“Taint” by Grace Nichols
“First Fire” by Camille T. Dungy
“God Give to Men” by Arna Bontemps
SONG: “Ghetto Gospel” by Tupac Shakur, Elton John, and Bernie Taupin
“C O M M E N T A R I E S”
“Africa” by Maya Angelou
“Song for a Dark Girl” by Langston Hughes
“On Being Brought from Africa to America” by Phillis Wheatley
“Yet Do I Marvel” by Countee Cullen
“Africa” by Maya Angelou
Thus she had lain
sugercane sweet
deserts her hair
golden her feet
mountains her breasts
two Niles her tears.
Thus she has lain
Black through the years.
Over the white seas
rime white and cold
brigands ungentled
icicle bold
took her young daughters
sold her strong sons
churched her with Jesus
bled her with guns.
Thus she has lain.
Now she is rising
remember her pain
remember the losses
her screams loud and vain
remember her riches
her history slain
now she is striding
although she has lain.
Commentary
Africa, a poem by the renowned Maya Angelo, depicts the struggles of the African American people by comparing the continent of Africa to the plight of a woman being assaulted and abused. This poem is Angelou’s way is to raise awareness of the hardships of Africans past and attempting to unite all blacks under the banner of an ancestral Africa. The use of transformation aids in creating a more vivid image.
In the first few lines of the first stanza, Africa is portrayed as an attractive and complicated woman. The poet makes a careful description of the woman’s beauties and charms. There is a significant twist of events in the second stanza. Africa is invaded by outlaws who kidnap men and women, involving them in Slave trade. The stanza is also overwhelmed by killing and forced religious conversion. In the last stanza however, Africa starts to rise from the ashes. Now the woman who suffered throughout the years is "rising," ready and able to take on the world.
Regarding the form of this poem, Maya Angelou does not seem to commit or abide to a meter or an obvious pattern of choice. It is an amalgam between formal and free form. The pattern is stable and simple in the first stanza. However, in the second stanza, the tempo seems to pick up and the overall tone becomes more intense. This explains the irregularity of the form in Stanza 2. The last stanza has an odd variation, as it also does not commit to a pattern. Repetition is evident in Aneglou’s “Africa”. The line “thus she has lane” occurs four times in the poem, and is an example of anaphora.
The main underlying theme “Africa” is the suffering which the African people have endured in the past. This is evident in many lines of the poem, for example “brigands ungentled -- icicle bold” and “took her young daughters - sold her strong sons”. However, the poem also tackles themes of appearance and transformation. The continent of Africa is transformed into a woman, people have changed due to war and violence, and weak nations have become stronger. All of these examples contribute into making the poem more powerful and effective.
“Song for a Dark Girl” by Langston Hughes
Way Down South in Dixie
(Break the heart of me)
They hung my black young lover
To a cross roads tree.
Way Down South in Dixie
(Bruised body high in air)
I asked the white Lord Jesus
What was the use of prayer.
Way Down South in Dixie
(Break the heart of me)
Love is a naked shadow
On a gnarled and naked tree.
Commentary
Langston Hughes’ “Song for a Dark Girl”, is a song that uses stereotypic form of African American dialect to portray a former slave who longs to go back to the plantation he once worked in the South. The irony is evident, but is bitter and distressing. The poet sets to foretell disturbing emotional content.
At first glance, this song may seem to be a plain and sad expression of grief. But as you look closely you can see that it's a powerful comment on African-American history and the struggle against racism which outraged a fight for racial equality which is still present to this day. Moreover, it outlines the power of the human spirit. The poem is written in iambic trimeter, with focus on the blues rhythm.
The title suggests that the speaker of the song is a black girl. She is singing, and using the refrain, "Way Down South in Dixie," suggesting that she is somewhere in the south. It is then followed by phrases in parenthesis (Break the heart of me), which brings to mind that something is breaking her heart. Following this phrase, it becomes evident that her heart is broken because her lover has been hanged or lynched “They hung my black young lover – To a cross roads tree”. He is hanging from a tree in a crossroads, so that passers can see him.
The refrain “Way Down South in Dixie” is repeated again in the second stanza. However, we now interpret an image of the brutality and abuse the black lover has experienced. The speaker, who is the black girl, is so distraught by his public execution which brings to her mind: What's the use of praying to a white Jesus?. Then, in the last stanza, there is a repetition of the first two lines of the stanza, as to be reminded that the black girl’s heart is broken. The poem is ended with a metaphor that Love is a shadow—a naked one, on a gnarled and naked tree.
Religion is an evident symbol in the poem. In the fourth line, the reason being the splitting of the word “crossroads” into “cross roads” may be to achieve allusion or reference to Jesus’ cross. In the 7th and 8th line, however, there is a direct addressing to religion “I asked the white Lord Jesus What was the use of prayer”. Because of the girl’s despair, she is questioning her faith, as in “Why pray?”
Nevertheless, the main theme of the poem is race. This poem is centered around a prominent and disturbing racial injustice in modern history, which is lynching. "Song for a Dark Girl" is blatantly clear about something: in the context of this poem, the African American people are suffering, and Jesus is not doing anything about it .
“On Being Brought from Africa to America” by Phillis Wheatley
'Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land,
Taught my benighted soul to understand
That there's a God, that there's a Saviour too:
Once I redemption neither sought nor knew.
Some view our sable race with scornful eye,
"Their colour is a diabolic die."
Remember, Christians, Negros, black as Cain,
May be refin'd, and join th' angelic train.
Commentary
The “On Being Brought from Africa to America” by Phillis Wheatley reveals the story of the poet who is a slave that was brought from Africa to America by what she describes as "mercy." And it's mercy that converts the speaker to Christianity, which she knew nothing about in Africa.
The expressing of appreciation for her enslavement may be unanticipated by most readers. It can be said that the poem is quite religious in nature. The poem begins by the poet acclaiming that her slavery as valuable, since it has brought her to Christianity. Although people view the black race negatively, the poem reflects Wheatley’s belief that anyone, even "Negroes," can be rescued by joining Christianity.
The poem is written in Iambic pentameter, and the vernacular can be explained due to the fact that the poem is written in the 1700s. The poet makes use of personification in her poem, ‘mercy’ ‘Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land’. This can be considered as an allusion to God’s merciful nature.
In this poem, Wheatley shares in this poem the positive side of her experiences as a slave, by abandoning her Godless ways, and her condemnation of the people who deny religious equality to black people and see their nature as a curse by God.
“Yet Do I Marvel” by Countee Cullen
I doubt not God is good, well-meaning, kind,
And did He stoop to quibble could tell why
The little buried mole continues blind,
Why flesh that mirrors Him must some day die,
Make plain the reason tortured Tantalus
Is baited by the fickle fruit, declare
If merely brute caprice dooms Sisyphus
To struggle up a never-ending stair.
Inscrutable His ways are, and immune
To catechism by a mind too strewn
With petty cares to slightly understand
What awful brain compels His awful hand.
Yet do I marvel at this curious thing:
To make a poet black, and bid him sing!
Commentary
“Yet do I Marvel” by Countee Cullen revolves around doubt and uncertainty in the poet’s mind. Cullen questions the mystery behind God's way of oddly creating humans with different Skin colors.
Yet do I marvel is a sonnet written in iambic pentameter, with use of a balanced and consistent rhythm. Cullen employs repetition in the poem by the use of the word "why." This repetition reflects the basic question of the poem. Metaphor is also used in this poem, "When flesh that mirrors Him must some day die." He compares human flesh to a looking glass, which reflects the image of God.
The poem is written from the perspective of a Black poet. the relationship between God and humans and about his own specific role and place in the world. Cullen starts by asserting his belief in God but also wonder about the nature of God. He wonders why certain things happen in the world. He knows that God must have a reason for evil in the world, but he thinks it is just too difficult for humans to comprehend.
The addressing of the theme of religion is evident in the first twelve lines of the poem. Religious references play a chief role in the poem. The speaker opens the poem by stating that God is good. However, the entire poem revolves around the apparent paradox of God's kindness juxtaposed with not so great things in life.
The topic of race is lately introduced in the poem. The last two lines spin the poem's focus into marveling at how God could make "a poet black." Cullen offers a different perspective in his poem. It is not just about the suffering of the African Americans, but it is about the human race in general. All humans experience the imperfections of the world like suffering and death.
“Taint” by Grace Nichols
But I was stolen by men
The colour of my own skin
Borne away by men
Whose heels had become hoofs
Whose hands had turned talcons
Bearing me down
To the trail
Of darkness
But I was traded by men
The colour of my own skin
Traded like a fowl like a goat
Like a sack of kernels I was traded
For beads for pans for trinkets?
No it isn’t easy to forget
What we refuse to remember –
Daily I rinse the taint
Of treachery from my mouth
Comment: Grace Nichols’ poem is an illustration of her resentment at the legacy of slave trade.
“First Fire” by Camille T. Dungy
Stripped in a flamedance, the bluff backing our houses
quivered in wet-black skin. A shawl of haze tugged tight
around the starkness. We could have choked on August.
Smoke thick in our throats, nearly naked as the earth,
we played bare feet over the heat caught in asphalt.
Could we, green girls, have prepared for this? Yesterday,
we played in sand-carpeted caves. The store we built
sold broken bits of ice plant, empty snail shells, leaves.
Our school’s walls were open sky. We reeled in wonder
from the hills, oblivious to the beckoning
crescendo and to our parent’s hushed communion.
When our bluff swayed into the undulation, we ran
into the still streets of our suburb, feet burning
against a fury that we did not know was change.
Comment: the poet uses natural elements in the diction to convey her message.
“God Give to Men” by Arna Bontemps
God give the yellow man
an easy breeze at blossom time.
Grant his eager, slanting eyes to cover
every land and dream
of afterwhile.
Give blue-eyed men their swivel chairs
to whirl in tall buildings.
Allow them many ships at sea,
and on land, soldiers
and policemen.
For black man, God,
no need to bother more
but only fill afresh his meed
of laughter,
his cup of tears.
God suffer little men
the taste of soul's desire.
Comment: the poet is pessimistic but makes use of humor to put into words a mournful reality.
“Ghetto Gospel” by Tupac Shakur, Elton John, and Bernie Taupin
[Intro]
Uhh, hit em with a little ghetto gospel
[Hook: Elton John]
Those who wish to follow me
(My ghetto gospel)
I welcome with my hands
And the red sun sinks at last
Into the hills of gold
And peace to this young warrior
Without the sound of guns
[Verse 1]
If I could recollect before my hood days
I sit and reminisce
Thinking of bliss and the good days
I stop and stare at the younger
My heart goes to em
They tested with stress that they under
And nowadays things change
Everyone's ashamed of the youth cause the truth look, strange
And for me it's reversed
We left em a world that's cursed
And it hurts
Cause any day they'll push the button
And all come in like Malcolm X or Bobby Hutton died for nothing
Don't it make you get teary
The world looks dreary
When you wipe your eyes see it clearly
There's no need for you to fear me
If you take your time and hear me
Maybe you can learn to cheer me
It ain't about black or white cause we human
I hope we see the light before it's ruined, my ghetto gospel
[Hook]
[Verse 2]
Tell me do you see that old lady
Ain't it sad
Living out of bags
Plus she's glad for the little things she has
And over there there's a lady
Crack got her crazy
Guess who's giving birth to a baby
I don't trip or let it fade me
From out of the fryin pan
We jump into another form of slavery
Even now I get discouraged
Wonder if they take it all back
Will I still keep the courage
I refuse to be a role model
I set goals, take control, drink out my own bottles
I make mistakes but learn from every one
And when it's said and done
I bet this brother be a better one
If I upset you don't stress never forget
That God isn't finished with me yet
I feel his hand on my brain
When I write rhymes I go blind and let the Lord do his thing
But am I less holy
Cause I chose to puff a blunt and drink a beer with my homies
Before we find world peace
We gotta find peace and end the war in the streets
My ghetto gospel
[Hook]
[Outro]
Lord can you hear me speak
To pay the price of being hellbound
Comment: Tupac was an influential artist of his time, and in Ghetto Gospel, he manages to address poverty and racial discrimination on the streets in the lyrics of this song.
E P I L O G U E
After engaging in the Poetry anthology project, I had the opportunity to broaden my scope on African-American poetry. Through analyzing the poems, I gained more insight into the difficulties which Africans and African Americans had to face throughout their history. The poets have chosen poetry as an approach to these difficulties, and each has expressed their attitude and emotions towards such matter in a different way.
B I B L I O G R A P H Y
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Nichols, Grace. "FROM I Is a Long-Memoried Woman (1983) - Taint." I Have Crossed an Ocean: Selected Poems. Tarset: Bloodaxe, 2010. N. pag. Print.
by
tmkilani (student)
