is no real beginning; one day flows to the next. His extensive use of figurative language, allows for the reader to paint a picture in his or her mind. “... to a dark stage, I lie there awake in my prison bunk.” This line can be interpreted literally and figuratively; he is really in prison in his bunk or it feels so much like a dream that it is as if he were on a stage. However, his diction shows that he has does this often. “...through illimitable tun...
The main character, Hard Rock as a kind of “Superman” to other penal patients is recognized immediately in the poem through a repeating of the accounts that are strewed about him; the forthright narrative of the poem sets up the vagueness of how he will respond after his "treatment" in the sanatorium. The poem associates with those who anticipate his return; they are confident that Hard Rock's essence has not been shattered by a surgical “treatment” or shock therapy, and the lines slither nearly to a halt with dissatisfaction in verse four. The "nothing" (line 27) of Hard Rock's reaction to mockery and provoking and the hollowness of his eyes, "1ike knot holes in a fence," (James 194-195) decrease the valiant expectations and delusions to desolation. The final section recounts the spectators' efforts to reinterpret, to grasp onto faith that their idol of heroism could counter against the greatest determinations to dominate him, but the spirit has disappeared out of the hero-worshipers too, and the poem reports them as hammered, submitted, denied of their inner self as Hard Rock has been of his. The poem expresses the anguish of the despondent and it rallies against the implementation of power that can restrain even as fractious a character as Hard Rock.
Hard Rock Returns to Prison from the Hospital for the Criminal Insane by Etheridge Knight
More of Knight’s notable use of diction and tone is found in this stanza, where he writes, “A hillbilly called him a black son of a bitch/ And didn’t lose his teeth, a screw who knew Hard Rock/ From before shook him down and barked in his face./ And Hard Rock did nothing” (lines 24-27). It can be felt from Knight’s use of tone that this type of action is uncharacteristic of Hard Rock. The second stanza details Hard Rock’s lobotomy, with Knight writing, “...the doctors had bored a hole in his head,/ Cut out part of his brain, and shot electricity/ Through the rest” (lines 8-10). This leaves the inmate with an intruding presence of hopelessness. The imagery and diction is the last stanza of the poem drives home the motif of disheartenment that the black prison inmates felt after realizing that Hard Rock is forever changed. Similar to the movie One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, the central, nonconformist character Randle McMurphy, who gave the inmates a sense of hope, is lobotomized, leaving the prisoners afraid and unable to challenge authority in the way they could have if McMurphy was still his full, original self. This is the same way that Etheridge Knight and his fellow prisoners felt after Hard Rock’s return. The one person who was brave enough to stand back was now made into a martyr for the prisoners as well as an example made for the prisoners on what would happen if
The main themes of the poem are rebellion, oppression, and imprisonment. The theme of imprisonment is evident in Hard Rock Returns to Prison from the Hospital for the Criminal Insane poem. Hard Rock was a tough inmate, silenced by lobotomy. Hard Rock was a hero to the other prisoners, and this made the authority to take actions against him in order to tend his defiance. The punishment given to him was unjust because, it altered his body and movements, in addition to shortening his life. Authorities are used to oppressing the people who voice out what they believe is not right.
...rotect residents from acts of police brutality,” at times resorting to violence in order to achieve their goal (Brittanica). Additionally, Morrison clearly models Guitar after Malcom X. Not only do they share similar ideals, but even share the same birth year and state of origin. Earlier in life, Malcom X did not support integration of black and white society, rather supporting the idea of black supremacy and separation. Guitar’s belief that white people are unnatural and evil parallels Malcom X’s early stances. Guitar and The Seven Days are Morrison’s reminder that violence and revenge are never appropriate responses. Guitar begins as a likeable and essentially good character, but falls from morality and allows hate to consume him. Though the reader can sympathize with Guitar and understand the source of his hate, it is clear that what he is doing is wrong.
Etheridge Knight’s “Hard Rock Returns to Prison from the Hospital for the Criminal Insane” is an interesting poem spurred from his own experiences, that explores a variety of things from basic human emotions to controversial medical treatments. Knight was incarcerated for 8 years for robbery, during which he began to develop his skill as a poet, and this stint in prison influenced the settings and styles of his poetry. Knight’s poem is unique in its slang-styled diction, but brings about relatable concepts to allow the reader to connect with the text. Two prominent themes within the poem are that anyone, no matter how strong or looked up to, can be broken, and also that slavery is still alive today, even if it is not in its traditional form. Knight combines these themes with deeper meanings and an individual way of writing to create a poem that is compelling and classic.
The first stanza opens with descriptions of Hard Rock that serve as a foundation for the readers to base their understanding of who Hard Rock is. He is “‘known not to take no shit / From nobody,’ and had the scars to prove it” (1-2). After describing his menacing physical qualities, the poem transitions into stanza two with a slight shift in tone that leaves the reader with a feeling that something has changed: “The WORD was that Hard Rock wasn’t a mean nigger / Anymore” (7). This helps set the stage to anticipate how Hard Rock’s transformation; however, stanza two ends with no clarification of what the new Hard Rock is like. Then in the first line of stanza three the tone shifts yet again, “As we waited we wrapped ourselves in the cloak / Of his exploits” (15). They talk of how “he / Smacked the captain with his dinner tray” (17-18) and how “He set / The record for time in the Hole---67 straight days!” (18-19). This shift to a nostalgic tone shows the inmates reluctance to accept the possibility that Hard Rock may have changed. The reader is then quickly thrust back into reality at the open of the fourth stanza when there is yet another tonal shift that parallels that of stanza two. In anticipation the inmates watch as their hero is tested for the first time; “A hillbilly called him a black son of a bitch” (24) and “a screw who knew Hard Rock / From before shook him down and barked
A work of art seeks to fulfill various functions hence, the poem gives me a critical and rational outlook; elicits various emotions and the danger brought by lack of strength and hope while striving for humanity.
The poem is an easy read, but intriguing at the same time. This poem is about a person who might have been injured in a battle of some kind or a war. The setting is a hospital. Plath leaves many details to the imagination, but the setting is concrete. This poem is written in the first person.
In relation to structure and style, the poem contains six stanzas of varying lengths. The first, second, and fourth stanzas
I think that the tone of this poem is amusing and slightly angry. The entire poem is really straightforward though, and is easy to understand.
There is a lot of nice (figurative) language used throughout this piece, and the imagery created by the cyclic titles is simply gorgeous. While the idea behind the poem is quite unique, the way that it is expressed in some sections is trite. In addition, the poem requires further development, particularly near the ending, as it seems to rely more on the subsection titles than actual narrative development to bring the piece back together full circle. It definitely has a lot of potential though!
The poem lacks any punctuation, except for a lone hyphen concluding the first stanza. This lack of punctuation causes the poem’s rhythm to be highly dependent on the orator reading the poem and demonstrated Knight’s high regard for poetry as an oral art rather than a written one. The poem starts off sounding like a prayer, “Lord she’s gone done left me,” (Feeling Fucked Up 1). Because of the religious tone Knight starts the poem with, the poem takes on the likeness of a verbal confession, an explanation for his rage. In addition, the repetition of the “-one”sounds adds a resounding anguished tone. Etheridge Knight touched on a similar association of the in his “On the Oral Nature of Poetry,” he relates the “oh” sound to sadness, using "Lenore" and "Nevermore” from Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven” as examples (On the Oral Nature of Poetry 93). Knight continues to resonate our souls with his vocal poetry, “bare / bright bone white crystal sand glistens / dope death dying and jiveing drove,” (Feeling Fucked Up 3-5). These three lines effectively make up two similarly constructed verses: in both there is a string of alliteration and have two rhyming words separated by a different word. The goal of this repetition to draw attention to the addiction that Knight suffered, and presumably the reason his girlfriend left
Like most ballads this is quite like a song and starts off in quite an upbeat way when the knight is describing the glorious day that he spent with the young faery, but takes qu...