“The Blood Stained Banders” is an African American spiritual sung by Blind Jimmie Strothers. Strothers was a banjo and guitar player who was blinded by an explosion at the mines that he worked at. After being convicted of murdering his wife with an axe, he was sent to the state penitentiary. There, he was found by Alan Lomax and Harold Spivacke who were working on finding field recordings for the Library of Congress. They recorded multiple songs sung by Strothers, among which is “The Blood Stained Banders”, an original composition. At first glance, “The Blood Stained Banders” is very much like a homily, telling its listeners how to get to the “other shore”, or heaven. However, there is room for a secondary meaning alongside the first. “If you want to go to heaven, over on the other shore. Keep out of the way of the gunshot devils” could reference slaves fleeing from the South to the North and to freedom, and that they had to avoid slave catchers, or “gunshot devils”. …show more content…
It is also hopeful, telling its listeners that they can get to heaven if they just avoid certain pitfalls. The music has 3 verses and a refrain that is repeated throughout, but it is only sung by one person. The singer’s voice is very deep, with a lot of vibrato, resonating a lot. The music has a very bouncy beat, and a very folksy feel. This really emphasizes the spiritual and hopeful feel of the music, telling the listeners that heaven is there on the other side, ready for any who are willing to take the steps to get to it. The melody includes “blues notes” which help to emphasize the sadness of the fact that the listeners are not on the shore of heaven, but have to journey there. And also the peril of the dangers that lie in wait for those who try to cross
What does this song have the power to do? The power of the song is it can make the soldiers get down the ships and go to the squadrons . The writer provides an example in the second stanza. What does the speaker want in exchange for revealing the song's secret?
As Bud begins to swing, the song “Tammy’s in love” begins to play. The female singers love song accentuates the warmth that Bud is feeling when he is reminiscing about the things in life that he enjoys. While the song is non-diegetic, there is still diegetic sounds such as the church bells, children laughing, and the teacher talking to the students. These types of sounds give you more depth about the situations that he is referring too. When the church bells are ringing, notifying the people to kneel as the blood of Christ is risen, this reflects on people’s commitment to a higher power.
In the poem “Death Over Water” by Elizabeth Rhett Woods, juxtaposition between the beauty and grace of ice dancing and the savage fighting between two enemy birds is shown as an eagle is compared to “the male of a pair of ice dancers” (line 9), a gull to the female ice dancer and “a clamour of crows” (line 1) to the crowd watching them. The eagle is the dominant force in the fight that is in control of the movements of the birds maintaining “every advantage of size and speed” (line 17), comparable to the lead dancer of a pair. In ice dancing, the male is often guiding the female through the moves remaining “above and behind” (line 8) the female dancer at all times. The gull is at the mercy of “the enemy” (line 16) eagle and is forced to move
Chainsaw We scratched our names In that oak tree 'Cause I loved you And you loved me A jagged little heart so the whole town knew it Carved in the bark with an arrow through it
The sun beams from the sky are lighting up a small area of the painting and the rest is dark and gloomy. The gloominess of the painting represents dark and depressing times while the brightness of the sky creeps through thick dark clouds. This represents heaven because heaven is so large and bright and amazing that even though life is hard and seems like the world is ending, there is always something greater out there. Personally, I love this painting. I really like how Dore paints that trees and valley dark because it really highlights the beams from the sun.
Individuals make choices every day that affect history. During the Holocaust, the mass murder of Jews during Hitler’s reign, ordinary European citizens shaped history by allowing Jews to die. Their decisions were greatly influenced by their understanding of the universe of obligation, which sociologist Helen Fein defines as “The circle of individuals and groups ‘toward whom obligations are owed, to whom rules apply, and whose injuries call for [amends]’ (“We and They” 56). The majority of ordinary citizens chose to neglect Jews in order to protect themselves or their families. However, some brave individuals called upstanders chose to stand up to the Nazi regime by rescuing Jews and other victims of persecution.
Music can affect us in a variety of ways, one of the most common being inspiring us. Biblical songs were mostly made to praise G-d, however, some also inspire us to understand the capabilities of the Jewish people. The songs, “Song of Deborah”, and “Az Yashir”, tell the tales of the Jewish people overcoming a powerful foe through the assistance of G-d and individual representations of bravery. These songs inspire us to act and do what we believe is the righteous and important.
The moral of this story put into a song is to become a better you, doing everything you’d ever dream of doing. You only live once, so do it right, think about life as a gift. The lyrics in this song describe a man who not only had to face death in the eyes, he made every effort to make a positive turn to it. The song is simply sending a message to the listeners to lead a better life, you never know when it’s going to end. A message to live like you’re dying.
“I have a rendezvous with Death”. This poem is written by Alan Seeger. It talks about situation of speaker in war on theme of death. He starts his title “I have a rendezvous with Death” with paradoxical words. The word "rendezvous" is a positive term where people arrange to meet each other with willing.
Poetry Analysis Once the poem “History Lesson” was written numerous poetry foundations celebrated it for many reasons. “History Lesson” not only makes an impact on literature today it has also impacted people also. This poem inspires people and moves them to the point to where they can find a personal connection to the poem itself and to the writer. Not only does it hold emotional value for those who were victimized and those whose family were victimized by the laws of segregation, but the poem is also celebrated for its complexity. The poem uses many techniques to appeal to the reader.
The poem fully develops the idea of the limited of privileges that some might have according to the their races and the racial division. The “borderlands” is the division of a place, but in the eyes of Gloria she makes the character grow up in a place where there is a racial division. The character is in the middle of how of her race is important as her cultural ways get in the way of trying to practice each one of them. The poet writes in both english and spanish to explain how she speaks to the different races she carries. As you read the poem you can feel how the tone changes as the author is speaking of the different events that she goes through in her life.
Music could mean crickets singing, rain falling, a visiting breeze or even a creek running. The angels’ choir, or the sounds of night, simply assist us along our journey. For these sounds are the “pale tall choirs.” Pale and tall possibly referring to the moon and the way its light shines down upon the world, or maybe even a literal choir of angels. Poems tend to construct more of a feeling than a sense of understanding.
A hurricane rushes up an American coastline, ravaging everything in its path! At the same time, an earthquake topples buildings in an Asian city! While this situation may be hypothetical, it is completely plausible. When Weldon Kees wrote his poem “The Coming of the Plague” he appeared to notice only the hurricanes, earthquakes, and disasters occurring around him, and found that the sunshine and rainbows found in daydreams arise few and far between. This poem harnesses the pain and sorrow ravaging the country, and the author, at that time.
In the song “Mr. Blue Sky by Electric Light Orchestra, the words in the music are referring to Jeff Lynne, the writer of the melody and lyrics. He was struggling to come up with a song while he was locked in a Swiss chalet, but when the sun appeared, he saw the beautiful Alps and was inspired to write “Mr. Blue Sky” and 13 other songs. Lynne shows this in his song by portraying the sky as a person himself, using lots of personification throughout and showing its positive impact on the world below him. The theme of the song is shown through many examples of personification.
The song describes most of what is going on in the story. For example, “We found him with his face down in the pillow With a note that said I’ll love her till I die.” These two lines in the stanza are very descriptive. Using detailed lines makes a better understanding for the audience. It makes the song become more realistic.