Symbolism and Allusion in Maya Angelou's "My Arkansas"
"There is a deep brooding/ in Arkansas." Arkansas is stuck in the past, its memories of hatred and crime from ante-bellum days hindering the progression towards Civil Rights. Maya Angelou's poem of the struggle to a new wave of equality uses both general symbolism and historical allusion to make its theme clear to the reader. The poem uses general symbolism in nature, in time, and historical allusion to make the theme clear in a concise but vibrant poem.
The general symbolism relating to nature assumes a common base of knowledge from which symbolism can be built. The poem opens with a description of Arkansas: "Old crimes like moss pend/ from poplar trees./ The sullen earth/ is much too/ red for comfort." The first example of general symbolism in this passage is the reference to moss. Moss is considered the base of the forest, the lowest level from which all of the other plants grow. Although moss is vital to a forest, it is often thought of as slimy and dirty. The moss "pend(s) from poplar trees," our second natural symbol. The poplar tree is weak and useless. Nothing can be built from its wood, and it often bends and breaks during storms. The visual image of the moss clinging to the poplar tree shows the slimy moss as "old crimes" and the poplar tree as the frail attempt at growth and a new but weak beginning. The reader gets a clear sense of the struggle toward a new life that is hindered and held back by the old, dependable moss that has been and always will be present. The second part of the passage discusses the "sullen earth" that is "much too red." Red earth can be symbolic in two ...
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...e. Finally at the end of the poem the historical allusion brings the poem to a complete closure, and the theme of starting fresh is put into a more specific context. The "old hates" and "old crimes" are referring to those against African-Americans in the days of slavery. the new beginning for Arkansas is the attempt to reach equality, leaving the past behind.
"Today is yet to come in Arkansas." Reading Angelou's poem shows the reader a new perspective on civil rights and its applicability in society. The use of general symbolism found in nature through the weak poplar tree hindered by moss and the cautious sun, paired with the historical allusion to the ante-bellum times make the theme of the poem clear. The past cannot be forgotten, and may hinder the future. Arkansas' struggle toward the future "writhes in awful/ waves of brooding" of the past.
It seems that the major issue here is whether or not one can use age as a factor in terms of discrimination when the discrimination was not intentional. If for example it turns out that the people who are laid off are over the age of 40, even though no malicious intent is discovered, it still may be construed as age discrimination. This issue has been somewhat controversial for some time, as most litigants in age discrimination lawsuits realize that they ...
Often times what makes a narrative interesting is the authors ability to tell a story that is so vivid, that we can actually feel the emotions that the characters experienced in the story. It’s not about describing the event that is happening, its about showing it. Instead of writing something for someone to read, a successful author will write things for people to live in and experience, to escape their own reality and live inside a new one. Unlike many authors Maya Angelou was a risk taker, she leaped at the opportunity to move and compel her readers. Maya Angelou’s Champion of the World consists of an alluring introduction, strategic vocabulary, and a wise use of figurative language thus causing a much stronger narrative than Amy Tan’s
In “Champions of the World,” is the nineteenth chapter in I Know Why the Caged Bird sings, is written by Maya Angelou. In this chapter, she talks about a African American community in the late 1930s in Arkansas, that are gathered one night in a store to listen to a boxing match which consists of African American professional boxer Joe Louis and his opponent that night was Primo Carnera, a white boxer from Italy. This fight is more than a physical fight for the African community. Joe Louis is seen as a hero in the African community because he is the one that represents the African community; their fate depends on Joe Louis victory. There is segregation happening during this time and the Jim Crow laws which impacted this area. People were feeling
The theme throughout the two poems "A Black Man Talks of Reaping" and "From the Dark Tower" is the idea that African American live in an unjust
The civil rights movement may have technically ended in the nineteen sixties, but America is still feeling the adverse effects of this dark time in history today. African Americans were the group of people most affected by the Civil Rights Act and continue to be today. Great pain and suffering, though, usually amounts to great literature. This period in American history was no exception. Langston Hughes was a prolific writer before, during, and after the Civil Rights Act and produced many classic poems for African American literature. Hughes uses theme, point of view, and historical context in his poems “I, Too” and “Theme for English B” to expand the views on African American culture to his audience members.
Previously, if an employee proved in court that an employment practice disproportionately harmed older workers, the employer had to justify it as a “business necessity.” Employers need only to prove that the practice was based on an RFOA. (Pynes)
On the surface the poem seems to be a meditation on past events and actions, a contemplative reflection about what has gone on before. Research into the poem informs us that the poem is written with a sense of irony
Pain is much easier to endure if we know that it has purpose. We can accept pain, if we know it will lead to a better outcome. Doctors tell us that pain is a friend. Without it, we would not know something is wrong. The nerves in the body radiate sensations when the body is harmed. This leads to seeking aid because we feel the pain of the injury.
The poem begins by introducing the limitations of the African Americans’ hopes and dreams in the form of a question. Hughes asks, “What happens to a dream deferred” (1). Here, the dream refers to the African Americans’ yearning for equality and freedom, and Hughes wants to examine what happens when that dream is persistently pushed aside. The spacing directly after this line conjures a sense of silence as if allowing a moment to contemplate the question. The lines following this question explore several possible outcomes, and each answer represents the ruin of a forgotten dream.
“The greatest evil is physical pain.” Saint Augustine understood that experiencing pain is horrific, and most would agree. However, it is perhaps emotional pain, rather than physical, that causes the most damage. Whether physical or emotional, painful experiences are upsetting at best, and in severe cases, they can be life-changing. Pain is a feeling of distress that is often an underlying problem or symptom of an illness.
Maya Angelou’s poem is structured in a quatrain format. The first few paragraphs are set out in such a way that it explains to us why she is rising; the poem compromises of a stanza of four lines, each of the same length.
Another example of discrimination is what can happen in our court systems. For example, minorities may not be able to provide for a good lawyer, which leaves them to a public defender and in most cases, they e...
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What does pain mean to you? Pain is a tense feeling that tells you something may be wrong. There’s physical pain- acute and or chronic, emotional pain, and also a phrase known as “pain in the ass”- which is where something or someone is being annoying and or troublesome.
Discrimination is all over the world and it's is a very serious problem in society. We judge each other daily because of their gender, ethnicity, religion, age, and the way a person behaves. Discrimination is the “unequal treatment provided to one or more parties based on a mutual accord or some other logical or illogical reason” (merriam-webster). In the modern world of the United State of America the topic of discrimination in the Justice system is debatable because there is considerable evidence confirming both individual and systemic biases. The United States has an extended history of discrimination in several aspects of life, including employment, public accommodations and education. Nowadays there are extremely biased individuals and