For a Lady I Know is a quatrain with an abab rhyme scheme. Countee Cullen uses diction and satire to make a social commentary about racism and those who think they are “above” others.
Cullen uses satire to prove that the woman he is talking about is not all she thinks she is. In the first line it says “she even thinks” meaning that she’s ignorant enough to believe that up in heaven, everyone is not created equally, even though heaven is a place where classes and races don’t exist. The poem is making a point of saying wow, her class really must be “intelligent” if they believe that the poor black people will still be cleaning up after them in heaven, while they’re sleeping late and snoring. In using diction, Cullen backs the social commentary up even more. Cullen uses heaven, cherubs, and celestial because they all pertain to heaven or heavenly creatures. Cullen calls the poor blacks cherubs because they are the ones who should go to heaven, not those who only rely on their social class to get what they want. The word “even” is an important word because it is showing that the woman is wrong about what she thinks she knows about heaven and who goes there. The word “poor” is important because Cullen is making a social commentary, and on one side is the high-class snorer who sleeps until noon, and on the other are the poor blacks, who have to get up at seven and clean up the snorer’s mess. The social commentary is that racism and class-rank don’t have an effect in heaven because it opposes the ideals heaven is made up of.
I really liked this poem because of its strength in such few lines. Cullen makes a point of pointing out the opposites, of the poor black who are basically saintly, and those who expect to be waited on, even in heaven. I interpreted the poem as a portrayal of an ignorant woman who relies on her class-rank instead of who she is to get her in heaven. What makes the poem satirical to me, is the fact that the poor blacks are portrayed as cherubs (heavenly creatures) while the woman of high-class is portrayed as lazy and I can imagine her lying in a bed with an eye mask on, because she wouldn’t dare wake up before noon. I got all these images just from four little lines. I really liked this poem because I am an anti-racist and it just proves that people can be so ignorant and narrow-minded that they don’t see things or themselves clearly.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Good Times pg. 349
Lucille Clifton makes a statement about poverty and the effects it can have on a child, and their view on the situation in impoverished homes. Clifton uses diction/language and syntax to make her statement.
Clifton uses diction/language to make a statement because the language used is that of one who is either younger and their language is one reflective of the environment he/she lives in or just uneducated because of the environment/situation at home. On the third line Clifton says “the lights is back on” instead of the lights are back on, which reflects on the home environment. Throughout the poem it mentions all the good things, such as the bread that mama has made, the rent is paid, there is no insurance man harassing them, there’s electricity, and there’s drunken singing and dancing. At this point, everybody is happy because it’s a good time. The important words are paid rent, no insurance man, the lights, bread, singing, dancing, and good times. In the second stanza, towards the end it says “these is good times” and “grampaw” yet again emphasizing the lack of proper language. The whole poem emphasizes the good times, which means there were bad times, when there was no singing and dancing, and no electricity. Everybody was probably upset and mad at the time, and there were bad times, and they have a negative effect on a child, just as the environment does. The last statement is really important because it says that the children must remember the good times, because there are going to be bad times, and the good times are what will get you through the worst of times.
Clifton uses syntax, but it is no t as detailed as the diction/language aspect of the poem, but equally important. The whole poem is one, huge run-on sentence with no punctuation at all. The sentence keeps going by a series of ands. This proves the negative aspects of the environment yet again. The child speaking is either young or uneducated because the proper language is not used. This proves yet again, that environment and poverty affect children and everything about them.
I really liked this poem because it is about those who are less fortunate, and those who are raised in poverty, and how they deal with it. I can picture this child speaking, and I see the environment he/she was raised in and how they learned what they did. This touched me on a personal level because it creates a story in my mind of one who grows up to be something from nothing just by remembering those “good times” and wanting all the time to be a “good time”.
Clifton uses diction/language to make a statement because the language used is that of one who is either younger and their language is one reflective of the environment he/she lives in or just uneducated because of the environment/situation at home. On the third line Clifton says “the lights is back on” instead of the lights are back on, which reflects on the home environment. Throughout the poem it mentions all the good things, such as the bread that mama has made, the rent is paid, there is no insurance man harassing them, there’s electricity, and there’s drunken singing and dancing. At this point, everybody is happy because it’s a good time. The important words are paid rent, no insurance man, the lights, bread, singing, dancing, and good times. In the second stanza, towards the end it says “these is good times” and “grampaw” yet again emphasizing the lack of proper language. The whole poem emphasizes the good times, which means there were bad times, when there was no singing and dancing, and no electricity. Everybody was probably upset and mad at the time, and there were bad times, and they have a negative effect on a child, just as the environment does. The last statement is really important because it says that the children must remember the good times, because there are going to be bad times, and the good times are what will get you through the worst of times.
Clifton uses syntax, but it is no t as detailed as the diction/language aspect of the poem, but equally important. The whole poem is one, huge run-on sentence with no punctuation at all. The sentence keeps going by a series of ands. This proves the negative aspects of the environment yet again. The child speaking is either young or uneducated because the proper language is not used. This proves yet again, that environment and poverty affect children and everything about them.
I really liked this poem because it is about those who are less fortunate, and those who are raised in poverty, and how they deal with it. I can picture this child speaking, and I see the environment he/she was raised in and how they learned what they did. This touched me on a personal level because it creates a story in my mind of one who grows up to be something from nothing just by remembering those “good times” and wanting all the time to be a “good time”.
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