In a letter to his brother, the great painter, Vincent Van Gogh, once wrote,“Poetry surrounds us everywhere, but putting it on paper is, alas, not so easy as looking at it”. In this quote, Van Gogh summarizes a subject great writers like Ralph Waldo Emerson has devoted entire essays to defining and explaining, and that is the subject of poetry. As it can be seen, a poet undertakes that almost impossible job of transposing what he or she sees in Nature on to paper for others to read. Only a true poet can be successful in an attempt. It is not just Nature a poet tries to capture into words, but also social experiences and human truths. Gwendolyn Brooks (1917- 2000) and Robert Hayden (1913-1980) are two Harlem renaissance poets who are experts in writing poems the detail both African American social experiences and universal human emotions. In Gwendolyn Brooks’s poem, The Explorer, the speaker tells the events of an unknown subject walking down a hallway searching for a quiet peaceful room in which to rest. In Frederick Douglass by Robert Hayden, the speaker voicelizes that when everyone receives freedom, then the great, historical figure, Frederick Douglass will be remembered eternally in the lives of everyday people. The Explorer by Gwendolyn Brooks and Frederick Douglass by Robert Hayden can be compared and …show more content…
First The Explorer uses the extended metaphor of a hallway to represent life to express the longing for peace, grief, and choices. In addition, the one traveling down the hallway isn’t the speaker but is an unidentified ‘He’, and this brings a universal perspective as ‘He’ becomes humanity as a whole. All the rhetoric Brooks uses drives the poem to show the universal experience of traveling through life making choices that define and change one’s
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Show MoreBoth Frederick Douglas and Malcolm X were born into situations where they did not know much about or interact frequently with their parents. In Frederick Douglas’ case, he was separated from his mother when he was an infant, and he only saw her a few times when he was very young (Douglas 13-14). When it comes to Douglas’ father, all he knew of him was that he was a white man who may or may not have been his master (Douglas 13). Malcolm X ’s
America in the colonial era as well in the 1800’s, the country has been filled with a lot events and cultural bias. In the South, slavery has been a popular way of life for Americans for the production of cotton, corn, tobacco, and much more. Whites were owning Black men and women in order to work on the plantation as well as keeping up the Slave master’s home as well. However, as years pass by slaves started to become educated and starting to understand the terms of liberty and freedom, that America was based on these key characteristics since the foundation of the first colony of the New Land. Two of the major well known individuals, who had their message heard was Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth.
Struggles of Slaves in the American South The difficulties and hardships of slaves in slavery in the American South explores the lives of slaves and what they went through. Slaves had rough education and faced physical pain every day. For example a couple of slaves are Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass.
The people of America fought and won the Revolutionary War gaining freedom from England rule. At first America gave out freedom unjustly. They had slaves who had no freedom and women and lower class white men who were free, but didn 't have very many rights, such as, the right to vote. There were many disputes, riots, boycotting, protesting, etc. Two women finally took action that eventually led to equal rights for everyone.
Progress is something everyone has to struggle and fought it through. Without progress and struggles, people wouldn't know how to make something better. Frederick Douglass once said that “If there’s no struggle, there’s no progress.” The struggle can be a physical struggle or a moral struggle, and any of them would work.
Fredrick Douglas and Benjamin Franklin are both one of the most famous successful in American history. They both followed a certain milestone to make them successful. Even though they are considered hard workers, they both have different obstacles and different views in their lifestyle. Fredrick Douglas used to be a slave who was a fugitive and Benjamin Franklin was young white man who had a rough time with his parent because his parents are very abusive to him. By comparing the difference and similarities by these two great people in American history even though they had their rough times, that does not stop them from their success.
Two Great Men “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time. ”- Thomas a. Edison Frederick Douglas and Booker T. Washington were both amazing civil rights activists. Frederick Douglas was a runaway slave who worked to end slavery.
Frederick Douglass and Malcolm X were great revolutionary leaders. Their motives inspired others to be against the segregated 20th century. Frederick Douglass is famous for writing “Learning to Read”. The intended audience would have been anyone. Learning to Read was written in 1845 and it is a narrative.
The legendary abolitionist and orator Frederick Douglass was one of the most important social reformers of the nineteenth century. Being born into slavery on a Maryland Eastern Shore plantation to his mother, Harriet Bailey, and a white man, most likely Douglass’s first master was the starting point of his rise against the enslavement of African-Americans. Nearly 200 years after Douglass’s birth and 122 years after his death, The social activist’s name and accomplishments continue to inspire the progression of African-American youth in modern society. Through his ability to overcome obstacles, his strive for a better life through education, and his success despite humble beginnings, Frederick Douglass’s aspirations stretched his influence through
After having read both Frederick Douglass’s Narrative and Harriet Jacobs’s Incident 1. How were Douglass and Jacobs similar and different in their complaints against slavery? What accounts for these differences? In both the inspiring narratives of Narrative in the Life of Fredrick Douglass by Frederick Douglass’s and in Incidents in the life of a slave girl by Harriet Jacobs the respective authors demonstrate the horrors and disparity of slavery in there own ways.
The ability to read and write is both creative and destructive. This ability opens your eyes to the world and how beautiful it can be. It also has the potential to destroy your entire grip on reality and expose you to the actual world you live in. It imprisons you yet, releases you from your mental confinement. Some people never escape from this confinement, some do; and those who escape sometimes go on to do great things in life.
Mark Twain and Frederick Douglass both have interesting ways of writing. There are similarities and differences in their writing. They each have their own personal preference toward their style, tone, and perspective. Each story was a remembrance of boyhood written in first person. As evident, Twain’s story takes place as a boy in a town on the Mississippi River.
Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass are American heroes with each exemplifying a unique aspect of the American spirit. In his recent study, "The Radical and the Republican: Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and the Triumph of Antislavery Politics" (2007), Professor James Oakes traces the intersecting careers of both men, pointing out their initial differences and how their goals and visions ultimately converged. Oakes is Graduate School Humanities Professor and Professor of History at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He has written extensively on the history of slavery in the Old South. Oakes reminds the reader of how much Lincoln and Douglass originally shared.
Although a century apart, Martin Luther King Jr’s Letter from Birmingham Jail and Frederick Douglass’s What to a Slave is the fourth of July are kindred spirits. Notwithstanding the many differences in their respective writing styles, deep down the essence of the message conveyed is still very much the same. Both Martin Luther King Junior and Frederick Douglas had similar beliefs and concepts related to the treatment of the African American community. They both describe a tough yet heart breaking situation that makes them question their moral values and doubt the system and its ability to change for better.
When most people think of a hero, they may think of a fireman, police officer, or a soldier. Although this is true, my definition of a 'hero ' is someone who does something dangerous or brave to save another. Someone who just doesn 't get themselves out of a situation, but they also reach out and try to save the others. There are only a select few people who are brave, compassionate and selfless enough, to spend their days improving the world one act at a time with no regard for personal risk or reward. Frederick Douglass was such a man, and he saved the lives of many slaves.