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The harlem dancer poem analysis
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“The Dance” The poem “The Dance” by William Carlos Williams is a very nice poem and I have a great time reading it. William describes with powerful words a portrait named the Kermess. The poem tells about a festival that was going; the great music that was played and the great dancers that were dancing.
The author tells us that the setting of the portrait he was describing was a festival first by giving the name of the portrait “The Kermess” ( line.1) the definition of The Kermess is a festival. Also, at a festival there are different types of activities going on such as dance, coronation, exposition of artwork, and etc. Although, I have enjoyed my time reading this poem, I mostly enjoyed reading the first three lines because the primarily focus of the things that usually happen at a festival. Reading this poem just remind me of homecoming weeks when I was in high school. During homecoming week, there is always a coronation that a lot of people assist which is always full of children,
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He said “The dancers go around, they go around and” (line.2). This phrase is a descriptive one that explain to us how people were dancing. Furthermore, the author took most lines on his poem to describe the specific way people were dancing, because he was mostly passionate about the dancers and the way they were shaking their bodies and hips. Also, at some festival, people perform traditional dances that can be new to us and sometimes impossible for us to dance. Although, this poem reminds me of my culture dance moves, it also reminds me the fact that I still cannot perform some of my culture’s dance moves.
In short, the poem “The dance” by William describes to us, the festival, the music, and the dances on the portrait of Brueghel. Moreover, this poem made me realized that a festival is not only a happiness moment, but can also be an inspirational moments for some
While wandering through the dancer’s house, the narrator encounters an intriguing painting where “the faces on the top half of the paper were upside down, as if the painter had turned the page around or circled it on his or her knee while painting, in order to reach more easily” (180). This passage suggests the author’s use of an awestruck tone which helps introduce the fascinating painting and shows the narrator’s admiration toward the painting. The author choice to incorporate the phrase, “in order to reach more easily” introduces a childish aspect to the story by implying the painter is smaller because he or she was struggling to reach the painting. The dancer continues to tell the frightening backstory to the painting, explaining how the children were asleep in the car and the mother “poured gasoline all over the car and lit it with a match. All three burned to death. It’s hard to explain, the dancer said, but I was always jealous of how
Her goal was to move, not dance. She challenged the notions of what a quote on quote “female dancer” was and could do. Dance to her was an exploration, a celebration of life, and religious calling that required an absolute devotion (pg. 11, Freedman). She considered her dancers “acrobats of God”. An example of a dance which symbolized the “essentialized” body was Martha Graham’s Lamentation, choreographed in 1930, which served as an expression of what person’s grief, with Graham as the solo dancer in the piece. The costume, a tube-like stretchy piece of fabric, only allowed her face, hands, and feet to be seen, and, as Graham stated, “The garment that is worn is just a tube of material, but it is as though you were stretching inside your own skin.” In the beginning of the piece, she started out by sitting on a bench with her legs wide spread and arms held tight. Her head was going back and forth as if she was feeling sadness or maybe replaying thoughts in her head. By the way she was holding her hands so tight and close to her body, it symbolized the deep pain within her––the essence of her piece was grief, and she danced it from inside out. Russel Freedman, the author of Martha Graham A Dancers Life, stated, “She did not dance about grief, but sought “the thing itself”- the very embodiment of grief (p. 61).” Graham, dancing with strength and power, was encapsulated with her movement and was completely surrendered
...ht because “she could no longer kick as high or move as fast as she might have wished” (129). Not only her ability to dance, Martha had to overcome with “the dying of old companions and collaborators” (134), for best dances leave her company to advance their independent career. She often mourned for her declining power, which was not inspected at all. However, she didn’t give up at any moment. She nurtured her aptitudes, which are desperate effort and choreographing skills. Since Martha “was still a brilliant choreographer, an inspiring teacher, a great actress”, she became an active head of her company again. Even though Martha unwillingly retired in 1916, she remained as a luminous, marvelous dancer in the world. During Martha’s interview, she had added her thought by saying, “without dancing, I wished to die” (137). It shows how dance was significant in her life.
There was an apparent synergy between the poem and the dance composition. At some points the movement created a visualization of the stanza being vocalized. When the poem said “only the cold stone hangs at the breast”, the dancer falls to the floor because of the weight of the stone. She then recovers from the fall with her head last to emphasize the chest area. Bettis’ used movement from both extremes that clearly exemplified the to and fro of the emotion. For example, she would use a very bound movement with little effort followed by an intense movement with great use of space. Other parts of the work repeated the same movement numerous times to emphasize one side of the two-sided emotion. Her movements went with and against the music but the movement always followed the speed of the score. These movements displayed ones yearning for lost love with the reaching of the arms and the leg extensions. There was also a large amount of movement directed toward the heart, the point of pain. Brook Notary eloquently displayed these emotions through her facial expressions. A majority of movement can be viewed as sporadic but definitive. There was even parts of the choreography that was spastic and isolated with one area of the
film music. On the one side there are the purists, who cry foul at the piecing together of
“Death is like a flower growing in a patch of weeds. Even where there is bad/evil the end will be beautiful.” The simile I wrote means that every person is going to through a hard time in their life but no matter how hard or awful it is you will end in a beautiful place called Haven. While reading William Cullen Bryant’s poem I came to the conclusion that we have somewhat of the same views. In his poem he says, “unnoticed by the living—and no friend.” I believe that he was trying to have people comprehend that even if you are unnoticed and have no friends that doesn’t change where you’ll end up in life. Today people romanticize a large number of things one being models. People romanticize models by wanting to be them and look
Sonnets is a type of poetry that originated in Italy. There are many different types of sonnets, such as the Shakespearean sonnet, Petrarchan sonnet, and the Spenserian sonnet. Despite their differences, these sonnets share some similarities. “Harlem Dancer” by Claude McKay and “In an Artist’s Studio” by Christina Rossetti share many similarities and differences such as the form, the portrayal of women, and the way the woman is objectified.
The constant rhythm throughout the poem gives it a light beat, like a waltz; the reader feels like s/he is dancing. The rhyme pattern of...
In the poem “The President’s Ball,” Billie Jo describes her night at the dance held in the President’s honor. The poem is full of figurative language and sound devices that help build the mood. Hesse uses hyperboles such as “feet flying,” and “crazy excited” to amplify the effect of their merriment. The dancing in the poem is a metaphor for their freedom from the troubles of life. This is proven with the repetition of “almost free of [...].” The attitude of “The President’s Ball” is mainly nostalgic. Billie Jo is looking back on this night that she enjoyed herself at, but after the fact, she is melancholy about remembering the year before, when she played piano at the event and her mother was still alive. The poem begins with a merry tone,
The story shows the importance of dance in Native American culture. Wikiash was practically an outcast until he learned the dances from the animals, then he was loved by all. It is the Kwakiutl way of life to dance, and its an important part of all their ceremonies, if I understand the symbolism in the story correctly.
This darkly satiric poem is about cultural imperialism. Dawe uses an extended metaphor: the mother is America and the child represents a younger, developing nation, which is slowly being imbued with American value systems. The figure of a mother becomes synonymous with the United States. Even this most basic of human relationships has been perverted by the consumer culture. The poem begins with the seemingly positive statement of fact 'She loves him ...’. The punctuation however creates a feeling of unease, that all is not as it seems, that there is a subtext that qualifies this apparently natural emotional attachment. From the outset it is established that the child has no real choice, that he must accept the 'beneficence of that motherhood', that the nature of relationships will always be one where the more powerful figure exerts control over the less developed, weaker being. The verb 'beamed' suggests powerful sunlight, the emotional power of the dominant person: the mother. The stanza concludes with a rhetorical question, as if undeniably the child must accept the mother's gift of love. Dawe then moves on to examine the nature of that form of maternal love. The second stanza deals with the way that the mother comforts the child, 'Shoosh ... shoosh ... whenever a vague passing spasm of loss troubles him'. The alliterative description of her 'fat friendly features' suggests comfort and warmth. In this world pain is repressed, real emotion pacified, in order to maintain the illusion that the world is perfect. One must not question the wisdom of the omnipotent mother figure. The phrase 'She loves him...' is repeated. This action of loving is seen as protecting, insulating the child. In much the same way our consumer cultur...
When first approaching this work, one feels immediately attracted to its sense of wonder and awe. The bright colors used in the sun draws a viewer in, but the astonishment, fascination, and emotion depicted in the expression on the young woman keeps them intrigued in the painting. It reaches out to those who have worked hard in their life and who look forward to a better future. Even a small event such as a song of a lark gives them hope that there will be a better tomorrow, a thought that can be seen though the countenance by this girl. Although just a collection of oils on a canvas, she is someone who reaches out to people and inspires them to appreciate the small things that, even if only for a short moment, can make the road ahead seem brighter.
Peña, Manuel H. "Ritual Structure in a Chicano Dance." University of Texas Press: Latin American Music Review Spring- Summer 1980 1.1 (1980): 47-73. Print.
The story explores many vital concepts accompanied by beautiful illustrations. I felt a strong sense of cultural understanding, spirituality and connection to family and land as though I was on this journey too. I could sense an underlying meaning in each dance, holding great importance to Bertie’s family and a strong connection to their culture. Pryor has attempted to fuse the then and now, by speaking of changes in the land, from a once spiritual gathering place, to a now busy town street where through food, they keep the culture alive (Pryor, 2010).
People do not take into account the impact that colonialism had on Mexico and Mexico’s culture of dance and music. The merging of Indigenous tradition and European culture left a strange mark in Mexico, where both those diverse cultures were combined into its own Mexican identity. There is no bigger example of this than the traditional Mexican dance, of the state of Michoacán el danze de los viejetos or in English the dance of the old men. What the dance used to represent pre and post the conquering by Spain is radically different, since Mexico itself changed through colonization. The dance of the old men is still being danced now but the original meaning and what it represents now has changed,