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The study of poetry summary
Poems and their analysis
Poems and their analysis
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A poem that describes the oppression and stereotypes towards the people of Martinique during the French colonization of the country would be “Out of Alien Days” by Aime Cesaire. Cesaire’s own message in his poem has been interpreted by scholars through diverse approaches to the underline meaning of the poem. An understanding of the scholars interpretation of the poem should include a brief discussion about Cesaire’s writing style. The literary critics that interpreted “Out of Alien Days” have their own specific argument as to why Cesaire wrote the poem, and the ideas Cesaire wanted the reader to understand. With the literary scholars opinion of the poem, there are similarities and differences amongst the scholars with respect to Cesaire’s style. In this paper I describe the approach scholars used on the poem “Out of Alien Days”, give a brief understanding of Cesaire’s writing style, acknowledge the specific argument of the scholars, and similarities and differences between the diverse perspectives of the poem “Out of Alien Days”. In a book about the collective works of Aime Cesaire,...
As this poem characterizes the view of a native woman expressing feelings of passion relating to her culture, it also criticizes society, in particular Christianity, as the speaker is experiencing feelings of discontent with the outcome of residential schools. It does not directly criticize the faith, but through the use of a heavy native dialect and implications to the Christian faith it becomes simple to read the speakers emotions.
Elizabeth Ammon’s “The Myth of Imperial Whiteness” and Kenneth Bernard’s “Imagery and Symbolism in Ethan Frome” both have two vastly different perspectives on the same work of literature. Ammons goes into extensive detail to support the concept of racism that exists in Ethan Frome. Through the rich usage of symbolism, dynamic and static characters as well as imagery, Bormand offers his analysis on the characterization of Ethan Frome as well. Through the comparison of each critical work’s beginning, or introduction and conclusion, the variations in style and approach are quickly perceived.
Analyzing Un Sac De Billes extrinsically brings to mind, Post Colonial Theory which is the after effects of colonialism. It entails various aspects such as race, mimicry, ambivalence, hybridity ...
Danticat begins her essay with a tragic and bitter tone. She tells of the first people who were murdered when the Spaniards came to Haiti including Queen Anacaona, an Arawak Indian who ruled over the western part of the island. With bitterness she states, “Anacaona was one of their first victims. She was raped and killed and her village pillaged” (137).
...s the superiority of the former to the latter; in the second case, he greatly decreases the distance between the two groups and the level of superiority that Brazilians have over Europeans. Finally, his essay, as a whole, ultimately reinstates a great distance between the two groups, and Europeans reclaim superiority over Brazilians. Notably, in the first two cases, nature is also elevated above art, but art finally subjugates nature. Perhaps this is because Montaigne identifies with “Lycurgus and Plato… [who] could [not] believe that our society could be maintained with so little artifice and human solder” (153). Montaigne’s essay suggests that he relies on the artifice of his writing and interpretations to explore and define social groups, explore and establish social hierarchies, and maintain social order in a manner that ultimately favors him and his people.
“I like to repeat that I write neither in French nor in Creole. I write in Maryse Conde,”1 (“Liaison dangereuse,” 2007) is a statement that could not be less accurate for the Guadeloupean writer. Writing in French is especially problematic for post-colonialist Francophone authors; using the language of the colonizer while attempting to dismantle cultural and linguistic hierarchy seems to be an act of futility. To be sure, Conde, the author of Crossing the Mangrove, apparently writes in the French language but she capably deconstructs the notion that a language must be necessarily tied to the culture and history it traditionally represents. Through careful practice of intertextuality (the shaping of one text's meaning through reference or application of a previous text) and narrative experimentation in Crossing the Mangrove, Conde demonstrates that objectivity in every sense is impossible. Using the French language is not an act of capitulation to the colonizer and acceptance of all things “French” in the same way that one person's retelling of an event is not the ultimate truth. In Crossing the Mangrove, Conde presents the strange and dark history of Francis Sancher from multiple perspectives and simultaneously works in aspects of the Western literary canon (specifically, William Faulkner). This emphasis on literary and real-life incoherency is iterated by the symbolic motif of trees and their roots throughout the novel. In analyzing Crossing the Mangrove, it is evident that the amalgamation of intertextuality, shifting narrative perspectives, and the motif of trees and their roots contextualizes the fragmented nature of diasporic identity. Truly, it i...
This book addresses the issue of race all throughout the story, which is while it is probably the most discussed aspects of it. The books presentation is very complex in many ways. There is no clear-cut stance on race but the book uses racist language. The racist language durin...
French occupation of Haiti began in the mid seventeenth century. For the next century and a half, the people of Haiti were forced to abandon their livelihoods and instead take up residence on namely sugar, indigo or cacao plantations in order to generate exports for the French market. Conditions on these plantations were often so cruel and oppressive that the common cause of death was exhaustion. No longer able to yield to the terms of their exploitation, Haitians participated in a string of slave revolts, the most prominent of which was led by Toussaint Louverture from 1791, which paved the road for Haitian emancipation. This essay will advance the idea that colonialism has impeded the political stability of Haiti during the nineteenth century, particularly from when Haiti formally declared independence in 1804. It will cover how issues such as; despotism, conflicting economic institutions, the militarization of the political system and racial supremacy, have negatively affected nineteenth century Haitian politics. Moreover, it will also elaborate on how these issues are, in effect, actually insidious derivatives of French rule during pre-independent Haiti.
Although the painting itself displays many impressive artistic styles, it is also important to consider the artwork’s historical context. The Raft of the Medusa depicts the aftermath of the shipwreck of the French naval frigate Médusa, which crashed off the African coast. The desperate passengers then built a makeshift raft from the pieces of the destroyed ship, which is the moment depicted in Géricault’s painting. Particularly, The Raft of the Medusa was a contemporary piece that commented on the practice of slavery and the incompetence of the new French government in the early 19th century. Géricault, an abolitionist, sought ways to end the slave trade in the colonies. The anti-slavery cause was well known at the time and was highly promoted by the abolitionists throughout France. Thus, due to Géricault’s repugnance towards slavery, it is only fitting ...
In the beginning sections of the Discourse on Colonialism, Cesaire defines his central theory of coloniza...
• AW’s work is deeply rooted in oral tradition; in the passing on of stories from generation to generation in the language of the people. To AW the language had a great importance. She uses the “Slave language”, which by others is seen as “not correct language”, but this is because of the effect she wants the reader to understand.
How does one fit in society and know what is acceptable? Social justice dictates our place in our community and society. Our own social justice views influence how we work as a whole. This includes fair treatment of every individual and making sure we all get the same opportunity as the next person. Equal opportunity should be available to everyone and there should be an open playing field for everyone. In our society, nothing is perfect. Not everyone agrees one hundred percent of the time and everyone can have different views based on institutions, political views and ideology.
In “Brief Account of the Devastation of the Indies”, the author Bartoleme accuses the Spaniards of terrible crimes against humanity,
Although the language of Martinique was Creole, the French colonialists, the whites, were keen to maintain their seemingly superior language that was French. If the blacks were to speak Creole, they were looked down upon by their white counterparts, but speaking French created an almost more complicated situation. As demonstrated by the title of Fanon’s novel, Black Skin, White Masks, there existed a desire to belong on the part of the blacks, a longing to be or appear white. As such, blacks—Fanon included—would try to emulate the white culture. One way to seem more white was through speaking French. However, by accepting the white culture, by speaking French, blacks not only ostracized themselves from their own community, but were also victims of more discrimination. One way language was used against the Martinicans were through what Fanon referred to as pigeon speak. This was the practice of French colonialists speaking a broken form of French to Martinicans on the assumption that the blacks’ language skills were lesser than their own. By belittling blacks for their languages, whites effectively “imprison[ed] the black man and perpetuat[ed] a conflictual situation where the white man infects the black man with extremely toxic foreign bodies” (Fanon 19). French was unnatural for the Martinican, but to experience humanity, blacks accepted the language of their oppressors. “The more the black Antillean assimilates the French language, the whiter he gets—i.e., the closer he comes to becoming a true human being” (Fanon 2). The language, for Fanon, was a cornerstone of humanity, but only whites were viewed as humans. Consequently, racism for Fanon, was the necessity to assimilate with another culture in order to be seen as
Derek Walcott’s poem “A Far Cry from Africa” deals with the poet’s inability to resolve his hybrid inheritance causing conflict between his loyalties to Britain and native Africa. Derek Walcott (1930- ) born in St. Lucia, spent most of his life in Trinidad and was also a recipient of Noble prize in literature in 1992. Belonging to both Anglo-European and Afro-Caribbean heritage, his duality in origin gave birth to a sort of identity crisis within himself. Most of his writing is a painful and jarring depiction of ethnic conflict and divided loyalties which earned him international fame in regard to his works in relationship of human. The intricate relationship between the colonized and the colonizer and the ways in which the Caribbean self-embraces and split between different places loyalties are central theme of Walcott’s writings.