- May 2021
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www.poetryfoundation.org www.poetryfoundation.org
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I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
She beckons these immigrants toward her with her torch
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Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
she ask to send her those who have been exiled or homeless to come over
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The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
These people have been forgotten and rejected in their countries with limited resources.
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“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
She goes on to invite citizens, the thousands who long for freedom to America.
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cries she With silent lips.
Though she is a silent statue, the speaker suggests that her symbolic message is clear
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“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!”
The poem then gives the statue herself a voice
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her mild eyes command The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame
her gentle gaze upon New York Harbor, which is sandwiched between New York City and Brooklyn
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From her beacon-hand Glows world-wide welcome;
She does so through the guiding light of her torch
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and her name Mother of Exiles
She is portray as a motherly figure who welcomes immigrants to America
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A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning,
the statue looks like a powerful woman and holds a torch that's lit through the land
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Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
the speaker then moves from ancient Greece to America, describing the new statue
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With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
the Colossus of Rhodes was constructed to commemorate a military victory
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Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
the speaker first describes what the New Colossus will not be like the giant bronze statue in ancient Rhodes.
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The New Colossus
a giant statue
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www.poetryfoundation.org www.poetryfoundation.org
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The buttonholes, the sizing, the facing, the characters Printed in black on neckband and tail. The shape, The label, the labor, the color, the shade. The shirt.
everything he spoke about, the physical parts of the shirt, and all the terrible history that goes into its production, is embodied in the shirt itself
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We have culled its cost and quality Down to the buttons of simulated bone,
the “cost and quality” of the shirt all come at a high human price
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And feel and its clean smell have satisfied Both her and me.
he contrast the history he has just repeat to the “clean smell” and feel the shirt has
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And she inspected my shirt. Its color and fit
still, in the modern world, a similar kind of slavery exists
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George Herbert, your descendant is a Black Lady in South Carolina, her name is Irma
“Irma” who, the speaker states, is a descendent of the poet George Herbert, and who inspected his shirt
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Sweating at her machine in a litter of cotton As slaves in calico headrags sweated in fields:
the speaker moves onto talk about a more obvious and known example of slavery
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The docker, the navvy. The planter, the picker, the sorter
these were existed in the past, and still exist today
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To wear among the dusty clattering looms. Weavers, carders, spinners. The loader,
a reference to the kilt and how it was “devised for workers / To wear among the dusty clattering looms”.
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Bailey, MacMartin. The kilt, devised for workers
one part of the system works to control another
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To control their savage Scottish workers, tamed By a fabricated heraldry: MacGregor,
the speaker describes how factory owners to expand on the history connected to names such as “MacGregor.”
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Invented by mill-owners inspired by the hoax of Ossian,
there is another vague allusion in the eleventh stanza, this time to “the hoax of Ossian.”
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Prints, plaids, checks, Houndstooth, Tattersall, Madras. The clan tartans
the speaker would of course be fascinated by the prints that come to mind
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Corners of both pockets, like a strict rhyme Or a major chord.
this connects back to the main focus of the poem, factories producing clothing.
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Wonderful how the pattern matches perfectly Across the placket and over the twin bar-tacked
A “Bedlamite” is a deranged person. He tilts at the edge and then allows himself to fall
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Like Hart Crane’s Bedlamite, “shrill shirt ballooning.”
The ninth stanza of "Shirt" provides the reader with an allusion to Hart Crane’s poem
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his jacket flared And fluttered up from his shirt as he came down, Air filling up the legs of his gray trousers—
his clothes “flared” around him and air filled up “his gray trousers.”
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He stepped to the sill himself, his jacket flared And fluttered up from his shirt as he came down, Air filling up the legs of his gray trousers—
the eighth stanza focuses on what the man looked like as he fell
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Then he held Her into space, and dropped her. Almost at once
she fully understood and accepted what was happening
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her arms Around his neck and kissed him
his last child kissed the man before she fell to her death
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A third before he dropped her put her arms Around his neck and kissed him.
a tender moment is featured in the seventh stanza
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As if he were helping them up To enter a streetcar, and not eternity.
there was more than one child this man helped
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Away from the masonry wall and let her drop. And then another.
it was not to safety he was trying to get to, but to a quicker, less painful death
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Who watched how a young man helped a girl to step Up to the windowsill, then held her out
a story of how one man tried to improve the fates of the children
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The witness in a building across the street
The fifth stanzas give more details about the fire and what exactly happened
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At the Triangle Factory in nineteen-eleven. One hundred and forty-six died in the flames On the ninth floor, no hydrants, no fire escapes—
the fourth stanza brings in a little more context to the piece and gives the reader another reason to want to help these workers and find a way to improve their situation
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The wringer, the mangle. The needle, the union, The treadle, the bobbin. The code. The infamous blaze
everyone is guilty of taking advantage of these people who are not paid a living wage
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Of cuff I button at my wrist. The presser, the cutter,
he is implicating himself, along with every reader
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This armpiece with its overseam to the band
he does not want the workers to be seen as faceless, emotionless, automatons who don’t really have lives
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Gossiping over tea and noodles on their break Or talking money or politics while one fitted
these lines seek to pervade them with personality, cares, and desires. He speaks on their “Gossiping over tea and noodles” and the talk of “money or politics” while working.
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Turned in a sweatshop by Koreans or Malaysians
those working within it are employed at low wages and are forced to work long hours
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The nearly invisible stitches along the collar
they are things that no one ever notices, but the Pinksy is using this poem to draw attention to them
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The back, the yoke, the yardage. Lapped seams,
He is drawing a reader’s attention to the small parts of a shirt and what it takes to make one
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poets.org poets.org
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driven by a godawful wind.
this refers to a firestorm, in which flame gets so hot that it creates its own wind. this helps to continue creating the image of the burning woman
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She burns like a burning bush
in the bible, the bush is no fire, but never burns to ash. This gives the memory of this event continues to burn in the narrator's mind, and will for the rest of his life
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She rises like dragonsmoke to my nostrils.
this refer to the napalm after it hits the grown, forming a cloud of "dragonsmoke," as the ashes flew down on the grown and into his "nostrils"
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at the edge of a rain forest.
this sets the setting of the place in action
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She burns like a field of poppies
this shows that the soldiers view the loss of this girl as significant as the loss of a fellow soldier
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She burns like a shot glass of vodka.
as she burn on a "shot glass of vodka," it is slowly disappearing which connects to the title that she and him are disappearing
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A tiger under a rainbow at nightfall.
the cause worth flighting for is above human power, however, as the sun does down, human power lies in the darkness of war
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silent as quicksilver.
quicksilver is the element known as mercury.
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dipped in gasoline
where it gets stronger when it "dipped in gasoline"
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She burns like a cattail torch
she is burning like a "cattail torch", where it keeps burning burning till morning
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She burns like oil on water.
the surface is burning but not the bottom of the surface of the water
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like a sack of dry ice.
imagery of the pill of ash looking like "dry ice"
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She glows like the fat tipof a banker's cigar,
making the direct connection to the "banker's cigar" makes the illustration that this is a rich man's war
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We stand with our handshanging at our sides,while she burns
this line describes the narrator and his fellow soldiers watching the woman, completely unable to do anything to help her. Acting on their orders, although remorseful, they can't do anything to save her.
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A skirt of flamesdances around herat dusk.
he is describing her as the flame, moving like it's her dancing "at dusk"
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in a thigh-shaped valley.
where everything becomes covered by the ash in the valley
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She burns like foxfire
she burn like the phosphorescent light emitted by certain fungi on decaying timber
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At daybreak she burns like a piece of paper.
the time in the morning when daylight first appears, he compare her to a piece of paper burning
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inside my head.
he is recalling the event, which happened years ago
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The cry I bring down from the hillsbelongs to a girl still burning
he is currently leaving the sight in which he watched a girl burn and still has her screams echoing in his ears
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"You and I Are Disappearing"
that they are slowly forgotten?
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www.poetryfoundation.org www.poetryfoundation.org
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Or does it explode?
he is asking will that dream be destroyed/"explode," and that the dream is blown to bits and the person can't pick up the pieces.
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Maybe it just sags like a heavy load.
the depression of losing it is always there, weighing you down
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Or crust and sugar over— like a syrupy sweet?
something good has become old and doesn't work anymore
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Does it stink like rotten meat?
The dream isn't visible anymore, but it is inescapable
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Or fester like a sore— And then run?
negatively portrays ones dream when it is put aside. An emotional wounds stink too
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Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?
a raisin means a long-sitting unreached dream that loses its "juice" or spirit and then shrinks. A deferred dream make us lifeless like a raisin in the sun.
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Harlem
known as a center of African-American art and culture in the early 20th century
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What happens to a dream deferred?
it establish the poem’s context and its central question. A dream deferred tell us what will happen if we postpone our dream too long.
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gcs.instructure.com gcs.instructure.com
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Whenever frustrated, I'm a hijack Delta
this might refer to some bad events during that period
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Thinking of cash flow, religion and shelter
cash, weed, and a pot
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Give me a Smith & Wesson, I have negroes undressin'
Nas will use the gun to rob people, forcing them to " undressin' " to give him all their valuables
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I ain't the type of brother made for you to start testin'
Nas is illustrating his mentality
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Make enough figures until my pockets get bigger
He got to do all the money he wanted, he can stop having to do dangerous things just to get by
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But just a negro walking with his finger on the trigger
Nas snaps back to reality by saying “but just a nigga walking with his finger on the trigger”
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Investments in stocks, sewing up the blocks to sell drugsWinning gunfights with mega-cops
Maybe, now that Nas has invested in “stock” got more guns and drugs, he’s able “win gunfights with mega-cops
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Making sure the cash came correct, then I stepped
He's making sure his movie is going the right way and the opposite, away from him
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Be having dreams that I'm a gangsta; drinking Moets, holding Tecs
This opening line is also interesting in light of the ongoing theme of the song as a whole
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New York state of mindNew York state of mindNew York state of mindNew York state of mindNew York state of mind
shows what going on in his mind
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I think of crime when I'm in a New York state of mind
Nas thinks back on his life in Queens
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Beyond the walls of intelligence, life is defined
how one lives and what happens to you along the way
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I never sleep, cause sleep is the cousin of death
being an easy target could lead him to getting shot to death
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It drops deep as it does in my breath
indicated that bad things about to happen
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But yo, you gotta slide on a vacation, inside informationKeeps large negroes erasin' and their wives basin'
Nas suggests that you lay low for a while, since there’s a snitch in the organization
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I know this crackhead who said she's got to do drugs it's all she's gotAnd if it's good, she'll bring you customers in measuring pots
Nas is saying that the customers will be “in measuring pots” because they will be hooked and bring in regular revenue
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So hold your stash 'til the drug price drop
save your money for future needs
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There was a snitch on the block getting negroes knocked
people who snitches
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Same negroes will catch a back-to-back, snatching your slacks in black
“Back-to-back” may refer for violent crimes with multiple victims.
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4-5's and gauges, Macs, in fact
a gun?
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In broad daylight, stickup kids: they run up on us
he's getting attention from his fans
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And claim some corners, crews without guns are goners
You can’t fight to gain control if you don’t have any firepower
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Got younger negroes pulling the triggers, bringing fame to their name
Nas is upset that this new generation of young men engage in violence
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(So what you saying?) It's like the game ain't the same
An interruption indicates that his story is over
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So now I'm jetting to the building lobbyAnd it was full of children probably couldn't see as high as I be
“children probably couldn’t see as high as i be” means he is so high on drugs
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Finally pulled it back and saw 3 bullets caught up in the chamber
When one round of ammunition fails to eject from the chamber it becomes jammed
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Gave another squeeze, heard it click, "yo, my stuff is stuck"Try to cock it, it wouldn't shoot, now I'm in danger
Nas realizes his gun is jammed and he can’t shoot, he’s “in danger”
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Heard a few chicks scream, my arm shook, couldn't look
Female screams add a sense of horror to the scene, as Nas is "shock", and can’t bear to look at the body he has just shot.
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Pick the Mac up, told brothers, "Back up, " the Mac spitLead was hitting negroes, one ran, I made him backflip
Once he gets his gun, Nas warns his enemies to "back up" before he opens fire.
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Once they caught us off-guard, the Mac-10 was in the grass andI ran like a cheetah with thoughts of an assassin
he is ambushed by his enemies and runs towards his Mac which is on the grass
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Time to start the revolution, catch a body, head for Houston
Nas is thinking back to about a violent insurrection of sorts to gang related
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Negroes be running through the block shootin'
he's exposing the gang violence
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Reminiscing about the last time the Task Force flipped
They sit around telling stories and laughing about the last time
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G-packs get off quick, forever negroes talk stuff
he's talking about drugs and that they sell quickly in his neighborhood
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Laughing at baseheads trying to sell some broken amps
He laughs at people who do drugs and are desperately trying to sell "broken amp" for money to buy more drugs
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Or either on the corner betting Grants with the cee-lo champs
50$?
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I keep some E&J, sitting bent up in the stairway
“Bent” means “drunk;” of drunk people bent over, throwing up after a night of drinking.
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Y'all know my steelo with or without the airplay
“Steelo” is the word “style”, Nas is telling us that we will all know his rap style, "with or without the airplay"
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nowBullet holes left in my peepholes, I'm suited up in street clothesHand me a nine and I'll defeat foes
“peepholes” is a another word for “peoples”, suggesting that urban violence has cut down some of his friends.
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I'm like Scarface smelling amphetaminesHolding an M-16, see with the pen I'm extreme
There’s a famous scene at the end of the movie Scarface where its lead character Tony Montana stuffs his face in a mountain of cocaine and then comes running out of his office in a wild final attack with an M16 rifle
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I be kicking, musician, inflictin' composition
he is changing the music industry with his music?
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Rappers, I monkey flip 'em with the funky rhythm
Nas' use the word “flip” as he engages in lyrical battle with his opponents
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I don't know how to start this stuff, yo
he keeps that part in the song to give the listener a more authentic experience
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Where fake negroes don't make it back
this tells that not many artiest till the truth behind the lyrics
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Straight out the friggin dungeons of rap
that this song comes from personal experience
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Yeah yeah, aiyyo black it's time (word?)(Word, it's time negro?)
he's giving the audience attention towards him
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www.poetryfoundation.org www.poetryfoundation.org
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and swiveling back to see an orange blur floating perfectly through the net.
this shows an imagery of the feeling of accomplishment
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with a wild, headlong motion for the game he loved like a country
he like the game like his country, this is implied that he loves basketball more than anything
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but losing his balance in the process, inexplicably falling, hitting the floor
in the process he losses his balance and hit the floor
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by himself now and laying it gently against the glass for a lay-up,
put someone out of action through injury.
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while the power-forward explodes past them in a fury, taking the ball into the air
they're trying to get a easy layup or dunk
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until the guard finally lunges out and commits to the wrong man
it's sayin that he's guarding the wrong person, that person that will surpass him
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between them without a dribble, without a single bounce hitting the hardwood
The person was not "dribble" the ball meaning it's at the end of a "single bounce"
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and filling the lanes in tandem, moving together as brothers passing the ball
that the team is like a family moving as one in the court
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both forwards racing down the court the way that forwards should, fanning out
They all go down the court and to the opposite ends of the floor.
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in slow motion, almost exactly like a coach’s drawing on the blackboard,
the player is so ahead of time that everything becomes slow motion
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of a high, gliding dribble and a man letting the play develop in front of him
A player has let the game play work in his mind.
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who looks stunned and nailed to the floor in the wrong direction, trying to catch sight
Perhaps the player might not have strong control of eyes and may not be careful about what happens in the court
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an underhand pass toward the other guard scissoring past a flat-footed defender
Getting past your opponent and closer to the net. This could mean that he is about to dunk the net
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and spinning around to throw a strike to the outlet who is already shoveling
he's turning around and about to throw the ball in the hoop
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perfectly, gathering the orange leather from the air like a cherished possession
he's at the attention point, everyone is looking at him.
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and for once our gangly starting center boxes out his man and times his jump
it's saying he's in the middle of the court where the 3 point is at
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A hook shot kisses the rim and hangs there, helplessly, but doesn’t drop,
was reaching for the rim but it didn't make it
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Fast Break
Steadfast, with unwavering feeling
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poets.org poets.orgTo Prisoners13
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in the chalk and choke.
chalk would represent white as in light from the "darkness"
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in the many many mornings-after;
portioners serve for a long time in prison sentence and those who have to wait "many many morning"
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in the non-cheering dark,
feelings of empathy
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cultivation of strength to heal and enhance
she is asking the prisoner to except the damage and heal to be a new
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I call for you
she's calling for help once again
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Overwhat wants to crumble you down, to sickenyou.
that life is never fair and that it will crumble you down no matter what
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cultivation of victory Overlong blows that you want to give and blows you are going to get.
she's is saying that once you get back you, there will always be something pushes you down
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I call for you
she is asking for help
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Under the wolves and coyotes of particular silences.Where it is dry.Where it is dry.
feels like she is lost and doesn't know where to go which makes her unsafe to her surrounding
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in the hot paralysis.
the loss of the ability to move
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Dark gardeningin the vertigo cold.
it's impossible for her to grow strength in the "dark," "vertigo cold"
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I call for you cultivation of strength in the dark.
she is seeking for strength in the dark
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To Prisoners
prisoners' who are in jail?
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studio.edx.org studio.edx.org
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Nor any Placard boast me ‑Itʹs full as Opera ‑
she understands that her work and worth equal, if not exceed, the performances that have gather an award.
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Nor any know I know the ArtI mention ‑ easy ‑ Here ‑
no one had never knew that she had self-taught ballet all by herself
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Till I was out of sight, in sound,The House encore me so ‑
the house is her audience, and she was pleased with her ballet
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Nor tossed my shape in Eider Balls,Nor rolled on wheels of snow
she's taking things on her own, and do things that she had never experience
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Nor hopped for Audiences ‑ like Birds ‑One Claw opon the air ‑
she didn't want to dance for a crowed of audience but to dance to show her joy and emotion throw the dance of ballet
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And though I had no Gown of Gauze ‑No Ringlet, to my Hair,
she doesn't care about beauty and pretty things
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In Pirouette to blanch a Troupe ‑Or lay a Prima, mad,
she would overcome things if she have knew different ballet skill
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That had I Ballet Knowledge ‑Would put itself abroad
she's saying that if she had new how to ballet, she would outshine her skill and be confident
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But oftentimes, among my mind,A Glee possesseth me,
she feel joy or "Glee" when she dance, even tho she cannot dance
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No Man instructed me ‑
The capital “M” for man emphasizes her belief that it was man who shaped what women should know and look like
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like Birds
young women hopping to audiences “like Birds” which creates imagery of pretty performing animals
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I cannot dance opon my Toes ‑
she sets herself apart from the rest of her gender by writing with an ironic remorse to create a purpose.
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www.huffpost.com www.huffpost.com
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White privilege
is the societal privilege that benefits white people over non-white people in some societies
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“Words don’t have a meaning without context,”
I agree, words without context are meaningless to some people
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- Apr 2021
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moodle.smith.edu moodle.smith.edu
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Words themselves are innocuous; it is the consensus that gives them true power
Through Naylor's experience as a writer she feels that the spoken word has a much greater influence and impact than any written word.
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Dialogue achieves its power in the dynamics of a fleeting moment of sight, sound, smell, and touch.
This helps the reader to understand the power of a spoken word such as "nigger."
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I didn’t “hear” it until it was said by a small pair of lips that had already learned it could be a way to humiliate me
Naylor creates a conversational atmosphere where she puts her ideas together nicely in order. her personal experience is the evidence.
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“trifling niggers.”
She is saying that person has a bad reputation of being foul or rude.
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the chicken and egg dispute
Gloria explains how she starts on one side of reality and shaping her language, then comes to another understanding from the boy in her third grade class.
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Mommy, what does niggermean
The author Gloria Naylor explains throughout her piece that reality shapes language and language can shape reality.
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www.amerlit.com www.amerlit.com
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awful brain compels His awful hand
Cullen also seems to contradict his earlier stance on the goodness of God
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I doubt not God is good, well-meaning, kind,And did He stoop to quibble could tell why The little buried mole continues blind
He believes God has a plan for all, and that suffering is somehow accounted for within this plan
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newtfire.org newtfire.org
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The tallest tower Can tumble down If it be not rooted In solid ground.
he pointed out that you must start from the bottom "root" then climb up, if not, the outcome can be worse.
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Your fate is here And not afar.
you can't go against fate, but to accept it as a reality
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Booker T. Was a practical man.
Hughes address Booker "was a piratical man." shows that he getting us attention to Booker.
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dbdprints.wixsite.com dbdprints.wixsite.com
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The problem of education
Du Bois emphasizing the requirement for higher education to develop the leadership capacity among black Americans.
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comicsandthecanon.wordpress.com comicsandthecanon.wordpress.com
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“The Talented Tenth,”
The Talented Tenth is a term that designated a leadership class of African descendant Americans in the early 20th century
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Washington emphasizes the importance of achieving Black prosperity
He urged blacks to accept discrimination for the time being and concentrate on elevating themselves through hard work and material prosperity
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The Negro Race, like all races, is going to be saved by its exceptional men. The problem of education then, among Negroes, must first of all deal with the “Talented Tenth.”
Educating the best minds of the race disseminates into the rest, allowing the general uplift of all.
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The Negro Problem
It covers law, education, disenfranchisement, and Black Americans' place in American society.
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nationalhumanitiescenter.org nationalhumanitiescenter.org
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the difficulty and shortcoming of propaganda
propaganda isn't just its own message, but lies and misleading advertising, and indoctrination by sinister political forces targeted at the ignorant, uneducated, and the uninformed
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art for art’s sake
is a phrase that expresses the philosophy of art and the only true art.
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For it leaves and speaks under the shadow of a dominant majority whom it harangues, cajoles, threatens or supplicates.
In Locke's view, art only helped racial equality when it was possible to develop academic structures completely independent of the majority opinion demands.
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drive.google.com drive.google.comDuBois14
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outer compulsion
Disorder their natural response is to fight their unwanted thoughts
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Free he is but his freedom is ever bounded by truth and justice
the man can never escape the truth and justice, even tho he is free. that guilt shall not escape, there is no greater truth defense
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slavery only dogs him
Bloodhounds/dogs were used to track runaway slaves
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a realization of that past
A person to step back in time and learn about it, We can gather a better understanding of culture and have a greater appreciation of them.
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What has beauty to do with truth and goodness
Truth beauty and goodness have their being together, by truth we are put in touch with reality which we find is good for us and beautiful to behold.
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We black folk may help for we have within us as a race new stirrings
Renaissance as a scene in which black literature thrived but was also troubled
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Who shall restore to men the glory of sunsets and the peace of quiet sleep
The literature and art of the younger generation already reflects this shift of psychology, this regeneration of spirit
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a little thing of mauve and purple, quiet, lying content and shining in the sun
Criteria of Negro Art
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but nevertheless lived in a world where men know, where men create, where they realize themselves and where they enjoy life
We live in a world that celebrates self-belief, but it is far more important to have self-awareness. And often there is a conflict between the two.
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if your color faded, or the color line here in Chicago was miraculously forgotten
tired or exhausted. slowly lost it's original identity
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As it was phrased last night it had a certain truth
meaning for an experience, it also forces into the background or conceals other possible meanings
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north, south, east or west -- is of less importance
This direction should always be more open, beautiful, light, and less burden, but "is of less important."
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what have we who are slaves and black to do with art?
It allowed African Americans the chance to express their voices in the mass media as well as become involved in communities.
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The apostle of beauty
all of us are or can be apostles of simple, everyday beauty.
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