The Importance Of Empathy In The Harlem Renaissance

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Poetry is a versatile avenue from which waves or ripples can be made potentially. A writer of poetry has the ability to make their readers feel a while wide array of emotions and situations synonymous with the human condition. I, at first, was completely turned off to the idea of poetry at first because all I was exposed to early on by way of poetry were bland professions of love or lust or seemingly simple poems I was forced to process down to a fine word paste. Edgar Allan Poe was interesting, but it was a tad bit dry to me. But, after reading poems the Harlem Renaissance gave me a bit of hope for poetry. To me, the poetry written during that time period has a certain allure to it. They have serious depth and meaning that I, myself and empathize …show more content…

Empathy is one major reason. In this current day and age, it seems more and more like we are unable to feel more for the plights and experiences others go through. Poetry itself is an expression of experiences that occur in all the different parts of the human experience and one could learn much from the experiences written from someone who different from them. The poems written during the Harlem Renaissance articulates the perspectives and feelings that African Americans were experiencing during that time and that we are still seeing some of today. One could read poems from these times and really consider what the author is trying to say and could possibly find themselves a bit empathetic towards …show more content…

An elegance in word choice that evokes a vivid image. It would take a quite a bit of this essay to completely analyze this essay, so to break it down very briefly. It portrays a positive image of blackness as opposed to darkness and the color black normally being connected with evil, sorrow, and negativity. The poem as a whole connects blackness with positivity through its use of intricate, beautiful words and images. “If we must die, let not be like hogs hunted and penned in an inglorious spot, while round us bark the mad and hungry dogs, making their mock at our accursed lot. If we must die, O let us nobly die, So that our precious blood may not be shed In vain; then even the monsters we deft Shall be constrained to honor us though dead! O kinsmen! We must meet the common foe! Though far outnumbered let us show us brave, And for their thousand blows deal one deathblow! What though before us lies the open grave? Like men we’ll face the murderous, cowardly pack, pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!”

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