In Limbo, by Edward Brathwaite, I feel that there are numerous ways to
look at the story.
Limbo
In 'Limbo', by Edward Brathwaite, I feel that there are numerous ways
to look at the story. One idea is that the poem is a journey, most
likely on a slave ship. We know this due to the references like "and
the dark deck is slavery". If you were onboard a slave ship, and you
were a slave, you would be placed underneath, on the lowest deck… with
no lights or window. This lets in very little light, creating the
dark. I recognize we are on a ship due to a lot of aspects. We know
there is a boat, due to lines eleven and sixteen. "And the ship like
it ready", "long dark deck and the water surrounding me". I think the
poet has pointed out this out to let readers know this is a journey.
In line 40, the poet mentions "sun coming up". I believe this to be
the end of the person's journey because - it is near the end of the
poem, and it could be symbolized to show that he is coming out of the
dark journey. I also can see how "down down down" is the layers of the
slave ship, and the person is coming out up out of the slave deck.
The "down down down" bit also links with another theory that the poem
is about a limbo dancer. If we start from the beginning, "limbo
stick..in front of me" is a great line to start on because you can
create an image in your mind of this person standing in front of the
silence, pondering over the limbo stick. Line seven also works with
this. The "long dark night" may be the person preparing his mind for
the state of nothing that lays ahead - Limbo. Limbo is supposedly the
state of nothingness between heaven and hell. In limbo you can feel
nothing. Maybe the dancer is getting ready to commit...
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...rrounding me" - they seem to make
a separate story by themselves. I think the poet has done this to
basically sum up the poem, and he has based the poem on these lines.
These lines are the punch lines. With them we can see basically what
the person goes through, in simple format with out knowing the exact
details. The refrain is easy to remember, this has the effect that we
keep in in our minds - the poet keeps reminding us that he is always
in limbo (the state of nothingness AND/OR a limbo dance)
The poem is quite serious as it deals with society and culture. At the
end of the day, and after careful studying, I find that the point
Brathwaite is trying to make is that, even though the people are
trapped on the ships, they must find a way to get out of the state of
limbo which they probably encounter most of the time. This way out is
through a Limbo dance.
were very good selections for me to chose because they held great meaning behind dark
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Hunt, Jonathan. "In Darkness." The Horn Book Magazine Mar.-Apr. 2012: 111+. Academic OneFile. Web. 29 Apr. 2014
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