"Without a Hand to Hold"
Analysis and Interpretation of "The Preacher Ruminates: Behind the Sermon"
Gwendolyn Brooks' "The Preacher Ruminates: Behind the Sermon" gives an eerie look into a minister's mind. Indeed the poem's premise is made clear from the opening line: "It must be lonely to be God" (1). The poem proceeds to note that while God is a much-revered and respected figure, he has no equal. The preacher's revelation provides the reader a unique perspective into religion. Brooks points out due to God's position of omniscience, it is not possible for a figure like Him to have friends. Throughout Brooks' poem, the preacher implores the reader for answers to his questions, finally concluding that to be God is indeed a lonely life and that God must tire of it from time to time.
"The Preacher Ruminates: Behind the Sermon" is a lyrical poem. Indeed, the title itself lends evidence to the poem's genre. It brings forth the feelings and voice of a clear speaker: the preacher. The poem does not tell a story nor does it relate a series of events, further reinforcing the classification as a lyric. The poem is also closed form, made up of four quatrains, or four-line stanzas. The lines are a combination of run-on and end stopped lines that dictate the rhythm.
Brooks' word choices for both connotations and denotations shape the readers' understanding of the preacher. Upon first reading the poem, the only unfamiliar word I found was "hosannas" (3). The dictionary defines it "a cry of praise to God" ("Hosanna"). This is the only definition of the word that I was able to uncover, and with the overall religious discussion of the poem, it fits in with Brooks' overall topic. Brooks uses several references to praise in line with "hosannas" ...
... middle of paper ...
...s of "
buy him a Coca Cola or a beer" (11) as a front to a much more somber message, namely that it is illustrating that to be God is to be friendlesswithout peer. Not being of Christian faith myself, I do not have a good insight into Christianity and its ideals, but the belief that God is omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent certainly leads me to believe that Brooks' preacher is correct in saying that He has no equal. Thus, the poem delivers a haunting view into a different side of a figure that Christians worship each Sunday. As is evidenced by the preacher's thoughts, Brooks' poem illustrates that God is indeed "without a hand to hold" (16).
Works Cited
Brooks, Gwendolyn. "The Preacher Ruminates: Behind the Sermon". Kennedy, X.J. and Dana Gioia, eds. Backpack Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. New York: Pearson Longman, 2006. 500-1.
However, this poem also reveals that relevance can help reshape how Christian’s relate to those who focus on all of the things that
She proclaims that “’Twas mercy brought me from my pagan land” at very start, and this line draws the audience in (Wheatley 1). She is thanking slavery because she went from a pagan to a Christian, and that slavery “taught [her] benighted soul to understand” the wonders of being a Christian (Wheatley 3). Immediately, it grabs the reader’s attention and for two possible reasons: either for being satisfied that a slave is showing gratitude to the white class for enslaving her or for non-slave owners to wonder what is even going on, as it is not often that a former slave is thankful of the time they’ve served. The first four lines of praise compels the audience to continue reading until they are suddenly hit with Wheatley’s true intent of the poem. She takes the focus off herself and starts actively talking about the white class who “[…] view [her] sable race with scornful eye” and says that her race’s “[…] color is a diabolic dye” (Wheatley 5-6). She points out the flaws in which the slave owners have and how they see blacks as a class beneath them. In order to be good Christians, one must treat everyone equally, yet these exact same believers are doing the opposite of what the bible states. In the New Testament, James 2
Warnock, Adrian. "Loving God: A Guide for Beginners." adrianwarnock.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Jan. 2012. .
O'Brien, Tim. "The Things They Carried." X. J. Kennedy, Dana Gioia. Backpack Literature An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. Ed. Joe Terry. Pearson, 2012. Print. 10 Feb. 2014.
..., but still pleads for God to "take me in" (ll. 41), and promises to "pay...in happiness" for mercy. Once again, the speaker demonstrates the same desires for physical treasures that he expresses in the first stanza as he asks God to "give mine eye / A peephole there to see bright glory's chases" (ll. 39-40). Even in the God's kingdom, the speaker reveals his humanity as he focuses on ornamentation which starkly contrasts with God's divinity as He has the ability to show love even for sinners.
The early white settlers had a hard time defying their own sinful desires and striving for holiness. This was especially seen in the works of Edward Taylor, who was a puritan pastor during the early days of America. In his poem, I Am the Living Bread, he mentioned, “This Wicker Cage (my Corps) to tweedle praise Had peckt the Fruite forbad: and so did fling Away its Food; and lost its golden dayes;” In this context, Edward Taylor is struggling to defy sin that his body offers because it will kill him eventually, and strives to acquire the grace of God that would sustain him. In
Literature has been a medium for getting messages across for centuries. Various authors from Aesop to Shakespeare have used writing as a vehicle to get a message across to their audiences. All of these authors are widely respected and admired for their works. One author who transcends her peers and breaks away from traditional secular teaching is Flannery O’Connor. She is widely known for her usage of Christian themes to get across a message of our worlds need for a savior in Jesus Christ. Her style of writing is unique in that she conveys spiritual messages in everyday, fun-to-read stories. This is important as it creates a medium in which she can spread the gospel in a clever manner. Image books stated, “Her expert craftsmanship, her uncanny ability for characterization, the depth and intensity of her morality-combined in strict discipline-make her one of this generation’s most respected authors” (Books, Image 1). Flannery O’Connor uses various themes to get across a religious message, but the two that have a large impact are grace and suffering. The themes of grace and suffering can be seen in her short stories, “A Good Man Is Hard To Find”, “The River”, and “The Lame Shall Enter First”. The themes of grace and suffering in Flannery O’Connor’s short stories are used to represent Jesus Christ dying on the cross for our sins.
Lee, Edward Bok El Santo Americano. Backpack Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing 4th Ed.
Welty, Eudora. ?The Worn Path.? Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. Edgar V. Roberts and Henry E. Jacobs. 6th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: PH, 2001. 150-155.
Kennedy, X. J., and Dana Gioia. Backpack Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, 2012. Print.
The speaker of “On Being Brought from Africa to America” conveys her point through irony when referencing her so-called savior. The author of the poem, slave-girl Phillis Wheatley, is thought to be embodied by the speaker. This girl, the voice of the poem, states “Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land… there 's a God...there’s a Saviour too” (1-3). The use of the rhetorical distinction between god and saviour to indicates that the owners of the speaker are supposed to be her saviors since they bought her as their slave, raised her in Western culture, and taught her how to read and write. While these special circumstances indeed did elevate her above other slaves, the speaker’s subversive disdain shows us that this “mercy” has cost her too. She was robbed of her family, her heritage, and ultimately a life of freedom and equality.
Kennedy, X. J., and Dana Gioia. Backpack literature: an introduction to fiction, poetry, drama, and writing. Fourth ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2011. Print.
Walker, Alice. “Everyday Use.” Robert DiYanni, ed. Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. 6th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2007.
Guest, E. (n.d.). SoFinesJoyfulMoments. Retrieved May 8, 2006, from Mary (Garren) Morand Web site: http://sofinesjoyfulmoments.com/quotes/sermon.htm
Love Yourself as Hearers. Above all, the preachers should consider first the audience or “hearers” when preparing a sermon. As stated in this book, “we need to learn how to introduce, develop, and conclude our subjects in a way that interests hearers” (Galli and Larson, 1994, p. 16). In other words, we need to learn how to modify our words, sentences, paragraphs, stories and illustrations to deliver the message and impact the lives of our audience.