“The Lovers of the Poor” by Gwendolyn Brooks truly shows Brooks’s social awareness. It is a satire on people with neither respect nor genuine charity. The theme of the poem is poverty while the subject is the Ladies’ Betterment League attitude towards the poor. The women from the Ladies’ Betterment League feel it their duty to step outside their affluent environment and help the less fortunate. However, they are totally unprepared for the raw, teeming poverty that they encounter. Brooks’ use of language reveals both the attitudes of the ladies toward the poor as well as the speaker’s attitude toward the ladies, all while creating an important contrast between these two attitudes which proves necessary to the theme of the poem as an example of “poetry of witness”, as well as reflecting the ideals of the Black Arts Movement. …show more content…
First, she begins the poem with the word “arrive”, in lower case and paragraph indented. The verb’s drop from the title and lack of proper capitalization diminish the self-important visitors. Then, Brooks’ employs sensual imagery that repels the visitors, such as the “stench; the urine, cabbage, and dead beans”.The faint-hearted “Lover’s of the Poor” are alarmed and finally routed by the poverty, as they state “Oh Squalor!”. The women are also put off by the words “Children, children, children—Heavens!” To the stuck-up visitors, there is something extremely repugnant in the prolific reproduction of the poor. Brooks reveals the ladies’ genuine feelings regarding the poor through references to their “love so barbarously fair,” their “loathe-love,” and their desire to refresh with “milky chill.”. Furthermore, alliteration throughout strengthens the underlying-tone of the poem. It is through these devices that one truly observes the true attitudes the two parties have towards
...t she has put on a new “costume” and is now a completely different person. The stockings are “night-black” representing the backyard and its negative connotation. In line twenty, the author writes that she wants to “strut down the streets with paint on [her] face,” again emphasizing Brooks’ new rebellious nature since crossing over into the backyard. The “paint” suggests that her rebellion is just and act, and as soon as she removes the paint, she can return to the front yard if she pleases. The repetition of “and” at the beginning of the last three lines illustrates Brooks’ desire to completely rebel against her mother and the front yard life since it shows how she wants to rebel in so many ways. The main theme of the poem highlights the desire people have to experience what they do not have and live life on their own terms.
The readers are apt to feel confused in the contrasting ways the woman in this poem has been depicted. The lady described in the poem leads to contrasting lives during the day and night. She is a normal girl in her Cadillac in the day while in her pink Mustang she is a prostitute driving on highways in the night. In the poem the imagery of body recurs frequently as “moving in the dust” and “every time she is touched”. The reference to woman’s body could possibly be the metaphor for the derogatory ways women’s labor, especially the physical labor is represented. The contrast between day and night possibly highlights the two contrasting ways the women are represented in society.
The struggles that many face while experiencing poverty are not like any other. When a person is experiencing poverty, they deal with unbearable hardships as well as numerous tragic events. Diane Gilliam Fisher’s collection of poems teaches readers about labor battles within West Virginian territories, at the beginning of the twentieth century. Some of these battles include the Battle of Matewan and Battle of Blair Mountain. The collection of poems is presented in many different manners, ranging from diary entries to letters to journal entries. These various structures of writing introduce the reader to contrasting images and concepts in an artistic fashion. The reader is able to witness firsthand the hardships and the light and dark times of impoverished people’s lives. He or she also learns about the effects of birth and death on poverty stricken communities. In the collection of poems in Kettle Bottom, Fisher uses imagery and concepts to convey contrast between the positive and negative aspects of the lives of people living in poverty.
In “We Real Cool,” by Gwendolyn Brooks, one can almost visualize a cool cat snapping his fingers to the beat, while she is reading this hip poem. Her powerful poem uses only a few descriptive words to conjure up a gang of rebellious teens. Brooks employs a modern approach to the English language and her choice of slang creates a powerful jazz mood. All of the lines are very short and the sound on each stop really pops. Brooks uses a few rhymes to craft an effective sound and image of the life she perceives. With these devices she manages to take full control of her rhyme and cultivates a morally inspiring poem.
Men and women both have a long list of duties to fulfill, whether that be as a spouse, parent, or single being trying to make ends meet. Men, especially are expected to be the breadwinner of their families, providing the dominant source of income, while women are expected to stay home, cook and watch the kids. In his poem, McKay captivates the struggle of the working woman, who is subjected to demeaning work and sexual objectification--a narrative that too many women know too well. McKay describes the Harlem dancer as “half-clothed” and “falsely-smiling”, alluding that she was not content with her job, yet pretended to, so that her audience would be satisfied. The following quote contrasts the Harlem dancer’s grace to coins, “Profusely fell; and, tossing coins in praise.” Because the audience is tossing coins at the dancer she is seen as an object and a mere means of entertainment. Thus, “The Harlem Dancer” conveys gender obligations such as financial duties through the objectification of
A main factor in the storyline is the way the writer portrays society's attitude to poverty in the 18th century. The poor people were treated tremendously different to higher classed people. A lot of people were even living on the streets. For example, "He picked his way through the hordes of homeless children who congregated at evening, like the starlings, to look for the most sheltered niche into which they could huddle for the night." The writer uses immense detail to help the reader visualise the scene. She also uses a simile to help the reader compare the circumstances in which the children are in. This shows that the poor children had to live on the streets and fend for themselves during the 18th century. Another example involves a brief description of the city in which the poor people lived in. This is "nor when he smelt the stench of open sewers and foraging pigs, and the manure of horses and mules" This gives a clear example of the state of the city. It is unclean and rancid and the writer includes this whilst keeping to her fictional storyline.
In the early Victorian period, a number of poems were composed which served to highlight a specific troubled spot in society. The poets often wrote for human rights groups and the like in order to convey a message to those members of society who could make a difference, namely, the educated white men. Among these poems is Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s “The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim’s Point.” This piece deals with a female slave who has killed her newborn son and fled to Pilgrim’s Point, where she speaks of her feelings leading up to the present moment. Another poem, which can be placed in comparison to Browning’s, is Augusta Webster’s “A Castaway,” a dramatic monologue of a prostitute who struggles to justify her lifestyle both to herself and to her reader. In each of these works, the female speaker has acted in a morally questionable manner that initially appears condemnable. However, the issue is not clearly defined; many questions arise as to the motives behind and the circumstances surrounding each woman’s behavior. Do the choices made assert the freedom of each woman? That is to say, is the woman to be held entirely accountable for her actions based on the idea that she has freely chosen to carry them out? Upon careful reading of the two poems in question, the answer becomes much clearer. The choices made by the castaway and the runaway slave are in reality not the uninhibited decisions they at first appear. Restricted on all sides by their respective society’s powerful men, each woman faces very limited options. In each of the poems, the idea of choice (and subsequently, the question of its validity) emerges in the areas of materna...
The female, adolescent speaker helps the audience realize the prejudice that is present in a “melting-pot” neighborhood in Queens during the year 1983. With the setting placed in the middle of the Civil Rights Movement, the poem allows the audience to examine the experience of a young immigrant girl, and the inequality that is present during this time. Julia Alvarez in “Queens, 1963” employs poetic tools such as diction, figurative language, and irony to teach the reader that even though America is a place founded upon people who were strangers to the land, it is now home to immigrants to claim intolerance for other foreigners, despite the roots of America’s founding.
Fulfilling the roles of both mother and breadwinner creates an assortment of reactions for the narrator. In the poem’s opening lines, she commences her day in the harried role as a mother, and with “too much to do,” (2) expresses her struggle with balancing priorities. After saying goodbye to her children she rushes out the door, transitioning from both, one role to the next, as well as, one emotion to another. As the day continues, when reflecting on
In our society of today, there are many images that are portrayed through media and through personal experience that speak to the issues of black motherhood, marriage and the black family. Wherever one turns, there is the image of the black woman in the projects and very rarely the image of successful black women. Even when these positive images are portrayed, it is almost in a manner that speaks to the supposed inferiority of black women. Women, black women in particular, are placed into a society that marginalizes and controls many of the aspects of a black woman’s life. As a result, many black women do not see a source of opportunity, a way to escape the drudgery of their everyday existence. For example, if we were to ask black mother’s if they would change their situation if it became possible for them to do so, many would change, but others would say that it is not possible; This answer would be the result of living in a society that has conditioned black women to accept their lots in lives instead of fighting against the system of white and male dominated supremacy. In Ann Petry’s The Street, we are given a view of a black mother who is struggling to escape what the street symbolizes. In the end though, she becomes captive to the very thing she wishes to escape. Petry presents black motherhood, marriage and the black family as things that are marginalized according to the society in which they take place.
Society continually places restrictive standards on the female gender not only fifty years ago, but in today’s society as well. While many women have overcome many unfair prejudices and oppressions in the last fifty or so years, late nineteenth and early twentieth century women were forced to deal with a less understanding culture. In its various formulations, patriarchy posits men's traits and/or intentions as the cause of women's oppression. This way of thinking diverts attention from theorizing the social relations that place women in a disadvantageous position in every sphere of life and channels it towards men as the cause of women's oppression (Gimenez). Different people had many ways of voicing their opinions concerning gender inequalities amound women, including expressing their voices and opinions through their literature. By writing stories such as Daisy Miller and The Yellow Wallpaper, Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Henry James let readers understand and develop their own ideas on such a serious topic that took a major toll in American History. In this essay, I am going to compare Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” to James’ “Daisy Miller” as portraits of American women in peril and also the men that had a great influence.
The poem is about the early stages in the narrator’s pregnancy. The doctor gives her news that the baby may be unhealthy. In a state of panic, we see the narrator turning to the methods of her homeland and native people to carry her through this tough time, and ensure her child’s safe delivery into the world. Da’ writes, “In the hospital, I ask for books./Posters from old rodeos. /A photo of a Mimbres pot /from southern New Mexico /black and white line figures—/a woman dusting corn pollen over a baby’s head/during a naming ceremony. /Medieval women/ingested apples/with the skins incised with hymns and verses/as a portent against death in childbirth” (Da’). We not only see her turning to these old rituals of her cultural, but wanting the items of her cultural to surround her and protect her. It proves her point of how sacred a land and cultural is, and how even though she has been exiled from it, she will continue to count it as a part of her
In the second half of the poem, a new facet of the speaker's attitude is displayed. In line 17, she wants to improve the ugliness of her "child" by giving him new clothes; however, she is too poor to do so, having "nought save homespun cloth" with which to dress her child. In the final stanza, the speaker reveals poverty as her motive for allowing her book to be sent to a publisher (sending her "child" out into the world) in the first place. This makes her attitude seem to contradict her actions.
Jean, one of the women, mentioned that homelessness was romantic (Freud, 1999, p. 455). “For Jean, ‘homelessness’ was romantic because of the dangers, not in spite of them” (Freud, 1999, p. 455). This is another example of how the women were inspirational to me. Jean looked at homelessness in a way that I would have never looked at it. To me, because of my perceptions of homelessness and what I have seen is as, I would not consider it to be romantic. What I am used to seeing are people who have not bathed in a very long time, who are begging on the street for money, who have mental or physical disabilities, and this is not what I consider romantic. Romance to me, is getting flowers delivered to you, and getting swept off my feel by the love of my life. This is because my favorite genre of movies is romance and the movies that I have seen have shaped my perceptions of what romance should be like. That is why I think that it is incredible that Jean can see the beautiful in what I perceive to be the
Through the protagonist, O. Henry shows his views on finding relief in poverty by keeping a positive attitude. This positive attitude is shown when the narrator states, "There was rejoicing among the gentlemen roomers whenever Miss Leeson had time to sit on the steps for an hour or two" (O. Henry 2). Miss Leeson n...