"Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note Analysis

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“Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note” Analysis

It seems to me that almost all our sadnesses

are moments of tension, which we feel as

paralysis because we no longer

hear our astonished emotions living.

R. M. Rilke

        Reading a poem can trigger strong emotions, rendering us defenseless and often times confused. The experience of a poem may impact a reader in ways which are not immediately clear, compelling one to understand what generated such a reaction.  One may begin to navigate the poem and seek to connect one's life experiences with those he sees in the poem. In doing this, the search to understanding one's emotional experience of the poem is bound up with the reader's introspection.  Amiri Baraka in “Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note” explores dark emotions such as sadness and discouragement.  While hope seems to be reflected in some parts of the poem, the text mostly emphasizes the speaker's sensation of being trapped in his pessimism.

        In the title, for instance, it is easy to be drawn to the word “suicide” and assume the speaker feels emotionally defeated. The fact that the title tells the reader to expect a “Twenty volume Suicide Note” may imply that the speaker does not truly intend to kill himself; it would take him a lifetime to finish such a project. He is so enthralled by his own despair that the idea of suicide is life sustaining.

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        The poem's first two stanzas reflect feelings of hopelessness in the speaker's daily routine, and the impossibility of emerging from it. The poem describes the speaker's routine as purposeless and empty: “Lately, I've become accustomed to the way / The ground opens up and envelopes me / Each time I go out to walk the dog”. The speaker goes through his routine getting used to those terrifying feelings that he describes in metaphor. He seems to be afraid, and encloses himself to prevent those upsetting emotions from overtaking him. The second stanza also focuses on a daily recurrence; in this ...

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