Tableau Countee Cullen

“‘Race Politics” by Luis J. Rodriguez was about him and his brother living in a place called Watts. They journey over the tracks, trying to get the “good food” for their family. They go to the store, and find themselves face to face with five teenagers who knock the food out of their hands, and beat up the main character’s older brother, causing him to vomit. The teenagers leave, with them on the floor. The purpose for writing this essay is to identify syntax, connotation, and imagery within this poem, and decide what makes it important to the overall poem. The overall impression that Luis conveys within his work is the feeling of separation.

The poems “Tableau” and “Incident” by Countee Cullen are about racism, but both have a different take on it. The African American author wrote in 1900’s , when racism was common and more acceptable. Cullen’s work became more popular during the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920’s. Both poems are developed with different writing mechanics to convey a clear message to the reader or audience. Cullen uses figurative language and tone to develop the theme in each text.

The atmospheric conditions may represent the hardships that the couple had to go through in their relationship, and may also be used contrast the unpredictability of the outside world compared to the steady relationship that the couple have. ‘A Youth Mowing’ is also a poem about relationships, this time it is between a younger couple. The river ‘Isar’ is a symbol of freedom, it represents the way that the men’s lives are. However, this sense of liberty is broken by the ‘swish of the scythe-strokes’ as the girl takes ‘four sharp breaths.’ Sibilance is used to show that there is a sinister undertone to the freedom that the boy has which will be broken by the news that his girlfriend is bringing. She feels guilty for ‘what’s in store,’ as now the boy will have to be committed to spending the rest of his life with her, and paying the price for the fun that they had.

In the poem, “‘ Race’ Politics” by Luis J. Rodriguez, I have annotated several pieces of syntax, imagery, and connotation. This poem is about how two brothers, of the age six and nine, have a bad experience going over to a place called South Gate to buy groceries. I believe that the author uses these forms of elements to create emphasis and emotion on the story. These elements, I believe, helped the story have more of a connection with the reader and a first person view of what the characters in the poem had to go through.

The strongest usage of metaphor in this poem is in the first stanza in the line “write their knees with necessary scratches”. While scratches cannot be written, words can, so this insinuates that children learn with nature, and that despite its fading presence in today’s urban structures, it is a necessary learning tool for children. The poet has used this metaphor to remind the reader of their childhood, and how important it is to not just learn from the confines of a classroom, but in the world outside. This leads to create a sense of guilt in the reader for allowing such significant part of a child’s growing up to disintegrate into its concrete surroundings. Although a positive statement within itself, this metaphor brings upon a negative

In this poem there is a lot of figurative language. One of the biggest types of figurative language used in this poem is irony. The irony in this poem is how the mother wouldn't let her child go to march because she feared her child would get hurt. Instead she sent her child to church because she believed it was a safe and sacred place but ironically the church ended up being bombed. Another piece of figurative language that is very effective in this poem is imagery. The way the poem is written helps me create images in my head for example, "She raced through the streets of Birmingham." I can imagine her running around desperately, looking for her child. The metaphors and hyperboles in this poem also help with the imagery, for example, "...night dark hair," and "…rose-petal sweet." These metaphors make me think of the girls smoothly combed black hair and her fresh and beautiful rosy smell. A hyperbole that had a huge effect on the tone was, "But that smile was the last smile to ever come upon her face." This hyperbole really helps me understand the effect of a tragic moment like this and how it can completely ruin

This book is made up of two cycles of poems, each confronting the same subject: the characterization of a black man in white America. In this book, I plan to focus mainly on the first cycle and touch briefly on the second. The first cycle includes four different sections. In section one of cycle one, Eady writes about Susan Smith and Charles Stuart, two murderers who blamed their crimes on nonexistent black attackers. The first poem is called “How I Got Born” (Eady 5), in this poem the fictional young African American man is conjured up. In the upper right-hand corner of the page, Eady writes a note that explains who and what the speaker is: “The speaker is the young black man Susan Smith claimed kidnapped her children” (Eady 5). In the first few lines of the poem he says, “Susan Smith willed me alive/ At the moment/ Her babies sank into the lake” (l. 1-40). So right away he gives us a pretty straightforward explanation for what this poem is about and what this section will be about. In the next few poems, the narrator discusses his “existence” and reason for being created. Eady uses a lot of metaphors, similes and imagery in his poems, and he does a phenomenal job with imagery.

Cullen uses auditory imagery to draw his readers in to hear what he hears. The meaning of this poem is to take the reader on a journey of what the negro felt about

Now this story talks about the feeling’s blacks or colored and how they still remember slavery. In both poems they use some form of

The reflection of each poet's childhood is displayed within these lines helping to build a tone for the memories of each narrator.

In the poem it says “The funny faces that she made And the way she'd stomp her feet whenever they mocked the way she walked or the stutter when she'd speak,” This shows being different because she was not like all of the other kids she had these imperfections that the kids would magnify and make fun of. In the middle of the poem it says, “The day his bike met with a car, Leaving him with a dreadful limp And a jagged-looking scar.” This shows the theme being different because he had gotten in a bike accident and had developed these things that were not normal and for these kids to use as coping mechanisms of him to take out their stress or feelings. n the

The main observation readers could take from this poem is that the “lower” individual has to take care of and pick up after the white man. It is even hinted at that the poems the mother chant rival the alleged master of poetry’s own works.

Tableau was written by Counted Cullen and speaks about an interracial friendship between two boys. The poem is a message about a society that not see well this friendship between people of different races in general. The two boys maintain their friendship, beyond the criticism they receive from other people, demonstrating that friendship has no boundaries. Cullen used rich descriptive words to induce the sensation in the readers that they are part of the story that he is narrating. You could feel yourself walking with the two kids who maintain their hands tied while they walk down the street as they feeling the starting off everyone over them. That story confronted some emotions of memories of a similar situation that happen to me in the

The poet’s tone, structure, choice of word and use of imagery gradually shows the increase of the speaker’s anger and frustration in the poem. The poet is angry and frustrated because he experiences prejudice against his colour while calling a woman about renting a room. While the speaker’s diction remains short and polite in the beginning using a matter of fact tone, he speaks with increasing sarcasm when referring to his skin colour. He mocks himself by comparing his skin colour to chocolate: ‘ “You mean—like plain or milk chocolate?” ‘ The speaker is comparing his skin colour to the colour of plain and chocolate milk is both ludicrous and bitter. The emphasis of the landlady’s question: ‘ “ARE YOU DARK? OR VERY LIGHT?” in capital letters

I believe these connections and disconnections reigns true throughout the poem and society on a daily basis. In result of this causes a bigger racial gap even though he feels connected in a certain way. Now, this brings me to why there us diversion or an example of cultural division. In today’s classroom, they learn things such as Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, and how they had a huge dent on the helping “end” Racial war.