ipl-logo

Jazz Fantasia Analysis

801 Words4 Pages

Inspired by the emerging musical genre of jazz in the 1920s, “Jazz Fantasia” by Carl Sandburg is an organic, lyric poem that describes the two opposing views of the transpiring genre. One side is boisterous and optimistic, while the other is somber and slow. Sandburg utilizes elements such as shifting tones, various forms of figurative language, and vivid auditory devices to display the differences between these two opposing sides and ultimately show that both sides are necessary to balance each other to create the final product of jazz.
In “Jazz Fantasia,” Sandburg expresses his thoughts and feelings about jazz as the speaker of the poem by using highly impassioned tones. He begins with an urgent tone, telling the jazzmen to, “Drum on your drums, batter on your banjoes, / ...Go to it, O jazzmen” , and immediately shifts to using more relaxed and luxurious wording by saying, “Sling your knuckles on the bottoms of the happy tin pans, let your / trombones ooze…” This instant shift in tone intimates toward the clear …show more content…

Sandburg opens his poem with a line of alliteration, saying, “Drum on your drums, batter on your banjoes” He also uses onomatopoeia to imitate the musical sounds often found in jazz music, stating, “...let your / trombones ooze, and go husha-husha-hush with the slippery / sandpaper” Sandburg appeals to the reader’s senses to set the mood and atmosphere of the poem while actively engaging the reader in a realistic image. He repeats the use of onomatopoeia to reach its climax, starting with, “...bang-bang!...” Conversely, Sandburg slows the poem to its conclusion when he ends with, “...now a Mississippi steamboat pushes up the night river with a hoo-hoo-hoo-oo…” By utilizing both onomatopoeia and alliteration in opposite scenarios, Sandburg accentuates the balance between both views of jazz that he conveys in the

Show More
Related

  • Symbolism In Ben Rector's 'Song Of The Suburbs'

    495 Words  | 2 Pages

    Ben Rector is a unique musician in the fact that the hardest songs for him to write are his most priced accomplishments. His lyrics stylistically reflect human emotion and his internal struggle between fame and humility, and faith and conformity. His music speaks louder than everyday pop music because it conveys a non-superficial and applicable message. In Ben Rector’s lyrics for “Song of the Suburbs” he utilizes personification and symbolism, emphasizing that there is more to life than self-advancement and money.

    Read More

  • Drum Vs Colossus

    657 Words  | 3 Pages

    Through every word and lyric, there are various examples of figurative language that communicate and reinforce the meaning, theme, and the experiences of "The Drum". Some of them were sound devices. For example, a multitude of times, the author

    Read More

  • William Grant Still Biography

    1103 Words  | 5 Pages

    This article will provide insight as to who William Grant Still was and what he did to illuminate his brilliance, and why he deserves to have his name forever etched in music’s history. Very few composers back in Still’s prime have been able to concoct memorable musical works of art. Although many have tried, few etched their name in music’s timeline. Listening to one of his pieces titled “Suite for Violin and Piano, Mvt. III” it becomes audibly evident of how jazz came to be what it is now. Still cut a path to new heights when it came to jazz.

    Read More

  • The Similarities Between Baseball And Writing By Marianne Moore

    482 Words  | 2 Pages

    A baseball flies through the air while a pen glides across the paper. Baseball and writing may seem like two completely different things but according to Marianne Moore, they are quite similar. In Moore’s poem, “Baseball and Writing,” she uses literary devices and figurative language to convey the idea that baseball and writing are equally exciting, and that the things we do, no matter how different, can be just as thrilling as each other. Through these devices, Moore shows the excitement of baseball and writing and how they can unite people. To begin, Moore uses caesuras all throughout the poem to illustrate the quickness of a baseball game.

    Read More

  • Sonny's Blues Rhetorical Analysis Essay

    1222 Words  | 5 Pages

    Combining a love for music and a personal history of racism, segregation, poverty and drugs in 1940’s Harlem, James Baldwin tells a story about Sonny, a blues loving composer with a dark history, living in Harlem in the early 1900’s. In the story “Sonny’s Blues” we meet the narrator and his brother and learn about the hardships of their lives, including the loss of their parents and a lifelong struggle with heroin addiction. As Sonny grows up in a racial charged borough of New York City he learns how to play the piano and channels his loss and suffering into music that provides an escape for others. Baldwin utilizes symbolism, flashbacks and antithesis to propose the idea that people can get through the trials and tribulations of life by being their brother’s keeper and looking out

    Read More

  • Section 8 Short Story

    1339 Words  | 6 Pages

    The short story “Section 8” by Jaquira Diaz is about a young adult, Nena, struggling to accept her feelings towards her friend Boogie. Further hindering the young woman is the unsupportive environment she finds herself in where just about everyone’s family has either physically or emotionally abandoned them. The story ends with Nena finally standing up the bullies who’ve been attacking Boogie- however Boogie herself rejects Nena, leaving her to imagine a life where the situation ended happily. Not only does the story leave a large impact on the reader, but it also leaves the music of poetry singing in one’s ears throughout the text by the use of consonance. The repetitive use of consonance and internal rhyme are scattered throughout the story, although the most impactful and noticeable would be the very first line of the text.

    Read More

  • 1930s Music Dbq

    2089 Words  | 9 Pages

    Print. Geoffrey C., and Ken Burns. Jazz: A History of America's Music. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2000. Print. Kallen, Stuart A.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood Of 1927 And How It Changed America

    720 Words  | 3 Pages

    Barry communicates his fascination of the Mississippi through his intensely detailed sequences of the river, stand out word choice and use of juxtaposition with other rivers. If we were to imagine Barry’s passage without the use of these rhetorical devices, this enthusiasm would be largely dimmed and unable to convey to the readers. It is only through Barry’s use of words such as “radically alters”, “like an uncoiling rope” and as if it was trying to “devour itself” would the intense fascination that we get as readers of his writing be conveyed. The descriptions of the river flow, which could have just been described using words such as “fast” or “slow” has been granted with detailed complexity from Barry’s word choice. His decision to provide readers with almost a visual of the river through metaphors like “uncoiling a rope” and “snapping like a whip” allow us to envision the scene.

    Read More

  • Jazz Vs Manouche Jazz

    1060 Words  | 5 Pages

    Now, jazz musicians are renowned for professionalism, refinement, and culture. Jazz is a fine art, a representation of humanity’s progress. As jazz musicians, we need to maintain a higher set of values than any other type of musician. So if we, Manouche Jazz musicians, don’t care about the fate of the Romani, yet we play their music, then our profession is hypocritical. If we pretend to hold ourselves to the level that jazz is defined by, while also appropriating the music of an already struggling culture, Manouche Jazz musicians, in particular, are hypocritical appropriators.

    Read More

  • The Influence Of Jazz In The 1920's

    1034 Words  | 5 Pages

    One of the most popular genres of music known to mankind today is the music of jazz. During the mid 1910’s, many of the nation 's population were living in the urban areas causing for ethnic diversity and a era for people to learn to express themselves. The 1920s brought many advancements to today 's society especially in music. Jazz was making its debut in the 1920s, which is why it is known as the ‘Jazz Age’. From the 1920 's through the late 1950 's jazz was shaped from the absolute entirety of African American.

    Read More

  • Religion In The Great Gatsby

    680 Words  | 3 Pages

    This culture is chiefly manifested through the character Daisy Buchanan, whose simple personality and voice “full of money” are a representation of the jazz age as a whole. The first description of her voice,

    Read More

  • Jazz Influence On American Culture

    1090 Words  | 5 Pages

    In life, there are few things as organic as jazz music. With its raw sound and scrappy roots, one cannot help but feel life head-on whilst witnessing players produce such a sound right before their eyes. Its origins and arch are a product of the United States’ national culture and identity. Jazz exists not only as a deeply rooted form of art but as a cultural marker, particularly during its commercial peak in the first half of the 20th century. Its impact transcends borders, and it is one of the most beloved musical genres worldwide.

    Read More

  • What Are Louis Armstrong's Major Accomplishments

    825 Words  | 4 Pages

    Introduction New Orleans Jazz is a genre of music during the 20th century that was in relation to the African American population. Two distinguished musicians, Louis Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie, rose to fame with their musical talents in the jazz community. (Thesis) These two musicians from below the Mason Dixon line would acquire their popularity by performing nationwide, but their childhood, musical careers, and legacies would be totally different.

    Read More

  • Jazzonia Poem Analysis

    948 Words  | 4 Pages

    The final poem of significance is Jazzonia, in which Hughes experiments with literary form to transform the act of listening to jazz into an ahistorical and biblical act. Neglecting form, it is easy to interpret the poem shallowly as a simple depiction of a night-out in a cabaret with jazz whipping people into a jovial frenzy of singing and dancing. But, the poem possesses more depth, when you immerse yourself in the literary form. The first aspect of form to interrogate is the couplet Hughes thrice repeats: “Oh, silver tree!/Oh, shining rivers of the soul!” Here, we see the first transformation.

    Read More

  • Jazz Band In A Parisian Cabaret

    136 Words  | 1 Pages

    The poem “Jazz Band in a Parisian Cabaret” by Langston Hughes talks to the audience about how jazz can be found in many different ways, or “languages”, and that everyone can listen to jazz and enjoy it no matter how high of a class or type of person they are.  This is shown through many parts of the play including the imagery and word choice.  The images that the poem produce helps to show a scene in which many people have gathered in an area around the jazz band, listening to the various ways the music is played.  The word choice also helps to show that everyone from “American millionaires” and “dukes” to “school teachers” and “gigolos” can all listen to jazz music and understand what is trying to be portrayed through the rhythms and

    Read More

More about Jazz Fantasia Analysis

Open Document