Etheridge Knight wrote an article for “The Black Scholar”, called On the Oral Nature of Poetry, in which he correlates poetry to the physical and tangible world and argues that poetry is an oral art, not a written one. He relates poetry and music in their ability to physically affect someone with their powerful rhythm and says that ignoring structure and rhyme is “...like a carpenter throwing away a hammer out of his kit,” (Knight, 92). Despite the criticism of ignoring basic structure, Knight believes that it is unnecessary to be unnecessarily restricted to form. He jokes that “The English might breathe in iambic pentameters, but we don 't take in air like that,” (Knight 93). Poetry is akin to breathing, the construction of poems is affected …show more content…
It is instantly recognizable that Etheridge Knight does not use lines as a marker for rhythm in this poem, preferring the rhythm to naturally arise. The repetition listing of his relatives, sometimes taking an aside to interject information, shows the closeness he feels to his relations. The lines, “I know their style, / they know mine. I am all of them, they are all of me,” shows exactly how close knight is to his extended family, but the next line, “they are farmers, I am a thief, I am me, they are thee,” uses the same cadence while explaining that Knight actually feels distant his family (The Idea of Ancestry 6-8). This change in tone contrasted with the constant rhythm reveals both his longing to be with his family and the feeling of distinctness he feels due to his time in …show more content…
In the second section, Knight uses slang and idioms: yr, kinfolks, caps, croaker, crib, etc. Before his reading of the poem, Etheridge Knight comments that he started “The Ideas of Ancestry” while in solitary confinement (PennSound, The Idea of Ancestry). The two sections of the poem may signify more than just when the events take place; they may be written at two separate times. The first section represents Knight’s Poetry when he was in prison, and the second represents it years later after he gained experience and
The use of anaphora is prominent in the poem as each stanza is initiated with the same or similar phrase. The second through eighth stanza begin with the words, “I see them,” this is to show the speaker’s sympathy for the slaves and the horrible lives they were given. He feels as if he is his great-grandfather and is responsible for the abhorrent crimes he committed. Berry then changes the phrasing to, “I know” signifying that he empathizes with the slaves, finally saying, “I am” showing that he feels similar to a slave. This anaphora shows the struggle of being a descendant of an evil person, the speaker’s inner demons make his life full of shame and guilt for the actions of his ancestors.
First of alll, the poem is divided into nine stanzas, where each one has four lines. In addition to that, one can spot a few enjambements for instance (l.9-10). This stylistic device has the function to support the flow of the poem. Furthermore, it is crucial to take a look at the choice of words, when analysing the language.
“Watch your tone young lady” a phrase known all too well to the American culture, whether it be from mom giving her children a lecture or on a television screen being spoken out by an actor. The tone of voice that one uses while speaking plays an extremely significant role in what the spoken words actually mean. Many times one can say one thing and mean another just from placing emphasis on a particular word. With tone of voice plays such a vital role in the meaning of a sentence it becomes clear that poetry, although often times found in books as written work, is meant to be read aloud; this was not all that clear to me until I attended my very first poetry reading. On November 10th Ramapo College welcomed the marvelous poet Mark Doty to its campus. Through Mark Doty’s reading of “House of Beauty” and “Theory of Marriage” it became clear that the use of emphasis and tone are vital characteristics that allows for the poet to challenge poetic traditions and conventions.
Poetry is something that is to be read delicately and cautiously if one wanted to find meaning through the words. Readers have to be gentle and patiently ponder about what they are reading in order to find any significance in the poem. If someone is not patient with reading, they will not feel impacted by poetry and will not want to read it. In Billy Collins’, “Introduction to Poetry,” he uses figurative language to help readers see that the way to enjoy and understand poetry is by reading between the lines and being patient with how each individual relates to the readings.
Poetry is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and rhythmic qualities; it is solely used to evoke emotive feelings in the reader in which to convey a message or story. This form of literature has a long history dating back thousands of years and is considered a literacy art form as it uses forms and conventions to evoke differentiating interpretations of words, though the use of poetic devices. Devices such as assonance, figurative language, alliteration, onomatopoeia and rhythm are sometimes used to achieve a musical and memorable aspect to the poem. Poems are usually written based on the past experiences of the poet and are greatly influenced by the writer’s morals values and beliefs. Poetry regularly demonstrates and emphasises on the
In today’s modern view, poetry has become more than just paragraphs that rhyme at the end of each sentence. If the reader has an open mind and the ability to read in between the lines, they discover more than they have bargained for. Some poems might have stories of suffering or abuse, while others contain happy times and great joy. Regardless of what the poems contains, all poems display an expression. That very moment when the writer begins his mental journey with that pen and paper is where all feelings are let out. As poetry is continues to be written, the reader begins to see patterns within each poem. On the other hand, poems have nothing at all in common with one another. A good example of this is in two poems by a famous writer by the name of Langston Hughes. A well-known writer that still gets credit today for pomes like “ Theme for English B” and “Let American be American Again.”
Poe’s poem, “The Raven,” was received extremely well and swiftly made its author famous. One year passed and Poe popped out an essay called “The Philosophy of Composition,” which claimed to enlighten its readers on Poe’s technique writing “The Raven,” a method Poe suggested all writers’ use. As described in the essay’s tedious prose writing should be strictly methodical. First, one decides one’s intention. Poe’s was to compose a poem that would suit popular and critical taste. Next one must consider how long the piece is to be. Poe decided to write something short enough to be read in a sitting. Next, the writer chooses a desired tone. Using the power of logic, Poe bombastically concludes that melancholy is “the most legitimate of all the poetical tones.” Poe, who was never one to half-ass poetical tone, asks himself, “of all melancholy topics, what, according to the universal understanding of mankind, is the most melancholy?”
The definition of poetry, instead of becoming more selective and exact, has become a much more broad and open minded classification of literature. From It's beginning's in romanticist Puritan literature, to its more modernistic function on present society, poetry has become a way to blend the psychological side of human intellect, with the emotional side of human intuition and curiosity. Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman were two early poets from the late 19th century. Unlike Walt, Emily liked to write at home, she was a more secluded author who enjoyed to look out the window for inspiration. Walt on the other hand loved to travel. He found inspiration through nature and the diversity of thriving cultures throughout the world. Although these writers found inspiration from two different methods, their poems have distinct similarities in theme, images, and main ideas.
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...
Wright utilizes personification to provide the narrator with an amplified empathy through the personal reflection required in order to experience the sympathetic suffering accounted for by the physical remnants of a lynching. In the beginning of the poem, the speaker describes the scene as “guarded by scaly oaks and elms” (ln. 2) thereby stating nature guards and preserves memories of the atrocities of society, despite certain distortions associated with time. By presenting the woods with this lively quality, Wright emphasizes the eerie qualities of the world in preserving the scars of inhumane acts dealt through society’s hand. Once recognizing nature’s preservation of the memories, Wright implies that the speaker remains capable to unearth the scene in which they are to experience sympathy and empathy. The speaker then discovers “white bones slumbering” (ln.4) which presents the bones with the human ability of sleeping. This in return suggests an ironic twist crucial to the development of the poem. By suggesting the bones are in mere rest, this also renders bones capable of awaking from their rest. As the speaker continues, the bones as well as the other elements described suddenly “awake” and reform thereby creating a shift in the visual experience of the...
The ironic use of rhyme and meter, or the lack thereof, is one of the devices Larkin uses to emphasize his need to break out of industrial society. The typical rhyme scheme is not followed, but instead an ironic rhyme scheme is used in the sonnet in the form of abab cdcd efg efg. Larkin writes this poem as a sonnet but at the same time diverges from what a typical sonnet is supposed to be. He is commenting on society’s inclination to form restrictions on those within it. By writing out of the accepted form of a sonnet, his writing becomes more natural because of a lack of constraints due to following certain rules and fitting a certain form. He breaks free and writes as he pleases and does not conform to society. Just as with the rhyme, ...
Keats begins with the poem with a question, “O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms, alone and palely loitering?”. He does this to ask the “knight-at-arms” what has made him this weak, this pale, dying in a field somewhere and the knight’s answer takes up the rest of the poem. The imagery in my visual representation depicting a heart broken and weakened by the icy, deceptive lips of ‘femme fatale’ is both powerful and highly symbolic because it expresses the coldness and the deviousness of the deceptive witch that has weakened the knight. The icy cold lips of the witch symbolise her deceptive nature, and the way she tricks the knight into a deathly sleep, which is also visualised in my representation. His deathly sleep is also represented in a ‘before/after’ representation in which an image of the beautiful woman in the meadows is shown, and after his nightmare, the icy cold, desolate and dark hill side upon which the knight awakes is shown in the neighbouring image. The speaker says that the "sedge" have all died out from around the lake, and "no birds sing”. We can deduce that it 's autumn since all the birds have migrated, and the plants have “withered." The speaker continues to address this sick, depressed "knight at arms." He asks about the "lily" on the knight 's "brow," suggesting that the knight 's face is pale like a lily.
Chaos and drudgery are common themes throughout the poem, displayed in its form; it is nearly iambic pentameter, but not every line fits the required pattern. This is significant because the poem’s imperfect formulation is Owen making a statement about formality, the poem breaks the typical form to show that everything is not functioning satisfactorily. The poem’s stanza’s also begin short, but become longer, like the speaker’s torment and his comrades movement away from the open fire. The rhyming scheme of ABABCDCD is one constant throughout the poem, but it serves to reinforce the nature of the cadence as the soldiers tread on. The war seems to drag on longer and longer for the speaker, and represents the prolonged suffering and agony of the soldier’s death that is described as the speaker dwells on this and is torn apart emotionally and distorts his impressions of what he experiences.
“While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.” (Poe 145) Although Shakespeare antecedes Poe, the two poets use poetic devices in their poetic manuscripts. Works of poetry have poetic devices that intensifies a story; with added intensification, it makes the poem unique. In analyzing the two poets, William Shakespeare and Edgar Allan Poe, one can remark that the two use similar and contradictory poetic devices in their writings.
"The point of view which I am struggling to attack is perhaps related to the metaphysical theory of the substantial unity of the soul: for my meaning is, that the poet has, not a personality' to express, but a particular medium, which is only a medium and not a personality, in which impressions and experiences combine in peculiar and unexpected ways."