The poem “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks and “Hanging Fire” by Audre Lorde both deal with the topic of death as a theme. Although both authors speak about death in their poems they use very different writing styles. Brooks was born in Topeka, Kansas in 1917 but raised in Chicago, where she began her poetry journey at age seven. (Mays 726) She wrote mainly about the “ordinary aspects of black life during the mid-1960’s”. (Mays 726) Brooks died of cancer in 2003 at the age of 33. (Gwendolyn Brooks Biography) Audre Lorde also wrote about African Americans injustices. She was born in New York City in 1934. Lorde describes herself as a “black, lesbian, mother, warrior poet” and is sure to express this through her writing. She also, died of cancer, in 1992. (Audre Lorde - Poetry) Brooks and Lorde wrote from personal experiences and the society around them as they grew up. While both authors use the common theme of death, both approach the subject differently to accommodate with the protagonists. Although it’s clear that they both share the subject of death as a theme each uses their own personal writing style. According to Joe Sarnowski, Brooks …show more content…
The seven boys in “We Real Cool” are defiant and complacent attitudes seem quite pathetic”(Brooks WE REAL COOL) when it comes to the subject of death according to Gary Smith’s article. The boys is a unit and easily influence one another. This can be referred to the “we” that is constantly stated through the poem.They sacrificed their individuality leading them to lose their ability to think and save himself. In Lorde’s case, her protagonist is isolated and although her mother is in the other room she feels alone.It’s clear that the fourteen is greatly affected by this because she mentions “and momma’s in the bedroom/ with the door closed”in every stanza.(Hanging Fire) Death seem to be a very appealing escape to the girl from her loneliness and Lorde promptly expresses
Whereas Douglass dangerously strived to attain knowledge and education, the characters in We Real Cool (18) don’t want to be educated nor enlightened and even boast about their ignorance. In merely 24 lines, We Real Cool describes the fateful lives of seven pool players. While others might say that the language of the poem gives off a celebratory attitude, I think its tone rings of insecurity, arrogance and even defiance, particularly with the repeated usage of the word “we.” The first line of the poem, “We real cool” shows the level of education of the boys, which presumably isn’t very much, followed by “We left school” which implies the boys dropped out of school and don’t even value education.
Hanging Fire by Audre Lorde, I figured I’d pick this one since I can relate, this particular poem I found revolving several issues that the teenager is confronted with throughout the poem which by my understanding also affect most teenagers worldwide. The preconception of death, as well as problems of living in a sexist society with the addition of fear of isolation inside the home. My thought within this poem swayed to the idea that the teenager was engrossed with dying as noticed as she complains about dying before morning and other places within the poem. Sexism was also touched upon as noticed too when the young teenager wasn’t placed on “Math Team” despite the fact that her grades were much better than of the male who was chosen instead,
We Real Cool The poem “We Real Cool” is written by Gwendolyn Brooks the poem is about seven young men at a pool hall trying to convince themselves and others that they are truly cool. They are trying to do all of the things that people that they deem as “cool” do. The poem is comprised of five, two-line, stanzas and is written from the perspective of seven young men.
This poem has a depressed/timid tone. " In 'Hanging Fire' Lorde'sfocus on the several issues that confront the teenager within the poem and affect teenagers in the extended world: the
Kyle Frazier Professor Angela Koritsoglou ENGL101 Online February 25, 2018 The essay Once More to the Lake written by E. B. White, is a short story about a man who took his son to the lake, the same lake his family would vacation at when he was a child growing up. The essay The Little Store written by Eudora Welty, is a short story of Eudora growing up in the house with her family in Jackson, Mississippi. Both essays were similar in a number of ways, one of which is imagery. Both writers shared detailed memories of their childhood.
Symbolism in As I Lay Dying The 1930 Southern Gothic novel, As I Lay Dying, is rich in allegories– a narrative that is used to reveal a hidden message or meaning. William Faulkner's acclaimed novel is so plentiful in these that when analyzed could more than likely make another novel; however, this essay will only be discussing one of the many uses. The allegory in this discussion is about symbolism through the animals.
Gwendolyn Brooks' poem "We Real Cool" addresses the theme of mortality, especially in the context of destructive behaviors. While other topics present themselves, the varying crafts included in the essay point to the fast-burning flame of the speakers. Using identifying phrases with multiple interpretations, a short and to-the-point meter, and lyrical alliteration and assonance, Brooks tells a compelling tale of seven ill-fated youth. Gwendolyn Brooks, an African-American poet, likely wrote "We Real Cool" about young African-American boys. This is evident from the verse "Jazz June.
Most of Robert’s poems are written about the natural world, and this particular poem uses nature to focus on how death
During the 1920s, there was a period that was called the Harlem Renaissance, during which African Americans got the opportunity to be creative and express themselves through music and art. Langston Hughes and Louis Armstrong were a few of the famous people who came from this period in the 1920s. Another famous person that came out of the Harlem Renaissance was Zora Neale Hurston, a multi-talented African American woman who wrote stories that described the life and struggles of the 1920s through the stories she wrote. Hurston was an American writer, who was able to connect to the hearts of most people from all kinds of different races and religions during the period. Even today, her readers still feel the connection Hurston was trying to make
It is wholly recurrent to blindly skim through a detailed piece of literature and be unconscious to the likeness it shares with other pieces of literature. I am surely guilty of this ignorant practice, however. As I was reading “Hanging Fire” by Audre Lorde and “On Turning Ten” by Billy Collins, I didn’t truly perceive the connection right away. The obvious was already divulged in my mind; they’re both in the points of views of children. They, however, both have a mutual theme; growing up brings uncertainty and disappointment.
The speaker seems completely at ease with the Death as they move along at a relaxed pace. In the third stanza, the reader sees reminders of the world that the speaker is passing through, with children playing, fields of grain, and the sun setting. However, the speakers place in the world shifts between the third stanza and the next. Dickinson states, “We passed the Setting Sun- (12)”, but at the beginning of the fourth stanza, the speaker corrects this by stating, “Or rather – / He passed us – (13) ” because she has died. In the rest of the
The themes of the two poems are the same in that they are both poems about anticipating the loss of a parent. The fathers in these poems appear to be at the end of their life. Similarly, both poets
The best way to teach is to praise positive actions and ignore negative ones. Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the recommendation and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, describe specific circumstances in which adopting the recommendation would or would not be advantageous and explain how these examples shape your position. Towards the end of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s Chronicles of a death foretold, the protagonist, an old high school teacher travels to a small Colombian school to share with the students his life experiences- the wisdom he gleaned from his years as a tutor. He posed a rhetorical question that took the crowd by surprise.
In the poems “A Psalms of Life” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “Because I Could Not Stop For Death” by Emily Dickinson, “Beat! Beat! Drums!” by Walt Whitman the themes, mood, structure and literary devices has similarities and differences. In Longfellow’s poem “A Psalms of Life” its theme focuses on how everyone should live a life for today.
In Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s 1981 novella Chronicle of a Death Foretold, the narrative recounts the events leading up to the eventual murder of bachelor Santiago Nasar, a man accused of taking the virginity of the defrocked bride Angela Vicario despite the lack of evidence to prove the claim, and the reactions of the citizens who knew of the arrangement to sacrifice Nasar for the sake of honor. This highly intricate novella incorporates a range of literary techniques, all of which are for the readers to determine who is really to blame for Santiago Nasar’s death. Marquez uses techniques such as foreshadowing and the structure of narrative, along with themes such as violence, religion, and guilt to address the question of blame. Although Santiago