Lost Wandering Blues Poem Analysis

What is important is that this wafer-thin autobiography, far from being an assault on the past deeds of white Americans, is as Houston Baker says “A journey into selfhood that resonates with sober reflection, intelligent passion and joyous love.” (Black Ice Back cover)Black Ice brings out most of the significant observations, experiences and reflections that Cary makes as she speaks of her grandparents, parents friends and family members in the context of her life as a student at St. Paul’s show all that enabled her to be rid of her illusions and develop and honestly discover what it means to grow up as a Black in

“Why have hope?”, is the question raised in the poem “Drifters” by Bruce Dawe. Bruce Dawe’s poem explores how change can damage a family 's relationship and cause them to drift apart. This poem has underlying and straight forward themes depicted about change. Straight forward depiction is the physical movement of the family from place to place and not everyone is in favour of this change. The very first line of the poem, “One day soon he’ll tell her it’s time to start packing”, supports the inevitable change that no one else has a say in except the man. This highlights the power imbalance in a patriarchal house hold. The underlying depiction is the fact that the family is drifting apart because of this change. This is conveyed through the mother choosing to ignore the children and packing aimlessly almost as if she’s following a routine. This idea is reinforced by the repetition of ‘and’ as well as the listing effect which creates a sense of routine.

Natalie Merchant’s song “Gold Rush Brides” features a very powerful and illustrative story of women during the westward expansion, which is detailed in chapter 16 of Eric Foner’s book, Give Me Liberty. The song demonstrates the hardships and the impact that women during that period faced with their migration towards the west.

Women’s Blues music in the 1920s and early 1930s served as liberation for the sexual and cultural politics of female sexuality in black women’s dissertation. Hazel V. Carby explores the ideology of the white feminist theory in her deposition, "It Jus Be 's Dat Way Sometime: The Sexual Politics of Women 's Blues", and critiques its views by focusing on the representation of feminism, sexuality, and power in black women’s blues music. She analyzes the sexual and cultural politics of black women who constructed themselves as sexual subjects through songs in blues music and explains how the representation of black female sexuality in black women’s fiction and in women’s blues differ from one another. Carby claims that these black women

What is the Blues? In the words of B.B. King, “Blues is a simple music and I’m a simple man” (qtd. in King and Ritz). From its simple and primitive origins, not only has the Blues affected culture throughout the Deep South, but Southern culture has had a strong influence on the creation of the Blues and its musicians.

The poem “Testing New Waters” relates to Jackie Robinson’s experiences during his life. The poem portrays what it is like for a person to embrace taking risks. Through Jackie Robinson’s professional and successful career he emulates Holbrook’s message. As does the founding of the Negro League. The journey which they embarked upon towards equality changed baseball for everyone forever. They show that skin color isn’t what is important and that they should be recognized for what they do instead of how they look. This road to their achievement might not have been smooth, but all that matters is that they succeeded in the end.

1)Hurston’s opening paragraph in “How it Feels to Be Colored Me” functions as a joke that aims to lessen the stigma around discussing race in the 1920s. The phrase “extenuating circumstances” is defined as lessening the seriousness of a situation and therefore reducing any consequence that may emerge from her controversial stance. Hurston’s assertion that her “grandfather on the mother’s side was not an Indian chief” is intended to bring humor to the African American tendency to claim Native American ancestry in order to raise their social status. Her sarcastic juxtaposition of accepting her color versus colored people distancing themselves from it creates a colloquial tone that illustrates her defiance of social stigmas and norms. This biting opening paragraph intrigues the reader and allows her audience to grasp the overall purpose of the

Starr and Waterman note that “the use of encoded, or hidden, meaning in the blues has its roots in many earlier genres of African American music.” These coded messages often take the form of referencing local landmarks (i.e., “where the southern cross the dog”) and sexual references (i.e., “That Black Snake Moan”). How do these traditions continue to impact popular music? Starr and Waterman note “songs of slaves could embody secret messages that were impossible to state directly in the presence of the masters or overseers.” Why might coded references be used in contemporary music? In which genres do you think this technique is most prevalent? Cite some specific examples of coded messages in contemporary music that reference this

This main claim of this article is that the sexual legislative issues of women’s blues singers of the 1920s and relates it to African American women’s ' fiction around that same time frame. Carby also claims that great soul vocalists such as Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, and Ethel Waters had more insight to contest society led by men and uncover the disagreements of African American women’s ' experience than African American essayists. As Hazel V. Carby has illustrated, women blues artists were for the most part disregarded by the black middle classes, particularly women who saw blues as a declaration of the most corrupted or regressive parts of African-American life. With the National Association of Colored Women and the Black Women movement,

By the 1920s, African Americans began to migrate to northern cities such as Chicago, New York for the search of a better opportunity. This was known as the “Jazz Age” or “The Roaring Twenties.”

In 1971, Alvin Ailey choreographed Cry, a three part work solo dance set to gospel music that describes an emotional journey filled with struggle, hardships, defeat, survival and joy. It was intended as a birthday present to Alvin’s mother and a dedication to all black women everywhere. The first part of the dance is the struggle of trying to maintain pride irrespective of the opposition faced from outside. The second part reveals the sorrow within after the woman’s pride has been shattered into pieces and finally the third part is a spirited celebration of finding strength and joy in God. Even though cry was dedicated to only black women, i argue the notion that all women both black and white of the nineteenth century could relate

Blues music as a genre and form was developed by African Americans in the south of the United States at the end of the 19th century. The genre has origins in many cultures such as in African music, African-American work songs and European-American folk music. Blues music incorporates field hollers, shouts, chants, etc. The blues form, found in jazz, rhythm and blues and rock and roll, is characterized by the call-and-response pattern, and also the twelve-bar blues structure, which is the most common feature.

The main idea of the poem is the integral part of music in African American culture as a “hypodermic needle / to [the] soul” soothing the weariness and pain from the “smoldering memor[ies]” of “slave ships” (6). In stanza 1, the larger theme of social inequality is addressed through the allusion of the slave trade by trumpet player’s memory “of slave ships / Blazed to the crack of whips,” (6-7). The second stanza uses the imagery of the trumpet player’s “tamed down / patent-leathered” (12-13) hair, to represent the forced “tam[ing] down” of African Americans and their culture.

Alice walker in Everyday Use demonstrates the understanding of African American heritage. Understanding your heritage is important because you should always look back on where you came from. Where you came from is such a big part of who you are and is something know one can take away from you. When you understand your heritage, you get to pass it on to others. Walker does this by using characterization, symbolism, and theme.

The genre of blues exploded into the blues craze during the 1920’s. During this time, white record producers saw the untapped goldmine that was blues music performed by people of color. Ma Rainey was one of them, and to some, one of the first, giving her the title, ‘The Mother of Blues’. The 1920’s was not only an era of continuing homophobia from the past (although that would change, briefly, into a mild form of acceptance until the more conservative 1930’s), but also of harsh racism. And yet, one singer, Ma Rainey’s, broke these restrictions. Her audience and shows flourished with both whites and blacks, peacefully mingling together to behold Ma’s performances. In this era taut with fear over race, both whites and black adored her.