Have you ever wondered how people felt and thought about the past generations? Well, James Weldon Johnson and Claude McKay wrote their own poems to express their feelings and knowledge. Johnson was inspired by African-Americans and their literary achievement. McKay dealt with racism and wrote his poem to refuse to die. In both poems, “My City” and “If We Must Die”, have several similarities and differences throughout, especially within the themes, literary devices, and author’s purpose. In both poems, the authors share a comparison about death. Although, the difference between both poems is that Johnsons poem is about how he regrets the most about death. “When this bright world blurs on my fading sight? Will it be that no more I shall see the tress or smell the flowers …show more content…
Although, Johnsons poem he endures that the abiding love for those things and is dreading the fact that death will dispossess him of the continued pleasure they have so long afforded him. “Her shining towers, her avenues, her slums.” (Line 12, “My City”). McKay’s poem the author encourages his allies to not stand by while in battle, but to fight back. “O kinsmen! We must meet the common foe! Though far thousand blows deal one deathblow! What though before us lies the open grave?” (Lines 9-12, “If We Must Die). Johnson’s poem has many literacy devices, such as a metaphor. For example, “The threshold of the unknown dark to cross” (Line 2, “My City”). As well as, McKay’s poem, “If We Must Die”, he has several literary devices, but the main one is ‘simile’. He uses it in the first line of the poem. “If we must die, let it not be like hogs, hunted and penned in an inglorious spot” (Line 1-2, “If We Must Die). By this, he means that if we are going to die, let it be for a cause and not like an animal that doesn’t defy or fight back against the monsters that hurt or kill them. McKay compares monsters to a
In dire situations, it is common for people to seek moral guidance. William Wordsworth and Paul Laurence Dunbar did this through poetry. The two poems, “London, 1802” and “Douglass,” share a similar underlying cause, sentence formation, and the conditions of their particular country, but differ drastically in tone, use of comparisons, structure, and the author’s goals.
Both poems are set in the past, and both fathers are manual labourers, which the poets admired as a child. Both poems indicate intense change in their fathers lives, that affected the poet in a drastic way. Role reversal between father and son is evident, and a change of emotion is present. These are some of the re-occurring themes in both poems. Both poems in effect deal with the loss of a loved one; whether it be physically or mentally.
Although both poems are set in the same environment, and that the visual structure of the poems are similar. Once you look deeper and analysis the poems it becomes clear that they have been written in very different styles, and very different but as powerful emotions running through them i.e. grief and resignment. One poet has a future to look forward to; the other knows that death is around the corner. One poet could not have for scene a death, the other is questioning weather the ‘black diamond dust’ was worth it on reflection.
Johnson begins his poem on behalf of the hardships of African Americans by acknowledging that after all the Africans hardships and pain they’ve been through, they are on the verge of freedom as long as they stick together. The way Johnson uses diction to show his audience how to face hardships with unity, is by the use of the strong phrases or words used. Johnson implies, “Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee,” (28), and “Out from the gloomy past, Till now we stand at last.”(19-20). The outpour of emotions with the use of strong diction words in that quote, informs the reader that as long as we the people
The poem “If We Must Die”, by Claude McKay, very different from Durbar’s poem, “We Wear the Mask”. The voice in this poem has strong and demanding tone. This poem was written for a black movement. ...
“The Weary Blues” and “Lenox Avenue: Midnight” by Langston Hughes are two poems written as scenes of urban life. Although these poems were written more than seventy years ago, it is surprising to see some general similarities they share with modern day city life. Dilluted down with word play and irrelevant lines such as “And the gods are laughing at us.”, the underlying theme is evidently urban life. “The Weary Blues” and “Lenox Avenue: Midnight” approach the general topic of urban life from two different aspects also.
The speaker started the poem by desiring the privilege of death through the use of similes, metaphors, and several other forms of language. As the events progress, the speaker gradually changes their mind because of the many complications that death evokes. The speaker is discontent because of human nature; the searching for something better, although there is none. The use of language throughout this poem emphasized these emotions, and allowed the reader the opportunity to understand what the speaker felt.
The poem America by Claude McKay is on its surface a poem combining what America should be and what this country stands for, with what it actually is, and the attitude it projects amongst the people. Mckay uses the form of poetry to express how he, as a Jamaican immigrant, feels about America. He characterizes the bittersweet relationship between striving for the American dream, and being denied that dream due to racism. While the America we are meant to see is a beautiful land of opportunity, McKay see’s as an ugly, flawed, system that crushes the hopes and dreams of the African-American people.
...xperienced about not being able to eat at the table when guests would come which refers to how White America has been treating Black America. He then comes to the conclusion that this too shall pass and believes that he will be able to overcome his oppression. McKay portrays his experiences by speaking in a more mature tone about the significant events that have occurred and tries to find a way to tolerate the oppression. He lets White America know that what they have done to Black America was wrong. He shows that even though white America has alienated African Americans and treated them with disrespect, he will not stoop to their level although he is angry about it. The writers make it clear that their poems may differ yet they hold the same meaning of that White America has wronged Black America but it shall pass and in the future they will regret their actions.
I will discuss the similarities by which these poems explore themes of death and violence through the language, structure and imagery used. In some of the poems I will explore the characters’ motivation for targeting their anger and need to kill towards individuals they know personally whereas others take out their frustration on innocent strangers. On the other hand, the remaining poems I will consider view death in a completely different way by exploring the raw emotions that come with losing a loved one.
Samuel Johnson, following in the footsteps of other great English critics, was a great poet. Johnson’s poetry was different from any other writer in the late eighteenth century. He used poetry as a tool for an escape from the reality of life. Johnson would also use poetry as a tool for expression of emotion and praise for accomplishment. When Johnson wrote a poem of praise or to express emotion he would still convey his message beyond reality. He would emphasize an event so immensely that it would seem unrealistic. If being real, or reality, is something sensable, then The Vanity of Human Wishes is the poem in which Johnson best display’s these tools of writing for the purpose of escape. With all of his undertakings, from politics to writing critiques, Johnson used writing poetry as his release from reality and the hardships in his life.
On the other hand, the two poems share some similarities. Blake referred to nature in both poems. Moreover, he alluded to the Bible in each. Both poems have the quality of a song and have a rhyming scheme, although different
In literature, themes shape and characterize an author’s writing making each work unique as different points of view are expressed within a writing’s words and sentences. This is the case, for example, of Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “Annabel Lee” and Emily Dickinson’s poem “Because I could not stop for Death.” Both poems focus on the same theme of death, but while Poe’s poem reflects that death is an atrocious event because of the suffering and struggle that it provokes, Dickinson’s poem reflects that death is humane and that it should not be feared as it is inevitable. The two poems have both similarities and differences, and the themes and characteristics of each poem can be explained by the author’s influences and lives.
is an honor to die. The poet in the Into Battle talks about life in a
The obvious comparison between the three poems is the theme of death. Both poets, in these works and many others, display a fascination with the death of themselves as well as the death of peers, and loved ones. Both Frost and Dickinson experienced a great deal of death throughout each of their lives. Frost’s greatest loss was the death of his son, which is greatly depicted in his poem “Home Burial.” Dickinson suffered the loss of many friends and family. She spent a lot of her time in her room looking out upon the headstones of these people.