Natasha Trethewey is an accomplished poet who is currently serving as United States Poet Laureate appointed by the Library of Congress and won the Pulitzer Prize for her collection of poems, Native Guard in 2007. She grew up mixed race, black and white, in Gulfport, Mississippi, and when her parent’s divorced she moved with her mother to Atlanta. Her mother, Gwen, remarried and at a young age Natasha was a eyewitness in the physical and psychological abuse that her new stepfather hurled upon her mother. After graduating from high school, Natasha set off to go to school in Athens, Georgia at the University of Georgia. During Trethewey’s freshman year, her mother was murdered by her stepfather and she works through her grief by writing poetry …show more content…
Natasha talks about her childhood looking normal from an outsiders view “The Nation’s Poet” by Rosalind Bentley, “The truth is that Natasha’s stepfather is beating her mother and psychologically abusing Natasha. Gwen [her mother] goes to work some days with bruises on her face.” The title “What is Evidence” asks a question and within the first line, Trethewey ironically answers with one of the most basic proof of physical abuse, “Not the fleeting bruises she’d cover/with makeup,” (1-2). Natasha writes about these different elements of abuse because they actually happened to her mother and though she is saying they are not evidence of abuse they ironically are. At the end of the poem, Natasha Trethewey states the only evidence of physical abuse is her mother's dead body, “Only the landscape of her body—splintered/clavicle, pierced temporal—her thin bones/settling a bit each day, the way all things do” (12-14). This shows that her mother has died, beaten up and then shot in the head. Though Natasha ironically states this is the only evidence of abuse, she knows that all the others are evidence too. Natasha Trethewey also uses figurative language in this poem to express her thoughts and …show more content…
Trethewey takes the bruise on her mother's eye and makes it seem that she has been looking through a scope for a way out of the abuse through a simile, “a dark patch as if imprint/of a scope she'd pressed her eye too close to,/looking for a way out” (2-4). Though Trethewey knows her mother's bruises did not come from looking through a scope, she uses this language as depth in her poem. After Gwen's abusive ex-husband is released from prison (having been there for a year for a very violent attack on Gwen), he resumes his threats and Gwen is put under police protection (Wilson). Trethewey uses allusion when talking about the restraining order her mother had procured against her stepfather by describing it without directly stating what it is, “the official document—its seal/and smeared signature—fading already,/the edges wearing” (8-10). Trethewey paints a picture of a faded signature and edges wearing to illustrate that the document shows wear from having to use it so often. Another way that Trethewey brings this poem together is through the use of
Nikky Finney was born in 1957 in a small city on the coast of South Carolina. Daughter of the first African-American Chief Justice from South Carolina and a school teacher, she was a “nose-in-book daughter,” reading and writing poetry (“About Nikky”). Her work is a rich cocktail of her parents’ histories, and
For example, the colors of her skin tone and the use of pink and green shanty fied. Another imagery in this stanza is, “white folks” (7) and “homemade dress” (12). The tone and mood is very dual and disrespectful because she’s betraying her background and identity. She thinks it is okay to lie about her true colors and tell the white folks she is one of them. In “white lies” Natasha Tretheway illustrates the way she feels about fitting in.
In her poem entitled “The Poet with His Face in His Hands,” Mary Oliver utilizes the voice of her work’s speaker to dismiss and belittle those poets who focus on their own misery in their writings. Although the poem models itself a scolding, Oliver wrote the work as a poem with the purpose of delivering an argument against the usage of depressing, personal subject matters for poetry. Oliver’s intention is to dissuade her fellow poets from promoting misery and personal mistakes in their works, and she accomplishes this task through her speaker’s diction and tone, the imagery, setting, and mood created within the content of the poem itself, and the incorporation of such persuasive structures as enjambment and juxtaposition to bolster the poem’s
Nikky Finney (1957- ) has always been involved in the struggle of southern black people interweaving the personal and the public in her depiction of social issues such as family, birth, death, sex, violence and relationships. Her poems cover a wide range of examples: a terrified woman on a roof, Rosa Parks, a Civil Rights symbol, and Condoleezza Rice, former Secretary of State, to name just a few. The dialogue is basic to this volume where historical allusions to prominent figures touch upon important sociopolitical issues. I argue that “Red Velvet” and “Left”, from
As this poem characterizes the view of a native woman expressing feelings of passion relating to her culture, it also criticizes society, in particular Christianity, as the speaker is experiencing feelings of discontent with the outcome of residential schools. It does not directly criticize the faith, but through the use of a heavy native dialect and implications to the Christian faith it becomes simple to read the speakers emotions.
Influenced by the style of “plainspoken English” utilized by Phillip Larkin (“Deborah Garrison”), Deborah Garrison writes what she knows, with seemingly simple language, and incorporating aspects of her life into her poetry. As a working mother, the narrator of Garrison’s, “Sestina for the Working Mother” provides insight for the readers regarding inner thoughts and emotions she experiences in her everyday life. Performing the daily circus act of balancing work and motherhood, she, daydreams of how life might be and struggles with guilt, before ultimately realizing her chosen path is what it right for her and her family.
For the purpose of this chapter, these words by Stephen Vincent Benet in his foreword to Margaret Walker’s first volume of poetry, For My People (1942) are really important. They give an idea about the richness of the literary heritage from which Walker started to write and to which she later added. This chapter is up to explore those “anonymous voices” in Walker’s poetry, the cultural and literary heritages that influenced her writings. Margaret Walker’s cultural heritage, like her biological inheritance, extends back to her ancestors in Africa and the Caribbean. It is quite genetic, something she got by birth; which is quite there just by being African American. Echoes of ancient myths, lost history, mixed bloods, and complex identities are brought about along with the skin colour and the racial origins.
Through diction, the tone of the poem is developed as one that is downtrodden and regretful, while at the same time informative for those who hear her story. Phrases such as, “you are going to do bad things to children…,” “you are going to suffer… ,” and “her pitiful beautiful untouched body…” depict the tone of the speaker as desperate for wanting to stop her parents. Olds wrote many poems that contained a speaker who is contemplating the past of both her life and her parent’s life. In the poem “The Victims,” the speaker is again trying to find acceptance in the divorce and avoidance of her father, “When Mother divorced you, we were glad/ … She kicked you out, suddenly, and her/ kids loved it… ” (Olds 990). Through the remorseful and gloomy tone, we see that the speaker in both poems struggles with a relationship between her parents, and is also struggling to understand the pain of her
The speaker reflects on the teenage girl’s childhood as she recalls the girl played with “dolls that did pee-pee” (2). This childish description allows the speaker to explain the innocence of the little girl. As a result, the reader immediately feels connected to this cute and innocent young girl. However, the speaker’s diction evolves as the girl grew into a teenager as she proclaims: “She was healthy, tested intelligent, / possessed strong arms and back, / abundant sexual drive and manual dexterity” (7-9). The speaker applies polished language to illustrate the teen. This causes the reader not only to see the girl as an adult, but also to begin to grasp the importance of her situation. The speaker expresses what the bullies told this girl as she explains: “She was advised to play coy, / exhorted to come on hearty” (12-13). The sophisticated diction shifts towards the girl’s oppressors and their cruel demands of her. Because of this, the reader is aware of the extent of the girl’s abuse. The speaker utilizes an intriguing simile as she announces: “Her good nature wore out / like a fan belt” (15-16). The maturity of the speaker’s word choice becomes evident as she uses a simile a young reader would not understand. This keeps the mature reader focused and allows him to fully understand the somberness of this poem. The speaker concludes the poem as she depicts the teenage girl’s appearance at her funeral: “In the casket displayed on satin she lay / with the undertaker’s cosmetics painted on” (19-20). The speaker elects not to describe the dead girl in an unclear and ingenuous manner. Rather, she is very clear and
The literary journey that Collins takes his readers when they read his poetry instills an assortment of powerful emotions. While acting as the poet laureate for the United States of America in 2001, he was asked by congress to write a poem recognizing the attacks on 9/11. The name of the poem is called “The Names” and it provokes a sense patriotism, sadness, a...
In this paper, I plan to explore and gain some insight on Audre Lorde’s personal background and what motivated her to compose a number of empowering and highly respected literary works such as “Poetry is Not a Luxury”. In “Poetry is Not a Luxury”, Lorde not only gives voice to people especially women who are underrepresented, but also strongly encourages one to step out of their comfort zone and utilize writing or poetry to express and free oneself of repressed emotions. I am greatly interested in broadening my knowledge and understanding of the themes that are most prominent in Lorde’s works such as feminism, sexism and racism. It is my hope that after knowing more about her that I would also be inspired to translate my thoughts and feelings
In Natasha Trethewey’s poetry collection “Native Guard”, the reader is exposed to the story of Trethewey’s growing up in the southern United States and the tragedy which she encountered during her younger years, in addition to her experiences with prejudice. Throughout this work, Trethewey often refers to graves and provides compelling imagery regarding the burial of the dead. Within Trethewey’s work, the recurring imagery surrounding graves evolves from the graves simply serving as a personal reminder of the past to a statement on the collective memory of society and comments on what society chooses to remember and that which it chooses to let go of.
Margaret Walker was born on July 7, 1915 in Birmingham, Alabama to Reverend Sigismund C. Walker and Marion Dozier Walker (Gates and McKay 1619). Her father, a scholarly Methodist minister, passed onto her his passion for literature. Her mother, a music teacher, gifted her with an innate sense of rhythm through music and storytelling. Her parents not only provided a supportive environment throughout her childhood but also emphasized the values of education, religion, and black culture. Much of Walker’s ability to realistically write about African American life can be traced back to her early exposure to her black heritage. Born in Alabama, she was deeply influenced by the Harlem Renaissance and received personal encouragement from Langston Hughes. During the Depression, she worked for the WPA Federal Writers Project and assists Richard Wright, becoming his close friend and later, biographer. In 1942, she was the first African American to win the Yale Younger Poets award for her poem For My People (Gates and McKay 1619). Her publishing career halted for...
Over the course of the century chronicling the helm of slavery, the emancipation, and the push for civil, equal, and human rights, black literary scholars have pressed to have their voice heard in the midst a country that would dare classify a black as a second class citizen. Often, literary modes of communication were employed to accomplish just that. Black scholars used the often little education they received to produce a body of works that would seek to beckon the cause of freedom and help blacks tarry through the cruelties, inadequacies, and inconveniences of their oppressed condition. To capture the black experience in America was one of the sole aims of black literature. However, we as scholars of these bodies of works today are often unsure as to whether or not we can indeed coin the phrase “Black Literature” or, in this case, “Black poetry”. Is there such a thing? If so, how do we define the term, and what body of writing can we use to determine the validity of the definition. Such is the aim of this essay because we can indeed call a poem “Black”. We can define “Black poetry” as a body of writing written by an African-American in the United States that formulates a concentrated imaginative awareness of an experience or set of experiences inextricably linked to black people, characterizes a furious call or pursuit of freedom, and attempts to capture the black condition in a language chosen and arranged to create a specific emotional response through meaning, sound, and rhythm. An examination of several works of poetry by various Black scholars should suffice to prove that the definition does hold and that “Black Poetry” is a term that we can use.
In Hayden’s poem “The Whippings,” the readers are given a more direct vision of what Hayden experienced at the hand of his foster mother. Hayden writes the poem in third person as he reminisces about how his mother “strikes and strikes the shrilly circling boy till the stick breaks,” and how “his tears are rainy weather to wound like memories” (The Whipping 1). He then ends the poem with by saying “… and the woman leans muttering against a tree, exhausted, purged—avenged in part for life long hidings she has to bear” (The Whipping 1). We see through the eyes of Hayden himself, that his foster mother would go far beyond a simple disciplinary punishment. Instead, she beat him in order to release her own frustrations for the demons in her life. Her actions filled Hayden’s childhood memories with pain and sorrow, and we see that through his own recollections in “The Whippings,” and “Those Winter Sundays” alike. In the poem “Those Winter Sundays,” Hayden’s choices in diction like the words “cracked,” and “ached” initiate the gloomy tone of the poem, and reflect the pain that derived from his relationship with his foster mother, which also could be a reason for the purposeful absence of Hayden’s foster mother in the poem (Howells 288-289). The reader also interprets that Hayden’s painful memories of being beaten and tormented as part of the unspecified “chronic angers” that haunt