Backyard Blues Analysis

Kenneth Slessor’s poignant poem, ‘Beach Burial’ contemplates on the improper and unfair burial that the Australian soldiers, who were at war with the Germans during World War 2, receive as a result of the fact that they could not get back home. The main idea that the poet was trying to get across was that as a result of the soldiers not being able to get a proper burial, they are not able to be recognized and are considered to be just another casualty of war: without honor or recognition. The poem emphasizes sadness on the completely useless waste of life; they are simply left how they had died and are now cared by only nature. In the poem, it appears as if these men are soldiers fighting a war at

Dawe is suggesting that the all aspects of War are degrading, brutalising and dehumanising. This is shown by the use of his diction that although acceptable in the scenario where the Sargent is in, it would be rejected by modern civilised society such as “a mob of little yellows”. This is connected to anti-war theme with the whole idea you have to kill the enemy before he gets a chance to kill you. Beach Burial unlike weapons training is not your usual war poem, it isn’t patriotic or condemning war. It is a more realistic tribute to all soldiers, friend or foe, who have been all united by the common enemy of war, death. Both Dawe and Slessor describe to tragic waste of life that occurs in all wars, they share the theme that once soldiers go to war they become a part of a machine and lose their own

The Myrtles Plantation can be understood as a site of dehumanization. It is located in St. Francisville, Louisiana. David Bradford built the plantation in 1794 on an ancient Tunica Indian burial gound (The Moonlight Road). After his death, the property was passed down to different family members and own by various other families (The Myrtles Plantation). The house is rumoured to be the site for more than 10 murders and suicides and at least 12 ghosts (The Myrtles Plantation). The plantation was built on an ancient Indigenous burial land and it was home to a number of different families who owned Black slaves. Thus, the plantation is haunted not only by instances of terror, but is also haunted by these histories of violence. The house and property conjures feelings of hate, disrespect and the belittling of others. From the hanging of Black slaves to the mysterious murders and happenings of the house, The Myrtles Plantation invokes feelings of unresolved social and economic violence. The haunting of The Myrtles Planation does not simply refer to the unrest of certain sprits but rather it is haunted by the inherent dehumanization of certain bodies on the basis of race, gender, and class. Thus, this paper will be an analysis of The Myrtles Planation as a haunted house. It will prove that The Myrtles Plantation is haunted by the histories of violence and oppression that occurred within the space, which manifests through ghosts and sprits that are eternally subjected to unrest due

Combining free verse with more traditional sonnet forms, The Civil War makes frequent appearances in her work. Born on Confederate Memorial Day—exactly 100 years afterwards—Trethewey explains that she could not have "escaped learning about the Civil War and what it represented", and that it had fascinated her since childhood (McGrath). Likewise, she said that, “If I’m writing about my childhood, I’m writing about a moment in which I was not in control. But when I write it, because I’m shaping events and crafting the language, I do have control and it transforms it” (McGrath).

In Zadie Smith’s article, “The North West London Blues,” she repeatedly stresses on the vitality of public libraries, building an argument, through which, she attempts to induce her readers that public libraries are important and should remain accessible. In pursuance of her goal, Smith resorts to the use of ethos, the appeal to ethics, pathos, the appeal to emotion, and logos, the appeal to logic, in addition to her unique use of diction, rhetorical devices, and subtle word choice.

In reading the story "Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin, we learn of two brothers and their lives growing up in Harlem. The narrator, who is the older brother in the story, narrates the trials and tribulations he and his younger brother (Sonny) had to endure growing up in such a harsh environment of Harlem (due to the drugs, violence, and Black's being looked down upon in general in the mid-1950s). We start in the future (present), with the narrator having a somewhat successful future being a teacher and having a wife and two kids (with one of them passing away due to polio disease). We learned very early that Sonny was locked up due to possession of heroin. The narrator originally found out about the tragic news from a newspaper, then later,

Wexler’s attention to these details ensures that the lynching victims are more than flat “symbols,” constructed by a foreign and long past semiotic system, to the reader. She writes, for instance, of George Murray, or Dorsey, who had “returned [to Monroe] from the army” (167), after “four and one-half years” of service, in September 1945, that he was a man who had “love for music,” “skill as a farmer,” and a memorable smile (99). In this respect, Wexler accomplishes the same empathy for an innocent victim as the NAACP, in 1946, might have done, and in similar style—as she contends, in parallel fashion to the deceased victims’

In Trethewey’s “Native Guard,” graves symbolize of the futility of mankind’s efforts to conceal its evils, and of failure to combat the racist system put in place by white America. For years, Trethewey’s mother fought to protect her daughter from the hatred and prejudice in America. Her protest against the hatred of America was snuffed out by abusive partners and the nascent racism of America. In the poem “Graveyard Blues,”she describes the atmosphere of the graveyard as blues-y and dreary. She “wander[s] now among names of the dead: My mother’s name, stone pillow for my head,” her mother’s name now only a marker of her lifetime of suffering. Not only a problem in Trethewey’s time, racism and inherent discrimination was an issue for even the African American heroes of the Civil War, the Native Guard receive no recognition from the historians of the fort or the Daughters of the Confederacy. In the poem “Elegy for the Native Guards, Trethewey states that there are “no names carved for the Native Guards— 2nd Regiment, Union men, black phalanx. What is monument to their legacy?” They receive no honorable grave. They receive the most barbaric of burial rites, doomed to have “fish dart among their bones.” The bodies of the native guard are cast out of sight into the ocean, neglected in an attempt to forget the evils committed against them. Their forgotten and neglected grave symbolizes the futility of fighting against the racism of America, as well as the futility in concealing

As this was a cover version, King probably intended for there to be a specific focus on guitar improvisation, as there are 3 different solo sections in the song.

Natasha Trethewey’s purposeful limited view on her mother’s death in Native Guard reveals her difficult journey through coping mechanisms. Trethewey’s collection of poems revolve around ideas such as grief, her mother’s death and racism. In “Graveyard Blues”, Trethewey

Audre Lorde’s poem shows the reader the prevalence of racism and inequality during the early twentieth century. The poet describes the brutal murder of Emmett Till, an African American boy, for whistling at a white woman. This directly reflects how many white people felt toward African Americans during Audre Lorde’s early life. Audre Lorde mentions the location of her poem is Jackson, Mississippi (Lorde 47). For modern readers, this is another direct way that the poet references racial inequality and the attitudes of people because it is common knowledge

The four men that lie dead in this photograph are all in an open field and all appear to be in Union uniforms. These men were presumingly lined shoulder to shoulder, as is custom in war, while advancing on the confederate soldiers lines. The fence behind these soldiers is missing many of its planks suggesting that many bullets were fired at these soldiers as the advanced towards the confederate lines. This fence is symbolic because with the fence post missing it truly shows the amount of fire that these men were under as they marched their way across the battlefield(Battle of Antietam 1).

An anti-war poem inspired by the events of the Vietnam War, Homecoming inspires us to think about the victims of the war: not only the soldiers who suffered but also the mortuary workers tagging the bodies and the families of those who died in the fighting. The author, Australian poet Bruce Dawe, wrote the poem in response to a news article describing how, at Californian Oaklands Air /Base, at one end of the airport families were farewelling their sons as they left for Vietnam and at the other end the bodies of dead soldiers were being brought home. Additionally, he wrote in response to a photograph, publishes in Newsweek, of American tanks (termed ‘Grants’ in the poem) piled with the bodies of the dead soldiers as they returned to the

Heartbreaks, we all get them and they hurt a lot. It takes us to an extreme where we would shut down other people or just give up on love. In Midwinter Blues the author talks about how a woman was abandoned in a holiday by her boyfriend or husband. It had really affected her because she states that if a man loves a woman then there is no reason to leave. But through it all, he would forever be the only man that she would love till the day she dies. Towards the end, she uses a phrase that helps us feel what she is feeling. She talks about how she is going to buy a rose bud and plant it in her back door so when she dies nobody would need to buy her flowers. I see this last part as she would rather depend on herself than depend on other people.

In Blue Valentine, viewers are presented with a married couple that is having marital problems despite once being in love. While the wife has a good career as a nurse, the husband is a house painter and she thinks he could do more than that. Their attempt of rekindling their relationship while on a weekend trip gets out of hand as they argue and end up inebriated. It is at this moment that Cindy realizes she cannot be in this destructive marriage anymore and decides to end the relationship. This infuriates him and leads him to storm into her workplace causing a scene. Their daughter is loved by both parents, but the mother decides it is best if she stays with her instead of her problematic father Throughout the film, flashbacks tell their story about how they got married soon after she found out she was pregnant with her ex and their family dynamics that strongly impacted them.