Crowned with dark rebellious hair,Patience wavers just so much asMortal grief compels, while touchesQuick and hot, of anger, riseTo smitten cheek and weary eyes.Lord, forgive me if my needSometimes shapes a human creed.
In this poem, Cullen explores his African heritage and compares his ancestors in Africa to his life in the United States. He contemplates how much energy African Americans should put towards relating to something/someone you don't have that much in common with anymore.
Of all the things that happened there That’s all that I remember.
In this poem, Cullen talks about the incident at just eight years old when another little boy called him a racial slur. This poem, and especially this quoted section, highlights the lasting impact racism has.
To make a poet black, and bid him sing!
Here Cullen wonders why God would make him a Black poet in such a time with heightened and extreme racial prejudice and hate.
quibble
"a slight objection or criticism about a trivial matter."
Tantalus
Along with Sisyphus, tantalus, were both figures in Greek mythology who were condemned to eternal torture. This is used as a allusion by Cullen to raise the question if God is good and just instead of just cruel.
Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets, The muttering retreats
This metaphor at the start of the "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock poem, conveys the inner struggles and confusion he is feeling. Half deserted streets and muttering retreats create a tone of emptiness, loneliness, seclusion, etc.
Deferential
"showing deference; respectful."
The Idea of Order at Key West
This poem, "The Idea of Order at Key West" by Wallace Stevens has a free verse structure meaning that there no regular meter of scheme.
Design
This poem is a petrarchan sonnet. This means the first lines pose a question and the last lines answer it.
thither
"to or toward that place."
And climb black branches up a snow-white trunk Toward heaven, till the tree could bear no more, But dipped its top and set me down again.
Throughout the story, Frost uses beautiful imagery as a metaphor to communicate his longing to return to care free adolescence.
He learned all there was To learn about not launching out too soon And so not carrying the tree away Clear to the ground.
Frost talks about the concept of "ignorance is bliss" and how you should be patient and not grow up too fast. The whole tone of the poem is imaginative and nostalgic. Explores the "coming of age" theme.
You may see their trunks arching in the woods Years afterwards, trailing their leaves on the ground Like girls on hands and knees that throw their hair Before them over their heads to dry in the sun.
I believe this section of the poem emphasizes the modernism characteristic of having "confidence in the power of the imagination to construct meaning where there is none." We see this here with the girl's hair and above with the boy swinging on the trees. Through imagination, Frost takes something that most people would have over looked, and uses it to symbolize something else with a deeper meaning.
I like to think some boy’s been swinging them. But swinging doesn’t bend them down to stay As ice-storms do.
Here, Frost compares potential causes of the bending of the trees. He'd like to assume it was because a boy had been swinging on them instead of it being due to an ice storm.
bracken
"a tall fern with coarse lobed fronds, which occurs worldwide and can cover large areas."
IT would be difficult to describe the subtle brotherhood of men that was here established on the seas. No one said that it was so. No one mentioned it. But it dwelt in the boat, and each man felt it warm him.
This is an aspect of the story that differs from typical naturalism. In naturalism, there is a big emphasis on Darwins idea of "survival of the fittest." It would be unlikely to see a bunch of men struggling to survive all befriend each other and form such a "subtle brotherhood."
The birds sat comfortably in groups, and they were envied by some in the dingey, for the wrath of the sea was no more to them than it was to a covey of prairie chickens a thousand miles inland. Often they came very close and stared at the men with black bead-like eyes. At these times they were uncanny and sinister in their unblinking scrutiny, and the men hooted angrily at them, telling them to be gone
This detailed description of the birds and how the men in the boat envied them as well as felt annoyed by them adds a pessimistic/cynical tone to the story.
A singular disadvantage of the sea lies in the fact that after successfully surmounting one wave you discover that there is another behind it just as important and just as nervously anxious to do something effective in the way of swamping boats
I believe this highlighted section follows the characteristic of naturalism that states, "settings in extremely harsh nature (deserts, the Yukon, the open ocean) or cities (the urban jungle); nature is either indifferent or hostile to the plight of humanity"
gunwale
"the upper edge of the side of a boat or ship"
A TALE INTENDED TO BE AFTER THE FACT. BEING THE EXPERIENCE OF FOUR MEN SUNK FROM THE STEAMER COMMODORE
While The Open Boat is a fictional work, it was based on Stephen Crane's real life experience being shipwrecked.
My lover was an intelligent and religious man. Even if he could have obtained permission to marry me while I was a slave, the marriage would give him no power to protect me from my master.
I think this highlighted section is an example of how the text appeals to northern white women. By Jacobs explaining her heartache and sorrow regarding not being able to marry her love, I believe it would tug on the women's heartstrings.
loquacious
"tending to talk a great deal; talkative."
While I was with her, she taught me to read and spell; and for this privilege, which so rarely falls to the lot of a slave, I bless her memory.
I believe this section highlights the characteristic of "including a narrative of literacy acquisition." Here, she talks about her kind slave owner who has passed. This mistress taught her to read and spell.
But when I reflected that I was a slave, and that the laws gave no sanction to the marriage of such, my heart sank within me.
I was kind of shocked when I read this. I don't know why. When learning about slavery, we look at the brutality and horrors of slavery. I think we also tend to overlook the loss of dignity and basic freedoms that we take for granted every single day.
There was in the neighborhood a young colored carpenter; a free born man. We had been well acquainted in childhood, and frequently met together afterwards.
I think this would be a great example but all throughout Harriet Ann Jacobs writing, we see her share stories of her connections and relationships with those around her. This follows the characteristic of proving humanity (female lens).
In complexion my parents were a light shade of brownish yellow, and were termed mulattoes.
In contrast to Frederick Douglass' experience as a slave, Harriet Ann Jacobs and her family were light in complexion - therefore she was treated differently. In most cases, it was better depending on the slave owner.
I speak advisedly when I say this,--that killing a slave, or any colored person, in Talbot county, Maryland, is not treated as a crime, either by the courts or the community.
Not only were they robbed of their dignity, but their humanity too. Throughout this chapter, Douglass shows the slaves humanity as well as the inhumane and disgusting actions of the white slaveholders.
The children unable to work in the field had neither shoes, stockings, jackets, nor trousers, given to them; their clothing consisted of two coarse linen shirts per year. When these failed them, they went naked until the next allowance-day.
I don't think I ever was aware of this. It's actually insane. Children being forced without clothes even in the winter is heart breaking.
sloop
"a one-masted sailboat with a fore-and-aft mainsail and a jib"
I could not tell why I ought to be deprived of the same privilege. I was not allowed to make any inquiries of my master concerning it. He deemed all such inquiries on the part of a slave improper and impertinent, and evidence of Page 2 a restless spirit.
Not knowing my birthday would drive me crazy. It's a priviledge we have today that we didn't even realize we had.
For what this separation is done, I do not know, unless it be to hinder the development of the child's affection toward its mother, and to blunt and destroy the natural affection of the mother for the child. This is the inevitable result.
While reading this whole detailed section about his mother and his relationship with her, I wondered if he spent so much time on it because of the fact that his audience tended to be white women in the north. By going into depth on the immense sorrow he experienced from being separated from his mother, would that tug on the heartstrings of the primarily female audience?
Sometimes from out the folded paper the pale clerk takes a ring:—the finger it was meant for, perhaps, moulders in the grave; a bank-note sent in swiftest charity:—he whom it would relieve, nor eats nor hungers any more; pardon for those who died despairing; hope for those who died unhoping; good tidings for those who died stifled by unrelieved calamities. On errands of life, these letters speed to death. Ah Bartleby! Ah humanity!
Melville ends the book with the lawyer feeling pity and sadness for bartleby, but also for humanity as a whole.
The round face of the grub-man peered upon me now. “His dinner is ready. Won’t he dine to-day, either? Or does he live without dining?” “Lives without dining,” said I, and closed his eyes. “Eh!—He’s asleep, aint he?” “With kings and counselors,” murmured I
I personally wanted to highlight this section because I love the way it is written. I got chills. I just imagined the quiet, cold tombs and the mysterious nature of bartleby alongside the warmth, curiosity, and compassion of the lawyer. The lawyer realizes that bartleby isn't just drunk and asleep, but has passed away.
I now recalled all the quiet mysteries which I had noted in the man.
In the story, one can see the dark and gloomy tone as well as the mystery and uncertainty throughout. Here, the lawyer talks about the "quiet mysteries" of Bartleby. He is somewhat intrigued but cautious too.
I am a rather elderly man. The nature of my avocations for the last thirty years has brought me into more than ordinary contact with what would seem an interesting and somewhat singular set of men, of whom as yet nothing that I know of has ever been written:—I mean the law-copyists or scriveners
The story's first person narrator is the lawyer.
hermitage
hermitage: "the dwelling of a hermit, especially when small and remote"
I wished they’d stay away In those dim countries wherethey go, What word had they, for me?
I believe this quoted section follows the gothic romanticism characteristic of stressing a gloomy atmosphere and tone. The whole poem seems to follow this but I thought this highlighted section did especially.
Some keep the Sabbath in Surplice – I, just wear my Wings – And instead of tolling the Bell, for Church, Our little Sexton – sings.
Here, I believe Dickinson is trying to emphasize that faith and relationship with God isn't just found in the church. It's a personal thing and you don't need to go to the physical church building to receive salvation and Christ's love.
Some keep the Sabbath going to Church – I keep it, staying at Home –
This may be my favorite poem of hers. The structure and words are beautiful. In this highlighted section, she notes that while some people keep the sabbath by going to church, she does by staying at home. Throughout the poem she discusses how she is content with the ways she chooses to honor God even though it is not the way church would deem acceptable.
Oh last Communion in the Haze –
I thought it was interesting that she used religious language such as "communion" even though she herself didn't commit to the Christian church. It states in the reading guide that, "While Emerson and Thoreau were content to ‘sign off’ from the creedal history of the church, Dickinson and Melville could not stop looking for a belief to ‘latch on to” (Lundin 111). As Hawthorne wrote of Melville, “He can neither believe nor be comfortable in his unbelief” (qtd. in Lundin 112)." She does mention religion and God himself in her poems frequently
A very few – a Bird or two, To take a final look –
Here, Dickinson uses the bird looking back as an analogy to represent her longing for summer to stay. She doesn't want to seasons to change.