Looking at James Hall's writings we learn that he is comedic with a very underlying theme of change. His poems all seem to circle around a very familiar thing that we are all familiar with. Change whether it is new or old or just realizing we have changed, is all the same. In his works "Maybe Dats Your Pwoblem Too," "White Trash," and "Preposterous" there are different kinds of change that are discussed.
In "Maybe Dats Your Pwoblem Too" we see a person speaking as if he were Spiderman. The narrator talks about how he would like to have change in his life, but its hard to just stop being Spiderman. He says he tries to burn his suit and it would not burn. He goes on to say, "Maybe dat's da whole pwoblem wif evwytin Nobody can buin der suits dey all fwame weisitant." The focus of change here is that at one time or another everyone wants to be something different than who they are but sometimes we can't change and just have to be who we are.
"White Trash" by Hall talks of a different kind of change. The narrator in this piece is talking about the family who has just moved in next door and comments on the appearance of the surrounding properties. "The boy next door opened a box, took out the precious present and shook these white spun plastic droplets into the wind. It's how his family thinks," this part of the poem exemplifies the randomness of the new neighbors lifestyle. The narrator goes on to say that, "They'll be there when we are gone. Bright tumors, rooted in the dark. Crowding the dirt. Nothing makes them grow. But nothing kills them either." It is at this point that he realizes that they will remain in the neighborhood and that things change such as a neighborhood, or the way people tend to their property, or raise their children.
In Hall's third poem, "Preposterous" another kind of change is being discussed and that is the idea of being old versus young. It talks about this very popular girl who made a list concerning physical traits of all the boys in her grade. The narrator wanted to be on that list and he received the title "wittiest." "For all that I won Wittiest. Wittiest." As you can see wittiest wasn't what the speaker had wanted, "Not this, this Wittiest, which makes me work so hard, so everlasting to keep Jean Calvin entertained.
To conclude, in the poem “Changes” by D. Ginette Clarke, the use of repetition, word choice, and punctuation revealed the persona in a well-thought out and respectable manner. Clarke was very clever in the way that she had used these elements to not only reveal the persona, but also to make the poem as amazing as it is. The persona started off as a curious man, then came off as serious, only to turn out to be a demanding and vehement person; but in the end, the persona’s special characteristics were clear. Therefore, the use of repetition, word choice, and punctuation revealed and represented the persona and his curious, eager, and desperate personality.
Once everybody changed from black and white to color, Pleasantville was now happy again. But this happiness was not because of a boring routine, but because of beautiful change and multicolored experiences. Times change and these rebels that see differently than everyone else influence these changes. Change is what makes the world go round.
The poem begins with the speaker addressing her moving to America, whilst using poetic devices to reveal the blending of the ethnic groups in America. The speaker tells us that “everyone seemed more American/than we, newly arrived/foreign dirt still on our soles” (Alvarez 1-30). Upon arriving, the narrator feels foreign right off the bat as other immigrants appear to be more adopted into America. The harsh word “dirt” helps to portray to the reader that although the foreign dirt is still on her shoes, the speaker leaves behind her native country, but still naturally carries her roots with her. The soil wears off eventually as revealed when the speaker mentions that “By year’s end, a sprinkler waving/like a flag on our mowed lawn,/we were blended into the block” (Alvarez 4-6). The simile of the sprinkler on the lawn recognizes that much like the spraying of the sprinkler symbolizes the speaker’s family finally being used to their new home, it can be compared to the waving of a flag that symbolizes the family embracing America. The word choice of...
Steven Herrick’s verse novel ‘The Simple Gift’ and Tame Impala’s ‘Yes I’m changing’ incorporate a variety of effective language techniques and textual forms to centralise the notion of transitions. In these texts transitions are portrayed through the transformation of the characters. This transformation is displayed through themes of acceptance, realisation and embracing change.
Change is something you are probably familiar with. In “Beneath the Smooth Skin of America,” Scott R. Sanders talks about many changes in his life. The author starts the story looking throw the eyes of himself as a child. As a child he remembers that all that was in his sight was all he could see. The author’s best example of this is he says, ”Neighbors often appeared…where they came from I could not imagine” (27). As the author begins to see more by leaving the area he was around so often he starts to see more and more things. He started moving around to different places and started seeing the things that he had not see before. The author points out many things that he began to see like the stores around the town and the different colors of places. The smell of the certain area over the one smell he was used to. In his travels to the south he noticed the bathrooms signs in the south read, “Colored” and “White.” All these different changes made his world seen bigger and bigger.
“Poetry is the rhythmical creation of beauty in words.” –Edgar Allan Poe. Poetry is one of the world’s greatest wonders. It is a way to tell a story, raise awareness of a social or political issue, an expression of emotions, an outlet, and last but not least it is an art. Famous poet Langston Hughes uses his poetry as a musical art form to raise awareness of social injustices towards African-Americans during the time of the Harlem Renaissance. Although many poets share similarities with one another, Hughes creatively crafted his poetry in a way that was only unique to him during the 1920’s. He implemented different techniques and styles in his poetry that not only helped him excel during the 1920’s, but has also kept him relative in modern times. Famous poems of his such as a “Dream Deferred,” and “I, Too, Sing America” are still being studied and discussed today. Due to the cultural and historical events occurring during the 1920’s Langston Hughes was able to implement unique writing characteristics such as such as irregular use of form, cultural and historical referenced themes and musical influences such as Jazz and the blues that is demonstrative of his writing style. Langston Hughes use of distinct characteristics such as irregular use of form, cultural and historical referenced themes and musical influences such as Jazz and the blues helped highlight the plights of African-Americans during the Harlem Renaissance Era.
Poetry is defined by William Faulkner as “some moving, passionate moment of the human condition distilled to its absolute essence” (Ford, 527). Many literary pieces look at human nature and how human’s reaction during those situations, so while the environment may change the human part does not. When we really look underneath a stories surroundings and exam the underlying human pieces they are the same in literary pieces written years ago compared to human kind today. The “Narrative Legerdemain: Evoking Sarty’s Future in ‘Barn Burning’” discusses the human internal battle of good versus evil (Ford, 528). “Tennessee Williams and the Two Streetcars” by Daniel Thomieres describes the human battle of wanting to live life to its fullest, but also staying within the limitations set by society. “’Don’t Turn Back’: Langston Hughes, Barack Obama, and Martin Luther King, Jr.” by W. Jason Miller examines how Langston Hughes poem can be used to motivate people to keep “climbing.”
Nathaniel Dett was born in Drummondville, Ontario on October 11, 1882. The mother of Nat was Charlotte Washington Dett, and Robert T. Dett was his father. Nathaniel mother was a native of Drummondville and his dad lived in the United States his entire life. The family moved to New York City in the year of 1893. He was one of many Black composers, in fact he was the first Black composer. Nathaniel was very diverse he was a composer, choral director, organist and pianist. In the event that he started playing the piano at the age of 5 years old, but actually started playing at his church at the age of 14 which explains why he is so advanced.
Langston Hughes (1902-1967) absorbed America. In doing so, he wrote about many issues critical to his time period, including The Renaissance, The Depression, World War II, the civil rights movement, the Black Power movement, Jazz, Blues, and Spirituality. Just as Hughes absorbed America, America absorbed the black poet in just about the only way its mindset allowed it to: by absorbing a black writer with all of the patronizing self-consciousness that that entails.
A few of Herbert Scott's poems are about the grocery business. In The Boss he comments on the fact that all types of people come to buy groceries, "The rich, the ugly, the beautiful, the sweet. He is from the traditional school, and the language that he uses shows that he is someone who made it on his own in the working class especially when he states "No-one give me nothing I earned what I earned" Being from the old school, it is his belief that in order to succeed in the business "You got to live in it." He sees the grocery business as being timeless and necessary because "We all got to eat." Like many bosses, he feels that he "knows this business." All indicators point to the fact that he feels he is very good at his job. In Six-Month Review he tells an employee how to make it in the business. Since the employee is not "naturally gifted in the sales or service line" he is only capable of working "The check out stands, stack cans, trim vegetables, sort bottles." He tells the worker that for his job he need not use the head on his shoulders and that if he is lucky and does what he is told, he will ironically make it until the age of forty. Once again, he gives the impression that he is knowledgeable about his job and feels comfortable dictating the employee's future. In Boss in the Back Room, Scott points out the pecking order in business. The bankers own the grocery and do not care about the mechanics. They are only concerned about "the paper and pen" aspects of the establishment. As proprietor, he is in charge of the running of the grocery store. As the boss it is his job to know the customers' spending habits so that he can turn a profit. He has control over the wages he earns by setting the price of the groceries and selling things to people. He tells us how he will "Keep the customers talking" so that "They don't know which way their money went. He lets the "customers pay" because "They got their own racket somewheres." He believes that "They take you. You take them." When he works the checkout on Saturdays, a high volume-shopping day, he uses various tricks such as weighing the produce and ringing the price high.
It describes how the conservative farmer follows traditions blindly and the isolated life followed by him. It reflects how people make physical barriers and that later in life come to their social life too. Where neighbor with pine tree, believes that this separation is needed as it is essential for their privacy and personal life. The poem explores a paradox in human nature. The first few lines reflect demolition of the wall, ?Something there is that doesn?t reflect love a wall? this reflects that nature itself does not like separation. The "something" referring to the intangible sense of social interaction. Furthermore "that sends the frozen-ground-swell under it" refers to Frost or to the author. Although the narrator does not want the wall, ironically, the mending of the wall brings the neighbors together and literally builds their friendship. An additional irony of the poem is that the only time these two neighbors sees each other is when they both mend the wall. The narrator sees the stubbornness in his neighbor, and uses the simile 'like an old-stone savage' to compare him to a stone-age man who 'moves in darkness', that is, set in his ways, and who is unlikely to change his views.
In every poem, there are feelings and emotions that are brought forth in a very a few number of words. The three elements of a poem, speaker, imagery, and listener, help to make a poetic story. The speaker; the voice of the poem, conveys the feelings. Poetic words and metaphors create the imagery around the story. The way the poem is read and understood by the listener can have different meanings and effects on people. These aren’t always clearly defined. So how exactly does one understand a poem and the elements within it?
People, more than any other living thing on this earth, engage in battle, war, and violent acts on one another. We humans, one of the few species that wage war, are capable of love and affection yet kill off more of our own than anything else. We have enough nuclear strength to ensure our extinction as well as the end of the rest of the world with us. Most people are oblivious or choose to ignore the truth about their learned tendencies of brutality. They read books like The Hunger Games, where children are sent to an arena to fight to the death. They watch countless violent action movies on their televisions and think nothing of it. In fact, they are enthralled by it. The vast majority of people are not born with the innate or instinctual inclination to violence, but instead, they are raised to be aggressive. One poet who recognized this tragic flaw in humanity was Edward James Hughes, an eccentric man who lived in the twentieth century. Edward, known as Ted, was considered one of the most successful poets of the 1900s. He wrote fictional poems and children's books. He is well known for his contributions of nature influenced poems containing inner meanings and lessons. Hughes lived in England and the United States where he taught at the University of Massachusetts. Five of his poems contain a specific connection or theme. These works are "Crow's Fall", "Hawk Roosting", "The Jaguar", "Thistles", and "To Paint a Water Lily". In these works, Ted Hughes uses animals or living organisms to represent the violent tendencies of people.
Despite his later fame as the greatest Scottish poet, Robert Burns had humble origins. He was born on January 25th, 1759, to William Burns in Alloway, Ayrshire, Scotland. He lived in several places during his life, including Alloway, Tarbolton, Mauchline, and Dumfries, Scotland. He died of heart disease at age 36. His early death was a great tragedy.
Wordsworth's Poetry A lot of literature has been written about motherhood. Wordsworth is a well known English poet who mentions motherhood and female strength in several of his poems, including the Mad Mother, The Thorn, and The Complaint of a Forsaken Indian Woman. This leads some critics to assume that these poems reflect Wordsworth's view of females. Wordsworth portrays women as dependent on motherhood for happiness, yet he also emphasizes female strength.