Ginsberg begins to get to his tipping point. At the time, there was nothing as obscene and explicit as this before. It was the 1950's. There is clear reference to homosexual sex and at the time, this was 'illegal. Again in the lines to come the author touches on sexuality and what was going on in the social/night life at the time.

This gave me chills. Ginsberg is blandly calling out not only tobacco companies, but capitalism as whole on their lies. in the 50's everyone was smoking. I remember learning about propaganda tobacco companies used and they would tell folks that smoking was even beneficial to their health! Going along the lines of self harm and death, here he is exposing capitalism's hypocrisy and evilness.

Many of the lines begin with the word "who", this gives off an eerie incantation feel. As we get further and further into the poem, we get more understanding behind this angst and frustration rooted from suicides, drugs, and music. "who" starts to feel more like a disturbing and subversive interrogation.

These starting lines were very powerful in that they make a clear depiction of colonization. Through this extraction of a natural resource like sand, I feel that there is connection between this and slavery and how African Americans were taken away from their homelands and taken captive for the use and benefit of others. I did love the way the poem chose to tell their narrative through finding love in dance through the streets of Harlem. The man is used to represent cultural roots but at the same time assimilation from mixture of cultural tropes.

This poem was brilliant. At the start I noticed what seems to be a multi-layered metaphor in that I feel she is referring to her heart and womb as well. (I could be wrong though.) The tone in the poem is distraught and worrisome because she is letting the child know the world they are to enter is cruel. She literally says that because of the cruelty and sin pf the world she fears bringing this child into the chaos. Even at the end the words "earth" and "birth" rhyme bringing it back full circle regarding what the speaker wants and what her next step will be.

"I Sit and Sew" is a three stanza poem divided into seven lines with a rhyme scheme of AABBCCD. I right away notice the repetition of the words "I sit and sew" which makes me think that there is almost a feeling of restlessness. We get other hints of exhaustion when she writes "hands grown tired", and "head weighed down with dreams". She wants to know her place in life essentially but she is stuck in this loop of only sewing.

"Heritage" is my favorite poem by Gwendolyn B. Bennett. I found the diction to be enchanting and proud. She personifies words like, "palm-trees", "sands", and "Nile" to represent the suppression of African American culture. It seems to me she is yearning or reconnections with her homeland and culture. The racial pride in this piece shines through especially with the imagery of "lithe Negro girls, Ethched dark against the skies."

The "Old Negro" is what seems to be like a symbol of rejection and failure while the "new Negro" is what seems to be like a symbol of hope. He doesn't even refer to "Old Negro" as real but rather an ideology and "more of a myth than a man".

The author feels like stereotypes and racial injustice will be rid of in few decades. That the "vital inner grip of prejudice" will be broken. Now being in 2021, it is devastating to see that this is still not true. Though we have come a long way in social and racial justice, it is not enough. Locke was sure that this surely would not have lasted another 100 years.

This metaphor jumped out to me instantaneously. He is comparing African Americans to a "formula". I feel that in this he is saying that they were treated as more of a subject of conversation or debate rather than human beings. To their own people they have to constantly defend and protect themselves rather than just be like White folks.

The closing sentence I felt was incredibly powerful and closes with what seems like a challenge to aspiring Black artists. He is ultimately saying that the "racial mountain" he writes about needs to be conquered. He is hoping that in conquering this racial mountain the artist frees himself from societal constraints and prejudice to be their true selves.

In this I feel that Hughes is validating and trying to remind his fellow Black artists that they don't need to try to do anything White. He is saying that Black artists have so much richness in their culture to put into their art. He is saying that by trying to appeal to a White audience it is almost detrimental to their Black audience that should be celebrated and represented.

After reading this piece a couple times, I notice that he never actually states who the poet of this quote is. This poet is a mystery to the audience. Even in the second paragraph we get a description of the mystery writer's background, but never his name. I think the fact that he does not ever say his name, is significant to the text. I think the pain and frustration of a systemic assimilation (though not necessarily 'forced' they do because whiteness=success) comes through significantly in explaining and unraveling the quote.

I am not at all knowledgeable on the German language and translated this bit Eliots poem. It translates to " “Fresh wind blows Home to, My Irish, child, where are you?” . I found this interesting because after understanding what it says, I still dont understand it's meaning or purpose to the poem. What's admirable about Eliot still is that he adds elements into his writing that add layers and depth to the overall story. He adds so many reference to the Bible, nature, other poets, languages, that if one does not fully dissect every line, you will not grasp every single meaning, and even with that being said, he still manages to mesmerize and captivate his audience.

In these lines I feel that Williams is bringing up his last point in the perception that Americans have lost is "traditional" ideologies (in specific the American Dream because such violent history.) Native Americans stood directly in the face of the "American Dream" and were completely eradicated and defiled. The tone he conveys within the last six stanzas are important to the way in which he is trying to convert his wishes and dreams to his audience. The whimsical imagery of deer and fields illustrate what is the glorified America. He seeps into how it destroys us which is powerful it that Williams feels hopeless.

I found it ironic that this poem is "to" Elsie, but before she is even thoroughly acknowledged and introduced the poet describes lustful and "promiscuous" encounters. This not just misogynistic but a strong way to first introduce with such negative diction.

The format in which the poem is written is conversational almost. Free verse poem that seems to be divided into stanzas by each three lines. No formal metrical pattern. Short line precedes and is followed by longer lines.

The first three lines make me wonder if he feels death is near. He talks about “that hour” which I feel represents death. I do question why he feels death is almost following him and why it is a dark delphinium in specific.

I cannot necessarily put my finger on whether the writer is simply addressing a universal theme of death and the mourning process that comes with that. It seems as though he talks about as a human wanting the people around him to mourn.

In these first lines of the poem we get the total opposite of a typical love poem. The writer is saying that love is essentially not the most important thing for our survival physically , but for our soul that is different.

I loved the imagery Frost used in the first stanza then flipped to the second stanza and leaves the reader with various questions about life and death. Certain words like "appall", "ingredients", and "witches' broth" add an element of what Frost seems to be one's ending fate and how it all comes to be.

It seems as though he is continuously mending the wall without really seeming to need it. This leads me to question why it is that this fence of separation is what makes them good neighbors?

In the beginning four lines I am drawn into the mystery of who/what this unknown force is that "doesn't love a wall". I also can't help but notice how the poem is for the most part written in simplistic and conversational words. Often times when a writer uses short syllable words, it might hint at universal themes.

This is probably my favorite sentence. This is so powerful! He is saying that although slavery has been abolished and "all" are free, we are still so very far from giving all freedom. If all were free, why is there still an opportunity gap in educational and work places? If all were free why is there still so much lack of representation in our government? If all are free why are innocent Black men and women still being killed? The very thing Du Bois is writing about over a century ago, is still far too prevalent in today's society.

This is powerful in that he is saying there is a feeling of "double-consciousness". He is conveying the idea of having to be himself though at the same time having to view himself from the perspective of a white body. Whereas non-POC don't have to even think about this they just are themselves.

In saying he is a "stranger in his own house", is powerful because this automatically pants a picture in the readers head that he feels as though he does not belong, or is negatively different in a space he and everyone else should coexist and be equal in. He also uses many words like prison or of/relating to enslavement because although African Americans are no longer slaves, he is expressing there is still systemic and social forms of oppression and discrimination.

Why is it that he has such a pessimistic perception of education? Later on autobiography he makes similar comments as well. Curious to understand why.

It is shocking that he would go as far as to say one would "pray to it" (referring to the technological advancements). I can't help but think about how in aw they would be if they were able to see how advanced and prominent technology is in the average persons day.

Confused on the repetition of the term regarding neck breaking. Clearly he is not speaking about a physical neck breaking... so I wonder what he trying to insinuate with that word choice.

If anyone sees this annotation and know, lmk!

Levine was from Detroit and I remember learning about racial riots happening in the late 1960's. I feel that this poem and these lines (especially ""Bown Down" and "Rise Up"") represent a social and racial hierarchal frustration.

Writer was born into working class so this makes me believe he could be referring to the harsh American labor conditions he and others were in.

The author says "white" sin (emphasis on white). Why is is that he specifies the whiteness of his sins?

Large populations of lions are in Africa