Derek Walcott’s poem A Latin Primer focuses on the influence of Walcott’s education on the process of becoming a poet, the tension between the education opportunities provided by the privileged elite and the richness of folk traditions preserved by the oppressed majority.
The poem stresses the narrator’s frustration with a British educational system that does adjust to the local Caribbean people and landscape. As a child, the narrator felt limited by the rigid established teaching methods that analyze poetry through signs of scansions that he hated and that warped enjoyable, poetic language into murky discipline and Mathematics. The narrator struggles to make sense of the sea of texts. However, the literary text remains detached and dully technical under such algebraic colonial methods: “Raging, Id skip a pebble across the seas page; it stills canned its own syllable: trochee, anapest, dactyl.” (1737)
As an adult, he continued to have to sort out the ways in which he was to personally deal with various colonial cultural differences that divide the European elite from the African ma...
Understanding how the different cultures merged and morphed during this time can be even more difficult. Surveying and excavating a site such as Elmina in Africa, can make this task less daunting. Its history as a trade center and a major slave trade port can give us a unique insight into African and European relations. This information can give modern people an idea of what the slave trade was like in Africa, what it did to the people, and how they reacted to it. It can also be a step in identifying the reason the slave trade was so popular at the time. Racist sentiments throughout the European nations weren’t the only thing that kept the slave trade going for as long as it did. Economic stability in the trade was a major part of its success. Culture played a vital role in everyday life for these people, and the more it is understood, the more it can show us about Portuguese, Dutch, and British colonialism. New information may be uncovered here, and it has the potential to shine a new light on modern day understanding of colonialism, the slave trade, and the indigenous people in
He began reading when most of his friends wouldn’t even think of reading at level. In high school, he was exposed several writings of different author, some of the writers include Charles Dickens (1812-1870), Johnathan Swift (1667-1745) including the great Williams Shakespeare 's(1564-1616), he carefully analyzed their works and was amazed with them. He was fascinated to the point he started adopting the norms of what he has read in them. Before graduating from high, he also had the chance to read some rare works of African cultures by foreigners such was the one written a polish-born English author. Although his books seem to psychologically his way of thinking decided to conform to cohort himself to his local traditions (African). Reading is one of the skills the acquirer earn do, either it was learned a young stage or adult, to read is an aspect, but to write another important which many often consider less necessary important.
...nd contrasting points of African kings. While they both approved the use of slaves, Mbemba despised the slave trade and coaxed Portugal’s royalty into ending the entire business for the benefit of his nation. The king of Ouidah however seemed adamant about getting rid of his slaves in the trade without regard to how the slaves were being treated or how it affected his country. The mixed opinions on the slave trade and the identical thoughts of slavery during the 17th century allows one to see the varying notions the two issues had on the kings in Africa.
One of the most well known historic characteristics of poetry is that of rhyme, a technique that Alexander rejects. In American Sublime, every poem is written in free verse. Although some poems may contain an occasional slant rhyme, there is no fixed rhyme scheme in Alexander’s works. Along with her lack of rhyme, there is a no consistency in the structure of Elizabeth Alexander’s poetry. This is best demonstrated in the “Amistad” section of American Sublime. Each of the poems in this part tell a piece of the story of the Amistad ship and the slave revolt. However, only a few of these poems share similar structures. While some poems contain seven stanzas, others a written in haikus, and while others do not contain stanza breaks, making the poem one long stanza. By doing this, Elizabeth Alexander keeps herself from having a signature structure for her poems. Instead, by neglecting to use a specific style, Alexander creates a stark distinction between herself and other
“…combination of swarthy skin, European dress and deportment, knowledge of local customs, and multilingualism” which “…gave them inside understanding of both African and European ways” (Berlin, p.23),
With this background, I will go through Curtis Keim’s book, the Mistaking Africa: Curiosities and Inventions of the African Mind. While reading this book, I plan to explore my own biases as against what has been written in this book about Africa. The key words that come to my mind while thinking about Africa aren’t very different from those quoted by Curtis’s students. I too think of the place as the native world thanks to Darwin’s theory of evolution and subsequent research work that makes to textbooks and television program. However, it does not resonate with me as much a native land should. I believe that could be because of different physical features Africans have as compared to ordinary Americans. More so, we don’t know about the historical link as Africans moved out to rest of the world. The historical link between America and modern day Europe is well documented and studied. But, very little is known about such historical links between Africa and Europe. I believe it is because of thi...
Ferguson, Margaret W., Salter, Mary J., and Stallworthy, Jon. The Norton Anthology of Poetry. fifth ed. N.p.: W.W. Norton, 2005. 2120-2121. 2 Print.
New Criticism attracts many readers to its methodologies by enticing them with clearly laid out steps to follow in order to criticize any work of literature. It dismisses the use of all outside sources, asserting that the only way to truly analyze a poem efficiently is to focus purely on the words in the poem. For this interpretation I followed all the steps necessary in order to properly analyze the poem. I came to a consensus on both the tension, and the resolving of it.
Political developments and endeavors throughout the second half of the twentieth century by the African and African-descended were mainly for the purpose of instigating change. Gomez discussed the political upheaval that occurred in Europe and Africa through the fight for independence by the mainly British and French colonies. Although some of the transitions were peaceful, many led to violence and war like with Algeria. Aimé Césaire elucidated many reasons and horrendous effects of colonialism on the Africans in his Discourse on Colonialism, but he pointed out that the overarching reason that the Africans wanted and needed change was because of the dehumanizing effect it had on both the colonizers and the colonists. The New York Times further disclosed the political developments that occurred in South Africa through Nelson Mandela on his quest to eradicate the divide between white privileged minority and the i...
Although the two poems “The Tables Turned” by William Wordsworth and “To David, About His Education” by Howard Nemerov are significantly different in structure, both Wordsworth and Nemerov support the theme of how life cannot be completely enclosed within the pages of academic textbooks. Wordsworth’s structure of “The Tables Turned” contains a series of eight neatly categorized quatrains, each systematically emphasizing on the incompleteness of education through a different descriptive focus. The quatrains in “The Tables Turned” also alternate between eight and seven syllables throughout the poem, marking a contrast between the traditional meters of academically conservative poems with a fresh and lively structure, which is further manipulated by the natural alternating rhyming scheme kept consistent throughout the poem: Word...
In “The Fatal Sisters” Thomas Gray has created a monologue pregnant with references to history, geography, and mythology. These reappearing references and allusions enrich the text, as they allow a closer look at the political situation surrounding eleventh century Britain. The poems’ sixteen stanzas exhibit an ABAB rhyme scheme, which provides for systematic organization and positive aesthetic effects. Closer examination of the setting, tone, and imagery of the poem permits insight into the text’s content and artistic genius.
Rothenberg, Jerome and Pierre Joris, eds. Poems for the Millennium: The University of California Book of Modern and Postmodern Poetry, Vol. 2. Berkeley: University of California, 1998.
Both forms of these poems, history and storytelling have a certain degree of fluidity to help determine the meaning from the speaker to the reader. The compositions of these poems show that the poets, Owen and Brooks, did not write for an audience, but rather for an absent reader, by using more imagery and sound elements. But, thanks to the introduction of electronic media, the seven poetic elements are now easier to be “seen” and heard. This allows for the reader or listener to reach the full potential of the poem. Through listening the speaker’s tone, witnessing the time period, hearing the diction, speech and sound elements, the true meaning of the poem is painted for the audience.
Khapoya, Vincent B. The African Experience: An Introduction. 4th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1998. Print.
"Prose and Verse Criticism of Poetry." Representative Poetry On-line: Version 3.0. Ed. D. F. Theall. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Nov. 2009. .