How Does Louise Gluck Use Gangsta Rap Poetry

Bao Tran

Prof. Arroyo

ENG-1102

22 September 2015

Essay 1

Poetry and rap songs are created to tell a story, to describe one’s feeling, and to express oneself. Poetry and gangsta rap songs have some in commons and contrast. In this essay, I would like to talk about the commons, and how they both applied literary terms in “My Mind Playin’ Tricks On Me” and “Gretel in Darkness.” Poets and lyricists use literary devices in their poetry and songs, and I would like to talk about alliteration, enjambment, and onomatopoeia. I also want to discuss about one out of the five categories, fatalism, in gangsta rap song and how it relates to “Gretel in Darkness.”

“This is the world we wanted/…/we are there still and it is real, real. / that

black forest and the fire in earnest” (Gluck line 1, 23-24). The author used alliteration to emphasize the words “world we wanted”. He wanted to point out that Hansel and Gretel helped create the “world” that they wanted. They killed the witch but Gretel still lives in fear of the traumatic experience. She goes to sleep every night behind barred, closed doors but she still fears the event that she and her brother had to go through. In the tale “Gretel in Darkness”, Gluck writes, “This is the world we wanted” (line 1). The sound of “w” is repeated in this quote, the reason why the author used alliteration in this poetry because he wanted certain things to stand out, so the reader will keep the important information in mind. In the rap song “My Mind Playin’ Tricks On Me”, “Candlesticks in the dark, visions of bodies bin’ burned” (Ghetto Boys 1-2). In this example, the author used alliteration to create a dark, grisly image for the readers that he cannot sleep at night because of the images burned into his mind by the candles of bodies burning.
Onomatopoeia is word that copies the natural sounds of things.

One of Louise Gluck’s examples is: “Am I alone? Spies/ Hiss in the stillness, Hansel,” (lines 16-17). The author used onomatopoeia to create a sound, an emotion of Gretel frightened, and an image that gives a picture of Gretel is alone. “Hiss” is a word that imitates the sound of a snake hissing in the silence, “stillness”. In “My Mind Playin’s Tricks on Me”, “So I swung and hit the nigga in his mouth” (Ghetto Boys line 8). In this example, “swung” is a verb, but it also makes a sound of the speaker is hitting the antagonist. “What I saw will make your ass giggling” ( Ghetto Boys line 15), instead of saying “laughing”, the speaker used “giggling” to describe that he would amuse the folks to make them giggle in a ruthless

manner.
The last literary term I want to discuss is enjambment. Enjambment is a literary term that expresses one idea from one line to the next with a punctuation mark at the end of the line. An example:” Night I turn to you to hold me/ but you are not there” (Gluck line 14-15). Gretel is disheartened, because she is scared and wants Hansel to comfort her, but Gretel is alone by herself. Another example:” I know the Lord is looking at me/ but yet and still its’s hard for me to feel happy.” (Ghetto Boys line 7-8). The speaker expressed that nothing can please him, except for the lord, but in his mind he knows the lord is looking out for him, yet it is still difficult for him to feel better. Authors use enjambment to catch the readers’ attention, so the reader can continue reading to the next line. Enjambment creates an exciting and a curious feeling that make the reader want to move on the next line to find out what happens next.
John Paul Hampstead said “This chaotic, murderous environment prompts more reflective rappers to lament the harsh, cold world in which they live and the powerless of human existence.”(86), this can be applied to “Gretel in Darkness” and “My Mind Playing’ Tricks On Me” because both talked about fatalism.

Fatalism is a term that describe cruel, murderous and survival experiences. Gluck’s poem talks about Gretel and Hansel trying to escape from the witch without getting eaten, and Gretel killed the witch by pushing her into the flame, “But I killed for you. I see armed firs/The spires of that gleaming kiln” (line 17-18). The Ghetto Boys also wrote a similar line: “But fuck that shit, there’s a nigga trying to kill me.” (line 16). The speaker is having an anxiety that somebody is trying to kill him. He wants to forget about everything else because someone is out there trying to take his life

away.
In conclusion, certain poetry and rap song are closely related to each other. They use literary terms as well as the five categories of gangsta rap song like treasure, fatalism, feasting, raiding, and misogyny. It fascinates me of how similar poetry and rap songs are, and yet still very different. “Gretel In Darkness” and “My Mind Playing Tricks On Me” are both very similar in their message, since they both talk about their emotions, fears, and their survival. Both the poem and the song talk about traumatic experiences that were life threatening to the characters. They also admit to having fear and anxiety because their lives were in danger, which is a natural reaction to life-threatening situations. Rap songs and poetry come from different environments, different sayings, and different thoughts, but surprisingly they are closely related through the use of imagery, alliteration, rhetoric and rhyme.