Summary : Louis Bogan, Countee Cullen, And Wen 's The Laundry Song

In the poem “It’s a Woman’s World,” Eavan Boland uses many poetic devices such as alliteration, simile, and enjambment in order to explain life from a woman’s point of view and how women have lived the same since the beginning of time.

During the years of the 1920 's through the early 1930 's, African Americans established themselves artistically, culturally and socially. This intellectual period was known as the Harlem Renaissance. The period of the Harlem Renaissance brought together black authors, musicians, and poets. One of the most notable poets of this era was Langston Hughes. Langston Hughes is considered one of leaders of this period. He 's famously known for his controversial bodies of work. One of the most controversial poems created by Hughes is his poem called "Silhouette". Silhouette was written in 1936, where racial segregation and prejudice was emphasized. What makes this piece of work so controversial is how the tone within the poem takes a drastic turn when the speaker and gender are changed. This paper will analyze the ambiguous meanings of the poem once the speakers identity is transitioned.

The poems ‘Still I Rise’ and ‘Unknown Girl’ both explore the way women are expected to behave in specific societies. ‘Still I Rise’ focuses on Maya Angelou’s refusal to accept racism and to allow “them”, white oppressors, to push her down. ‘Unknown Girl’ focuses on Moniza Alvi’s want to be accepted in a society where she belongs, but can’t call her own.

Despite the achievements of women in many different fields, society still attempts to limit women to certain roles. Furthermore, in the poem, women “… are defined […] by what [they] never will be,” (lines 19 - 21); once again, the author claims that women are defined by what they are unable to do because of gender bias. Instead of being given the chance to be influential, they are continually limited to staying at home or doing jobs “meant for women.” Finally, Boland tells the tutor that women “…were never on the scene of crime,” (lines 27 - 28). This serves as a metaphor for how women are never allowed to do important jobs; instead, they are left at the sidelines due to the repeatedly ignored restrictions placed on women by our gender-biased society.

There is significant evidence throughout both 'The Long Queen ' and The Map Women ' to indicate that suffering is a central element of female experience. Both of these poems are present in the 'Feminine Gospels ' written by Carol Ann Duffy. The collection of poetry is seen to be teachings of feminism aiming to provide the reader visions of female identity. One feature of this identity that is examined within these two poems is the theme of mental and physical suffering that women universally endure.

While reading literature, we manage to forget that they have true roots to what is being written and what they actually represent. When looking at the similarities of how literature is represented it obvious to see that there are certain socially constructed groups presented. Although these socially constructed groups do vary throughout literature, they still tend to be very similar. In Alice Walker’s short story “Everyday Use,” Lorraine Hansberry play “A Raisin in the Sun,” and Langston Hughes’s poems “Harlem” and “Theme for English B” they evaluate the social construction of African Americans. What makes these authors so alike is the similarities that they share; being that they were all born in the early 1900’s, are all of African American ethnicity, and acknowledge the social construct of African Americans in these works. Looking at each of these works of literature they represent the struggles that African Americans faced when trying to be seen as equal, by allowing these works to be shown in different insights towards the battles faced in their movement towards being seen as equal.

This essay compares two of Marilyn Dumont’s collection of poems, green girl dreams Mountains, particularly the section “City View”, and her earlier work, A Really Good Brown Girl. There are two key focuses in my essay; the first is that of Dumont’s representation of the self and identity within A Really Good Brown Girl and how it becomes transformative in green girl dreams Mountains, as Dumont is less concentrated on the self and rather on her observations in “City View”. I will also be focusing on the idea of shame; A Really Good Brown Girl is clearly representative of Dumont’s own struggles and emphasizes her marginalized status, whereas in green girl dreams Mountains she uses different socio-economic neighborhoods in order to illustrate the effects and consequences of spatial segregation. There is no lack of effectiveness in regards to the impact on the reader despite the different focuses of the works, one on self and one on the other. Both collections explore the idea of otherness, whether it is on a basis of race, ethnicity or socioeconomic standing.

All three of the poems discussed in this essay relate to the struggles suffered by African Americans in the late 18th century to the early 19th century in many different ways. They had to live under harsh

During the 1920’s a new movement began to arise. This movement known as the Harlem Renaissance expressed the new African American culture. The new African American culture was expressed through the writing of books, poetry, essays, the playing of music, and through sculptures and paintings. Three poems and their poets express the new African American culture with ease. (Jordan 848-891) The poems also express the position of themselves and other African Americans during this time. “You and Your Whole Race”, “Yet Do I Marvel”, and “The Lynching” are the three poems whose themes are the same. The poets of these poems are, as in order, Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, and Claude Mckay.

The 1920’s were an eventful time in history for both men and women alike. There were laws preventing the consumption of alcohol and women’s suffrage movements. Since Edna St. Vincent Millay was a young woman during the 1920’s, she easily wrote poems about the changing societal values and structure, especially from a women’s perspective. Many poets, like Millay, use techniques in their poetry such as imagery and tone to convey a particular message to their audience. In this case, Millay uses techniques such as imagery and extended metaphor to describe the relationship between man and woman and how the changing times have brought about a type of woman who is not as “obedient” as she has been before. The poem she writes is a sign of the changing

Each sex comprises fifty percent of the world’s population, yet they remain unequal. Women discrimination, or “misogyny”, has been prominent since the beginning of time through art, society, and literature. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight contains misogynistic ideologies and traditions. In the poem, Sir Gawain, one of King Arthur’s best men, needs to prove his knighthood by going on a journey to find the Green Knight. Sir Gawain is successful in his journey that was eventually revealed to have been planned by a woman. Regardless of his newfound respect following his successful journey, Sir Gawain and the other men continue to blame and degrade women; in reality, the men should be thanking the poem’s female figures. The role of women is prominent, powerful, and positive in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, yet the anonymous poet has managed to weave misogyny into every line.

Our personal choices, lifestyles and decisions mold our identity defining us. However because of the situations we face in life we have to make decisions which put our identity at risk because some situations make us question who and what we really are. At those times it is hard to hold onto our identity with the progression of technology, fashion evolving and our physical form holding more importance then what we really are. Billy Collins the poet of “Taking off Emily Dickinson’s clothes”, Langston Hughes the poet of “The negro speaks of rivers” and Jean Toomer the poet of “Reapers” seems to be lost along the world trying to piece together who they are and where they belong. These poems were written so the poets have a form of expressing their

As a perceptively intelligent student, Rita Dove from an early age has had a great passion for the literary arts. While Dove studied abroad during her college years in various other countries including Germany and Scandinavia, her perspective of the world drastically shifted, gaining a vast wealth of knowledge regarding other cultures and the universal injustices many countries experience, also reflected in her poetry. Additionally, Dove’s endeavors as an advocate for women and minorities can be seen in her work as a Poet Laureate, increasing public interest in the literary arts and through her own individual poems that emphasizes the issues these groups experience, ultimately shedding light on frequently overlooked injustice. Her experiences as a gifted African American student and the daughter to an African American chemist, initially lead to her becoming a civil rights and feminist advocate, distinctly expressed in her poetry laced with subtle yet powerful views regarding the treatment of minority groups as well as an emphasis on culture and other forms of art.

The essay states that a woman writer must try to find a new language to use to describe the new environment in which they find themselves, as well as a past that they were not a part of. This work was so important to Boland that it was it was referenced in her book of essays, A Journey with Two Maps. I will use this piece, and Boland’s comments on it, to shed light on the struggle Boland faces as an Irish woman writer and how that appears in her poetry. For Kay, it is not just gender that complicates her identity as a Scottish poet, it is race and sexuality as well. The question of who is and isn’t Scottish and who can and can’t claim that history and its literary legacy is something that plagues Kay in the early years of her career. During that time, she must navigate hostile waters and deal with people who would have liked to see her fail. Even now as the Makar, the Scottish poet laureate, she still faces challenges related to race and gender and addresses those conflicts in much of her

Women’s roles throughout history, as well as literature, have been constantly changing throughout the times. In the beginning, women are property and the only function they served was to have children and take care of the men and their households. However, the roles of women changed throughout each passing year. Middle Ages England saw a slight change, and it is reflected in their poetry and literature. This is prevalent in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, where a woman helps to drive the plot of the poem. However, this poem also highlights the misogynistic view of not only the wife in the poem but of all women as well. This belief was highlighted in the poem due to the societal viewing of women during the time of the poem’s origin.