ten crucial poems Flashcards
Miscegenation
TONE:
reflective and somber with an underlying sense of resilience and historical weight (Cincinnati, Mississippi - sin, ‘race unknown’, “it means Christmas child, even in Mississippi.” - not letting the place or the people define her”)
IMAGES:
“spring, the hills green in Mississippi” - The words “spring” and “green” offer a moment of renewal and hope, indicating resilience despite the hardships.
“the train slicing the white glaze of winter, leaving Mississippi”” - harsh connotation, reflecting the difficult journey and the cold, harsh environment.
“it means Christmas child, even in Mississippi.”
“Cincinnati, a city whose name
begins with a sound like sin, the sound of wrong-mis in Mississippi.”
STRUCTURE:
Free verse, varied line length, enjambment, caesura: irregular - emotional complexity, reflecting without constraints. Also: each stanza has two verses. each first verse ends in ‘ame’ (name, same) and the second ends with Mississippi.
PERSONAL RESPONSE
The poem provides insight into the struggles faced by interracial couples and African Americans during the Civil Rights era. It brings to light the personal ramifications of systemic racism and the lengths people went to for freedom and dignity.
The Southern Gothic
SUMMARY:
family’s struggles with identity, prejudice, and the impact of societal and ancestral burdens, childhood memories, racial tension, the lens of a child’s perspective, intimate moments and the harsh realities of racism and familial disintegration, internal and external conflicts they face in a racially prejudiced Southern town.
TONE: The tone of the poem is reflective and somber, illustrated by words with emotional connotations like “grief,” “cold lips stitched shut,” and “sinking deeper into the muck.” These words convey a sense of sorrow and helplessness.
IMAGES:
“words that shadow us”, “words that take shape”
“their bodies carved — parentheses framing the separate lives they’ll wake to” - impending separation and the emotional distance”
“my mother cannot answer, her mouth closed, a gesture toward her future: cold lips stitched shut.”
” the house, unsteady
on its cinderblock haunches, sinking deeper into the muck of ancestry”
“our shadows, dark glyphs on the wall, bigger and stranger than we are.” - creates an eerie and haunting atmosphere, enhancing the gothic and melancholic tone of the poem, and illustrating the overpowering society over their heritage. what you represent will make a bigger impression of the outside world then what you really are.
STRUCTURE:
Free verse, varied line length, enjambment, caesura: irregular structure suggests a lack of control and stability, familial disintegration
PERSONAL RESPONSE:
strong emotions about the struggles of identity and the impact of societal prejudice. It provides insight into the harsh realities faced by families in racially divided communities.
South
SUMMARY:
- landscapes and symbols of the South, highlighting the cultural and racial history embedded in the land.
- complexity of returning to a place fraught with both personal and collective memories of struggle, defiance, and identity.
- Reflects the paradox of being an outsider in one’s homeland.
TONE:
reflective and somber, with a sense of resilience. Words like “surrender,” “vanquished,” “ghosts,” “unburied,” and “crime” carry emotional weight, underscoring the themes of loss, memory, and defiance.
IMAGES:
“each boll holding the ghosts of generation.” This imagery evokes the haunted history of slavery
“live oak, gulfweed” → they replaced the wild plants with the inoffensive, beautiful, cosmetic plants → sanitising the place
“I return to Mississippi, state that made a crime of me – mulatto, half breed – native in my native land, this place they’ll bury me.” - Mississippi is personified as an entity that criminalized the speaker’s existence. ‘Native in my native land’ underscores the speaker’s inherent right to belong contrasted with her marginalization and exclusion by society,
” still sewn into our clothes.”
STRUCTURE:
irregular but drops into a rhyme scheme.
PERSONAL RESPONSE:
insight into the lingering impact of the South’s racial history.
Personally, it may remind readers of their own connections to place and identity, and the conflicts and memories tied to their heritage. The poet’s refusal to stay away from their native land despite its painful history resonates with a universal desire for belonging and reconciliation with one’s roots.
Native Guard
IDENTITY AND ETHNICITY
SUMMARY: The story of a slave becoming a native guard. He remembers the past life of bondage despite being freed, emphasizes the importance of remembrance, highlighting continued discrimination and the harshness of their labor, the irony and struggles of newfound freedom, connection among the soldiers, and the constant battle against nature and circumstance, the reversal of roles where former slaves guard their previous masters,
taking responsibility for history
TONE:
Reflective, somber, and resilient.
Emotional Words: “bondage,” “unfettered,” “captivity.”
Tone Analysis: The tone shifts from a reflective mourning of past experiences to a somber recognition of the continued struggle, ultimately highlighting resilience and a nuanced understanding of freedom.
IMAGES:
“scars, crosshatched like the lines in this journal”
Connotation: “Scars” symbolize the physical and emotional wounds of slavery, while “crosshatched” suggests a complex, interwoven history.
Resonates with the theme of memory and the lasting impact of slavery, aligning with the poem’s tone of enduring struggle.
“night sky red with the promise of fortune, dawn coming pink as new flesh unfettered”
‘slaves in the hands of the master, destiny’
‘the Corps D’Afrique’
Connotation: “Night sky red” and “dawn coming pink” red suggests both danger and potential, while “new flesh unfettered” implies fresh beginnings and liberation. juxtaposes hope and renewal with the harsh reality of wat and suffering
STRUCTURE:
The irregular structure - tumultuous and fragmented experiences of the speaker, unpredictable and chaotic journey from slavery to a semblance of freedom, varying lengths and forms of the stanzas reflect the speaker’s complex emotions, the shifting nature of their thoughts, and the lack of control over their circumstances.
PERSONAL RESPONSE:
The detailed, personal recounting of historical events fosters a stronger understanding of the emotional and psychological impact of war and enslavement.
Photograph: Ice Storm, 1971
contrast between the outward appearance of the storm’s aftermath and the hidden, painful experiences within the household.
eflective and somber. Words with emotional connotations include “rough edge of beauty,” “suffering,” “rotten,” and “stepfather’s fist,” highlighting a mixture of beauty and hidden pain.
: “nothing of what’s inside—mother, stepfather’s fist” - This stark image contrasts sharply with the external beauty, revealing the hidden pain and domestic violence, enhancing the poem’s somber and reflective tone.
“Why the tired face of a woman, suffering, made luminous by the camera’s eye?”
irregularity reflects the unpredictability of family life and the inner turmoil, contrasting with the superficial order of the photographed scene. the question mark - no closure here, unresolved
insight into the complexities of family memories, particularly those involving hidden suffering
