Analysis Of Countee Leroy Porter's Poem 'Brown Girl Dead'

In “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall,” Porter uses multiple allusions to three of Emily Dickinson’s poems to show the change from total, unwavering Christian faith, to the absence of Jesus as Granny dies. In the story, Porter describes Granny stepping into a cart, whose driver Granny knew by his hands, and whose face she did not have to see, because she “knew without seeing” (Porter). This scene is almost identical to the scene in Dickinson’s “Because I could not stop for death-.” This allusion aids in conveying the Christian idea of death as Granny has come to accept it: a tranquil figure, Death, calmly and peacefully carries one’s soul to an eternity where centuries feel like days. This is employed by Porter to impress upon the reader what

Poetry is a very unique type of writing. Poetry allows people to express their emotions in a way they feel comfortable. Every poem has a meaning to it, whether it is talking about food, interest, or a moment in their lives. Readers often mistake the poet as the narrator, although in many cases this is true. Many poets are the narrators and the poems are about their personal life. In contrary though, they sometimes write about matters happening around them.

The poem Barbie Doll by Marge Piercy is a short poem that talks about a little girl who is born just like any other little girl. She plays with dolls and little ovens and messes around with makeup. She is fine and unbothered with her life till she hits puberty. Around that age she has a classmate tell her “you have a big nose and fat legs.” She was a girl who was healthy, strong, and intelligent but, she was apologizing to everyone for what they saw. She dieted and exercised to try and be better and she put a smile on her face to make it all seem okay but, it got tiring and she couldn't do it anymore so she gave up her nose and legs. With that being said it could mean various things so take it as you will. The end of the poem you see her in a casket with a new nose and makeup and essentially she looks like a doll. Everyone who is there to see her comments on how pretty she. She is said to now have a happy ending.

Death was personified in, “Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade” (line 11), to show how even death’s grip, that eventually takes everyone, cannot take away this girl. Death was also personified to show how the girl was so extraordinary and beautiful, even death, arguably the most powerful force on Earth, could not touch her beauty. The imagery in “Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May” (line 3), is used to show how the girl is calm and simple, unlike the winds of summer which cause chaos and drive people to not enjoy them. By comparing the girl to summer winds, the poet is expressing his love for the girl by showing how much better she is than summer, which many people tend to be fond of.

Countee Cullen was born March 30, 1903 in Louisville Kentucky (Early-About 1). His grandmother was his guardian until she died in 1918. At this time, he was adopted into the home of Reverend Frederick A. Cullen and Carolyn Belle Cullen (Overview 1; Shucard 1). Frederick had established and been the pastor of Salem Methodist Episcopal Church. He was a pioneer black activist minister. Countee and his foster father were very close. They

For many, people hold objects within their lives as sentiments of greater value than price. Whether it be pictures, necklaces, or a father’s watch; there lies an emotional connection beyond the object’s materialistic presence in which people hold dear. Themes of reminiscence as well reverence are displayed throughout the poem by the use of imagery to further convey the character’s hope that the quilt will represent her family’s heritage just as her grandmothers did, alongside an ethos application of symbolism that further portrays as well connects the emotional links of generations, diversity, and values.

“Incident” by Natasha Tretheway brings to life the horrors African Americans faced during the time the Ku Klux Klan was rampant in the United States. Fear and secretiveness was an everyday part of African American lives. They were unable to live like white Americans were due to the racism they faced. This poem, however, symbolizes the idea that life continues through the fear of it crumbling. The narrator is still alive to tell his or her story; therefore, this is evidence that life continues. Through the poem’s tone, metaphors used, and symbols expressed the poem portrays that fear can make life seem charred or obsolete, but in reality life propels through all seasons and obstacles it faces.

The poet Emily Dickinson in her poem, I Felt a Funeral in my Brain that is the first line of the poem, not a special title that Dickinson chose. It tells about the story of the experience of the speaker in the poem who is transforming from place to another. Many readers would take this poem as an explanation of what happens after death, what the dead body feels in the funeral. In my opinion, this poem talks about the enlighten road that humans would feel when they explore a new idea of living, it’s not necessary to be about the other life after death. It depends about how people see their lives. In this essay, I will explain the imageries that this poem states and what are the hidden messages that the writer is trying to make the reader feel and explore.

The Liberation of Aunt Jemima by Betye Saar describes the black mother stereotype of the black American woman. Aunt Jemima was described as a thick, dark-skinned nurturing figure, of amused demeanor. This stereotype started in the nineteenth century, and is still popular today. She features in Hollywood films and notably as the advertising and packaging image for Pillsbury’s ‘Aunt Jemima’s Pancake Mix.”

“I will allow no man to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him (Booker T. Washington).” Booker Taliaferro Washington was one of the foremost African-American leaders of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Virginia born and educated he was from the last generation of African American leaders born into slavery. He would become the voice of former slaves as well as their descendants. An advocate for education as well as an accomplished writer and political advisor the impact he had on the world was definitely felt.

The First stanza described the environment in the cemeteries, the heart refers to the dead bodies in the graves and a tunnel could be coffins. The dead bodies sleeping in a tunnel which give the image of the coffin and in this stanza the poet also used a Simile in the last three lines by using word “like” and “as though.” The poet compared the graves like a shipwreck that is the death will take the human go down and drowning to the underground like the dead bodies in the graves. The last line “as though we lived falling out of the skin into the soul.” is like the rotting of the dead bodies.

give us a first-hand insight into what life may have being like during the Victorian

Some people come into our life as blessings. Some come in your life as lessons. These words from Mother Theresa describe Weldon Kees poem For My Daughter written in the 1940’s which is the time of World War II. Throughout this war people have lived in a time when medicine was not very developed, and frequently children fell upon bad circumstances because of their situation. You can obviously tell from the opening of this poem that the speaker is talking about his daughter and certain that his daughter is basically destined to have a forbidding life with no future. However, in the very last line of the poem he acknowledges that he has no daughter and his desire none and that puts a whole new twist on the poem.

The poem is one big apostrophe directed at the speaker’s dead father, and in doing so she regresses into her childhood self. She addresses her father as “daddy” like a little kid, speaks in a child-like abrupt manner, and begins the poem with “you do not do/you do not do/ anymore black shoe,” lines that resemble the old nursery rhyme “There is an old woman who lived in a shoe”. However, this is not a happy child, but one with frustration and unresolved conflicts with her father, as she calls him “evil” and a “bastard”. Furthermore, the way an adult woman completely turns into her childhood self suggests an obsession and a fixation within the past, a phenomenon commonly associated with psychological deficiencies stemming from unsolved childhood issues. These observations correspond to how the speaker metaphorically refers to her father as a “black shoe” that she had to live in, showing her inability to overcome the shadow of her late father. Thus, by addressing him directly instead of referring to him in the past tense, the speaker confronts her obsession and tries to escape the

The poem is set up in three stanzas. The first stanza is the speaker telling the woman that when she "[is] old and grey and full of sleep,"(1) just read "this book" of her past. The second stanza moves on to talk about her past relationships. Halfway through the stanza, though, he indicates "one man" who loved her better than the rest. This is an indication of his loving