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Critical race theory in literature
Critical race theory in literature
Critical race theory in literature
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Creating Situational Irony in Poetry
Poetry often tells a brief story which encapsulates the entire life of a character in a few verse paragraphs. A skilled poet can generate an infinite variety of emotional responses from the reader, depending upon whether he or she intends the general tone of the work to be happy, sad, comedic, or ironic. In particular, situational irony can be difficult to create unless the correct words are chosen to direct the reader to the intended ironic conclusion. In his poem, "Mr. Z", (848) M. Carl Holman tells the ironic story of the title character and his struggle to live in a racially biased society while trying to remain racially neutral in all aspects of his life. The descriptive language Holman uses leaves little doubt that Mr. Z is a black man who deliberately shuns everything associated with his race. The ironic twist that he is dubbed "One of the most distinguished members of his race" (26) simply doesn't work unless the reader knows he's black.
The first such evidence that leads the reader to believe that Mr. Z is a black man is the fact that he "Disclaimed kinship with jazz and spirituals" (4). "Disclaim" literally means to deny connection to or responsibility for something; "kinship" denotes a familial relationship; "jazz" is the term for a unique form of music that was developed by Negro musicians in New Orleans circa 1920; and "spirituals" are defined as Negro religious folk songs. Taken as a whole, this statement tells us that Mr. Z wanted nothing whatsoever to do with Negroes or Negro music.
Another clue to Mr. Z's race is revealed in the statement about his diet. "His palate shrank from cornbread, yams and collards" (11) gives the impression that he disdained these uniquely ethnic foods. While cornbread and yams do not connote any particular ethnicity, the word "collards" certainly does. It refers to a leafy type of kale that is commonly found in the Deep South, which is a staple in the diet of many Southerners, particularly Negroes.
These descriptive terms allow the poet to convey the idea that Mr. Z is black without saying it plainly, thereby creating the situational irony that is evident in the last line of the poem.
In Leonard Adame’s poem, “Black and White,” he describes how the ruling minority of the whites treated blacks. The main idea of the poem is to tell the reader of that time, how the blacks were being treated. He uses great diction to describe the treatment. For instance he says, “they lay like catch in the plaza sun,” which helps the reader understand that the men were on the ground like fish in the sun. He also uses imagery, in which many words described in the poem refer to black and white.
The contradiction of being both black and American was a great one for Hughes. Although this disparity was troublesome, his situation as such granted him an almost begged status; due to his place as a “black American” poet, his work was all the more accessible. Hughes’ black experience was sensationalized. Using his “black experience” as a façade, however, Hughes was able to obscure his own torments and insecurities regarding his ambiguous sexuality, his parents and their relationship, and his status as a public figure.
According to Albert Murray, the African-American musical tradition is “fundamentally stoical yet affirmative in spirit” (Star 3). Through the medium of the blues, African-Americans expressed a resilience of spirit which refused to be crippled by either poverty or racism. It is through music that the energies and dexterities of black American life are sounded and expressed (39). For the black culture in this country, the music of Basie or Ellington expressed a “wideawake, forward-tending” rhythm that one can not only dance to but live by (Star 39).
By the end of World War I, Black Americans were facing their lowest point in history since slavery. Most of the blacks migrated to the northern states such as New York and Chicago. It was in New York where the “Harlem Renaissance” was born. This movement with jazz was used to rid of the restraints held against African Americans. One of the main reasons that jazz was so popular was that it allowed the performer to create the rhythm. With This in Mind performers realized that there could no...
Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus is considered by many scholars to be the most significant masterpiece of Greek drama. Through Oedipus Tyrannus, Sophocles is able to develop and establish dramatic irony, a theatrical device that allows the audience to understand the hidden meanings of the words and actions of the characters, though the characters themselves remain oblivious. Therefore, the behavior of the characters become ironic because they are unable to grasp the reality of the truth that is being unraveled before their eyes. "Dramatic irony may be described as putting into a speaker's (character's) mouth words that have for the audience a meaning not intended by the speaker" ("Dramatic"). Sophocles weaves this device into Oedipus Tyrannus, giving the play a distinct characteristic. He devises a "step-by-step discovery" of the truth (Gould), yielding value for the profound way it is constructed. With the use of dramatic irony, Sophocles incorporates the audience into the play by endowing them with "the divine position of knowing the truth" (Clay 13). A highly established illustration of dramatic irony may be found in Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus, where the character of Oedipus investigates the murder of the previous king of Thebes, only to learn that it is himself who is guilty of committing the crime, a truth known to the audience all along. Thus, Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus has dramatic irony woven into the play from the beginning to the end.
An elegance in word choice that evokes a vivid image. It would take a quite a bit of this essay to completely analyze this essay, so to break it down very briefly. It portrays a positive image of blackness as opposed to darkness and the color black normally being connected with evil, sorrow, and negativity. The poem as a whole connects blackness with positivity through its use of intricate, beautiful words and images.
If he intended to end his sonnet by saying that it is not possible to be both black and a poet, or not possible for a black poet to "sing," he without question would not have led up to such declarations with precise self-reconcilable examples. Rather, these previous examples notify the reader that the climactic example is still an additional contradiction that is just that: a paradox that is apparent instead of real. The connotation of the term "sing" is also noteworthy. Cullen does raise the struggle of articulating lyric joy or of easily expressing artistic imagination at the segregation of his racial status. However, because of how expansive a term to sing is, instead of suggesting seclusion or segregation, it more readily connotes inclusion, and possibly even transcendence. Cullen recognizes, even emphasizes, the struggle for a black poet in responding to that divine call to sing. However through utilizing the strategic arrangement of precedent, he furthermore states that the black poet can still voice his blackness and communicate his distinguishing racial
Literary elements such as metaphors, similes, alliteration, the use of personification, and the use of irony are primary tools and building blocks for great literature. With the incorporation of literary elements, an insignificant story of occurrences can be transformed into a literary work of art presenting depth and purpose to its audience. While many short stories are flooded with a number of various literary elements, Zora Neale Hurston's "Sweat", William Sydney Porter's "The Last Leaf", Guy de Maupassant's "The Necklace", and Nathaniel Hawthorn's "The Birthmark" are prime examples of short stories that are built around the distinct element of irony. Irony is emphasized throughout these four short stories to draw the reader into the story, express an underlying moral warning, and establish depth that in turn prompts discussion.
Jazz music prospered in the 1940’s and 1950’s. Jazz was created by African Americans to represent pain and suffering and also represented the adversity that racial tension brought. (Scholastic) African American performers like Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie “Bird” Parker came to be recognized for their ability to overcome “race relati...
In the poem “Negro” by Langston Hughes the speakers goes into deep thought as he reflects on the different hats African Americans have worn throughout history. The speaker is very proud to be an African American as he celebrates the achievements African Americans have made throughout history although faced with adversity.
He recognized that the reader could perceive his story to be a rant regarding racial identity, because of the natural tendency to be self-involved. He made a point beyond this assumption and stated that simply being a person, despite his race, he was a disembodied voice. He was an individual with a story that challenged public knowledge on history. More importantly, he shamelessly revealed stories of “hope, desire, fear and hate” that defined his way of being,
The narrator of The Autobiography of an Ex-colored Man was born to a “colored” mother and white father. This combination of his identity led him to encounter many internal and external challenges. Physically he appeared white, so he experienced being able to “pass” as both “colored” or white whenever he wished. Being able do such a thing, the narrator struggled with racial boundaries. He embodied almost every permutation, intentional or unintentional, of the experience when encountering various racial (white and “colored”) communities, eventually deciding to pass as white at the end of the novel. Due to cowardice, instead of representing his race, he suppressed the African-American part of his identity and destroyed his chances of achieving true contentedness and self-awareness.
Now a days, many believe that jazz is not that important of music genre, but with our history, jazz plays a big role. “Jazz does not belong to one race or culture, but it is a gift that America has given to the world.”, quoted by Ahmad Alaadeen. Jazz in the 1920’s opened the eyes of whites and invited them into African American culture; it evolved Americans to where we are today since it brought a change to the music scene, an acceptance of African Americans, and a change of lifestyles.
Furthermore, the opening “I stand” sets e assertive tone in the [poem. The speaker never falters in presenting the complexity of her situation, as a woman, a black [person], and a slave. The tone set at the beginning also aid the audience to recognize that the speaker in the “white man’s violent system” is divided by women, and black by whites. The slave employs metaphors, which Barrett use to dramatized imprisonment behind a dark skin in a world where God’s work of creating black people has been cast away. To further illustrate this she described the bird as “ little dark bird”, she also describes the frogs and streams as “ dark frogs” and “ dark stream ripple” Through the use of her diction she convey to readers that in the natural world unlike the human one, there is no dark with bad and light with good, and no discrimination between black and white people.
The irony of this poem is what happens to him when he dies "Not one false note was struck-until he died…The obit writers, ringing crude clumsy changes on a clumsy phrase: "One of the most distinguished members of his race.