For a Lady I Know pg. 354

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.