wow! so cool!

In this stanza, John goes down in the flames of the riot. As he goes down, he asks Lord to forgive them because they do not know better.

John Cabot was a Venetian explorer and navigator known for his 1497 voyage to North America, where he claimed land in Canada for Britain. He is known for being a bigot and a snob which is why Brooks chose him or a descendant of him as the central figure.

Learn more about John Cabot.

An upscale restaurant in France.

Imagery of lots of people, coming fast and uncontrollable.

This first stanza sets up in a sort of an exaggerated way the privilege and whiteness of John Cabot. All of the references are to an upscale lifestyle. There's also reference here and throughout the poem to Cabot's relationship with the Lord.

John Wycliffe was an English philosopher and theologian. He was also the leader of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century.

An interesting play with words in this line. Putting desperate and expensive in the same line.

Word: Avert– ward off, prevent.

Word: Malign– disease, infectious.

"It" is implying that the Negros marching towards are not even people.

French for "you are gross".

An interesting play with the English word gross and the French word, grosssier.

Word: Discreet– something of a delicate nature, modestly, unobtrusive.

Word: Detainable– to keep from proceeding, to keep waiting.

Word: Ranks– a single line of soldiers, a line, a row, a procession.

She is saying that the Negros coming down the street of Chicago are not like the delicate Negros in Winnetka. She is also saying that there are only a few people of color in Winnetka.

Word: Dainty– delicately small and pretty.

Another reference to an upscale village in the suburbs of Chicago.

French restaurant in Paris.

Grenadine of beef.

The name of another prestigious Chicago art gallery at the time.

A gallery in Chicago in Michigan Avenue that has been showcasing American and European art since 1963, a young gallery at the time this poem was written.

This gallery is still showcasing artworks.

A type of after-dinner liqueur made with a blend of scotch.

A village in Northern Illinois. Brooks' reference of this Chicago suburb in this context implies it is an upscale village. As of 2015, the median income per household is $115,000 and the population is 95% Caucasian.

A brand of luxury vehicles.

This opening quote is called an invocation. Poets often utilize an invocation to call upon an idea, concept, and in this case, a quote to justify the words that follow.

This is a famous line from MLK Jr's speech, The Other America.

Watch part of the speech:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ph5g0jb8cE

Read the full speech here: The Other America.

Hernandez states that the poem is indeed a truth, but one that has been shriveled by salt. He suggests that the poem should have characteristics of grit, resilience, experience, and sorrow. It's not meant to be beautiful, and here he places them between two ideas (blue and singing) that suggest youth, happiness, and freshness.

Why did he do that? Maybe this line is saying that truth is not beautiful and a poem, a good poem should speak to that, should reveal that. Especially because people surround themselves with things that are blue and singing to distract them from the truths. This could also be a critique of beautiful, flowery poetry that serves no other purpose than to entertain and distract.

Word: Salt is an essential mineral for living. Yet, too much of it can be harmful. The word itself holds some negative connotations.

What is the value of a poem that we do not have to work for? Will we believe (in) it?

The Holy Sacraments are meant to make people holy, to build them up to the body of God.

Here, Hernandez is not implying that poems must be religious, rather he is saying that a poem should take work. To become holy is not easy, to write a poem and to understand a poem should not be easy either.

Poetry that is meant to spell out the future in a divine or spiritual way should be clear.

Because this statement is contradictory to his take on poetry presented in the rest of this poem, this can be interpreted as a sarcastic jab at poems that prophecies.

Here, he continues to critique the prophetic poem.

Words: Propagate– promote or breed. Enliven– make something more interesting or appealing.

Prophetic poems do not invoke emotions, they simply make life more interesting and entertaining. He warns poets to stay away from these types of poems and references back his metaphors of the orange and the sea.

Word: Prophetic– a divine prediction of what is to come in the future.

Word: Sphinx is a mythological character with a lion's body and a human head. In the most popular legend, the sphinx said to have terrorized the people by demanding the answers to riddles. When they could not answer, the sphinx would devour them.

Learn more about the sphinx.

Word: Venus is the goddess of love, fertility, sex, and beauty in Roman mythology. She is often depicted in the nude. Through the use of Venus, Hernandez is saying that a good poem should not be naked. He is also saying that a good poem should represent more than love, fertility, sex, and beauty.

Learn more about Venus.

A good poem cannot simply have the structure, the bones, the technical aspects of a good poem.

Here Hernandez suggests that the true color of the sea is white and even though no one sees it as white, it doesn't change the fact that it is indeed white. There is imagery here that implies that the sea moves in a way to reveal its true color.

Word: Spume is the foam of the waves.

Word: Wizened– to become shriveled or wrinkled with age.

The poem is shriveled from the salt (salt-wizened) which references back to the metaphors of the mine and sets us up for metaphors of the sea.

Word: Insinuated– to bring into a position by indirect methods; to infiltrate into the mind by subtle methods

Word: Affected– unnatural, artificial, designed to impress