“I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was.” An acknowledgeable quote from a world renown boxer, Muhammad Ali. Born in January 17th, 1942, Ali started boxing when he was 12, training in a local gym. On December 11th, 1981, Ali fought his last match before retiring, and died from Parkinson’s disease on June 3rd, 2016. Many don’t know this, but Muhammad Ali was a poet himself, so it would be interesting to use his most famous poem, This Is The Legend Of Cassius Clay. The poem I composed is titled, A Tribute To Muhammad Ali. I decided to chose Muhammad Ali as my historical person, because he was a very interesting man, not only being one the greatest boxers, but he also was involved with his nation outside of his career.
Muhammad
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Ali weaves us through the story of how he started out as a lively young boxer then, to what he became, the “Greatest Of All Time”. There is no specific event being told in this story, for it’s talking about his boxing career as a whole. You can see he achieved his ambition by the 2 quotes, “the heavyweight championship is his destiny” in the first stanza, and “The greatest fighter that will ever be” in the second stanza. These 2 phrases from the poem are powerful to me, because they show how sure Ali was that he will write himself down in history how he wants, to him wearing the title he wove out of nothing. It seems to me that when he set his mind to it, nothing could have stopped him, no matter how long it took him to get there. In the last stanza, Ali prides the status he built with winning 56 out of the 61 matches he fought in, including 37 knockouts. He is now positive that he’s got what it takes to be virtually unstoppable, and those who will question that won’t be very successful at putting their point across. A literary element that I found important in this poem is caesura, because it helps the reader identify emphasis for certain lines, and adds a meter into the poem overall. Another literary element that I found important was repetition, because it helped point out meaningful lines.The message I took away from this is that nothing comes by easy, but if you …show more content…
The purpose of this poem is to show how Muhammad Ali was an iconic image not only for boxing, but for Black civil rights, as well as the religion of Islam. When Muhammad Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, shortly after retiring from boxing, he still continued to inspire others. A quote that I thought was meaningful was “He stood up for what he believed in… Although he was stripped of his title, he held up his chin, For Muhammad Ali wasn’t done for”, because it shows that Muhammad Ali wasn’t afraid of the consequences for believing in what was right. He said that it was for religious purposes, saying, “I ain’t got no quarrel with those Vietcong”. Another quote that was meaningful to me was “Yet Parkinson’s slowly crept onto him, Weakening him from the outside. But he still continued, never looking grim, For he inspires people all around, even when he died.”, because even when Muhammad Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson’s, he didn’t let that stop him. He was still active in the black community, and was even honored to light the Olympic Cauldron at the 1996 Summer Olympics. He also continued with promoting world peace, civil rights, cross-cultural understanding, interfaith relations, humanitarianism, hunger relief, and the commonality of basic human values. A literary element that I thought was strong was the rhyme scheme, because it helped connect the overall message of the poem. Another literary element that popped out at me
Remnick goes into some detail about Ali's private live, including his religious conversion, his connection with Malcolm X, and his brief marriage to and divorce from Sonji Roi. He lets us in behind-the-scenes on some sports-writers, as well as on Norman Mailer, Angelo Dundee (Clay/Ali's trainer), and the bout between world champion Floyd Patterson and contender Sonny Liston. His primary focus, however, is on Clay/Ali's fight with Liston after Liston defeated Patterson.
The speaker of the poem doesn’t necessarily have to be the author, but the author has very straight forward views. He poses questions about the Hollywood hero being a valid pop icon or a crazy role model. Possibly he looked up to Mr. T when growing up, “What were we, the skinny B-boys, to learn from him?” But
He states, “as I came up along his side. I was sure now I’d at least exceed my best time.” Meanwhile, his opponent began to pick up his pace and sprint to the finish, “but the man with the famous final kick had already begun his move.” This pertains to how we need to approach challenges feeling self-assured even though we might not end up on top every time. All we need to do is focus on our own goals and finding ways to achieve them. These lines also imply that we need to push ourselves until the very end and never give up. The poem concludes with the speaker hearing a spectator say, “Beautiful,” as if something unavoidable was about to happen out of nowhere. This part of the poem is an excellent reminder that you should always expect the unexpected and never count anyone out. This stanza has a determined and admiring tone. We can see the determination when the speaker says, “I was sure now I’d at least exceed my best time” and the admiration when he says, “Beautiful, I heard a spectator say.”
“A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.” Jackie Robinson went through many struggles from whites, since he was the first black baseball player. Robinson was an excellent ball player who exceeded at every level. He had a magnificent Batting Average and spoke against racism. Robinson played while dealing with threats from fans and other teams. Jackie Robinson, the first black baseball player, set many records and legacies for Americans to think about.
Though dealing with the situation is difficult, the poem goes on to express that going through this ordeal has only strengthened the resolve of the African American community. Lines 4-9 of this poem speak to toughness and resolve of the African American community in the fight to gain equality. McKay even goes as far ...
Like millions of Americans or hundreds them that never really enjoy a poem I’m definitely one of them. There is so much anger in this poem that it quickly grabs my attention and pulled me into his world. I have never knew that such a poem could express such a strong emotion on paper, and even though, I don’t consider myself a communist lover I can clearly understand why he might have been one. His world was clearly different from mine and through his words I was able to feel his pain and suffering because of it. For people that never consider reading a poem they should give it a try because one’s never know what they will find.
The history of African American discrimination is a despicable part of the United States’ past. Inequality among Black Americans prompts these individuals to overcome the hardships. This endurance is valued by African Americans and people all around the world. However, the ability to strive and maintain positivity in a difficult or prejudiced situation proves to be tremendously challenging. When people give up in tough times, they deny their opportunity to succeed and grow stronger. This paper examines the techniques that manifest the struggles of racism and the importance of conquering obstacles in the following poems: Dream Deferred, I, Too and Mother to Son.
This poem represents the resiliency of the African American spirit, Although African Americans were enslaved, overworked and victimize the speaker is still proud to be a “Negro.” The speaker wanted to be the voice that represented all the unfair and injustice experience African American endured. Most importantly he wanted to end the poem they way he started the poem… Proud to be a “Negro.”
One of my favorite aspects about the poem is how he shows his empathy for the heroes he describes. Instead of telling the reader, “I have empathy for the heroes who rise to confront challenges”, he assumes the role of the heroes in action and describes the events in first person to show the reader examples of courage. One line in the poem reads, “I do not ask the wounded person how he feels, I myself become the wounded person.” When I first read this line, I had difficulties understanding what he meant by “become the wounded”. However, after reading the poem, a couple of times I realized that he means that he can empathize with the heroes. To further show his empathy, he assumes the role of the heroes and narrates the events in first person, while using “I” “me” and “my” instead of “he” or “she”.
No one could understand how it was to be an African American rapper who spoke the truth. His work consisted a lot of talk of the Black community because he was influenced by his parents who were activist. Tupac did not grow up with many people to love and care about, he had a small circle also it was difficult to have an outlet, he did not have someone to talk to to about his issues. As someone who because famous he had a hard time trusting people in the music industry. In this particular poem, it seems that he is not afraid to cry and he is writing directly from his heart and is saying, he's sad, no one would understand, and no one even cares and the only way he could express the way he felt was through his
Muhammad Ali was a man made to box. He had a great career before him since he made his first professional fight under President Eisenhower presidency. His Professional Career was really impressive. His had a great balance and was able to move his hands and feet in great speed and coordination. Ali was said to dance in the ring while destroying his opponents. Ali started fighting at a very short age, and his first teacher was Joe Martin (Hauser 18). Through hard work and discipline, he became a professional fighter and eventually the Heavyweight champion of the world. Although he lost the title twice, he regained it three times, putting him in the history books. His boxing career was put to an end when he started suffering from Parkinson's disease. This was the end of his boxing, but his greatness will never die.
Hauser, Thomas. "The Importance of Muhammad Ali." The Glider Lehrman Institute of American History, n.d. Web. 31 Oct. 2013.
However, surprisingly, this poem serves as an inspiring speech to the hopeless soldiers in the war. The speaker stands up and analyzes the situation to the soldiers, but he refuses to be defeated. Then, he elicits the soldiers’ emotions and picks up their
In the third and fourth stanzas the narrator brings his opinion into the poem. This is when he says “Smart lad, to slip betimes away” (ln. 9). He is saying that the athlete is smart to die young while he is still famous. If he were to live a full life then his fame would die with his old age. Also the narrator refers to a laurel growing early but withering quickly. The laurel symbolizes the athlete and how he was young when he grew to a good athlete. The withering represents how he died young, that he grew quickly but withered quicker.
Cassius Clay Jr. or known to many people as ‘Muhammad Ali’ was born in Louisville, KY on January 17th , 1942 He was the first Heavyweight Boxer to win the Heavyweight title three times, his professional career lasted about twenty one years, in that time he won a total of fifty six fights. Most people do not know Cassius changed his name to ‘Muhammad Ali’ because of his religion, History.com staff.(2-4) Muhammad Ali’s early career before becoming a professional boxer, how he worked his way to become the Heavyweight Champion of the World, him converting his religion to Islam and his life after boxing.