Bibliography Citations:
De Santis, Christopher C. "'The Negro Speaks of Rivers'." In Anderson, George P., Judith S. Baughman, Matthew J. Bruccoli, and Carl Rollyson, eds. Encyclopedia of American Literature, Revised Edition: Into the Modern: 1896–1945, Volume 3. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2008. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= EAmL1256&SingleRecord=True (accessed May 3, 2012).
Hughes, Langston. "The Negro Speaks of Rivers." Poets.org. Academy of American Poets, 1997. Web. 03 May 2012. <http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15722>.
First off, I like the suit. Second, your video analysis on the poem "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" relates to Modernism because it talks about trying times and when black people were treated unfairly. My video doesn't relate to yours very much, but that's probably because mine talks about pears.
ReplyDeleteThis poem is a lot different than the one I read. They both sort of deal with different branches of Modernism because this is the Harlem Renaissance. But they both deal with a struggle, although the struggle in the story I read was that a man was rich but not happy, and in this it is that a black man feels the pain of his people. It is still a good example of Modernism because of the struggle and despair along with being in the Harlem Renaissance. It is hard to relate to Langston Houghes because I am a white boy. I do not feel what other white people have gone through.
ReplyDeleteSome similar points were in Chris's poem "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" and my poem "Anyone Lived in a Pretty How Town". One being that both poems included nature. "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" had a lot of good and detailed description of the rivers in Africa. "Anyone Who Lived in a Pretty How Town" described the town and the nature of the seasons and also things in nature such as the moon and the stars. One difference was that there was not as much detail in mine as there was present in Chris's. My poem was about a town and the people that lived in it and how time moved on and the people in the town changed. It is just a ordinary story poem. Chris's had a lot to do with culture which is a big difference. His spoke of the African American culture during the Harlem Renaissance which is a big part in history for the African Americans during the Modernism period. I felt that having so much culture in a poem really makes it interesting for people on the outside looking in and it also keeps the culture going for those that are apart of the culture. I feel that it makes the poem very interesting.
ReplyDeleteThe thing that stuck out to me was the hard times for the black people and how they had been treated unfairly. You can see that in some of the Modernism poems. It is similar to mine because they both have some sort of relation with African Americans.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your analysis, it was so in depth and I feel like I understand the poem and I haven't even read it. Your poem is definitely about history, and you mentioned that the author is reaching out to his culture and talking about a time in the past. My poem does not go that far back in history; it only tells a short story about a little girl fighting inner battles. I liked getting a feel for this side of Modernism because it is so different from the poem I analyzed.
ReplyDeleteThe story sounds very familiar... I can't remember where or when I've read this. Anyways, the characteristic of individualism comes up a lot, when the readers says, "I have know rivers, deep as..." The sense of the individual comes up when the readers says that the life is like a river, deep and complex. The further detail about the whole group of african-americans was very interesting. I would not have thought of that but it makes sense because the reader is saying he is five thousand years old or whatever. He is not this old the community is.
ReplyDeleteAfrican American history was also the theme of my poem. The Modernism characteristics of the African American community striving for the American Dream by using their wisdom and rich history. The hardships that African Americans faced during this time period was a similar point that was also expressed in my poem, "I, Too".
ReplyDeleteThe poem you analyzed was very different from mine in theme. You mentioned culture in your poem; the poem I analyzed was all about culture. Both of our authors reached out to their culture and talked about it in a positive attitude. Your video was very entertaining!
ReplyDeleteYour poem is way different than the short story that I read, "The Life You Save May Be Your Own". But I did find a similarity. The African American community would have been alienated from the rest of society, and one of the main characters in my poem was also alienated from society because of the handicap of her daughter. The thing that stood out to me was all the metaphors in this poem. Upon first glance you might think that it means one thing, but when you start to analyze you can come up with a completely different meaning.
ReplyDeleteThe poem I read was from the Harlem Renaissance too, but instead of writing about his connection to the history of his people, the speaker in The Tropics in New York writes about how he feels disconnected with even his own history and the place he came from. Also, this is a free verse poem, which was a writing style that became popular during the modernist period.
ReplyDeleteThe poem I read was every different it was written by T. S Elliot who was not a part of the Harlem Renaissance and was written about the birth and death and how the everyday man is everyone and no one is any better than anyone else in the eyes of Jesus and so everyone should treat each other the same.
ReplyDeleteOur poems were absolutely nothing alike. Mine was all about a failed relationship, where yours was about the Harlem Renaissance. You know it is modernism time period because it is so focused on the Harlem Renaissance which was parallel to the modernism time period.
ReplyDeleteI also had a Langston Hughes poem! In my poem he also centered around the theme of being African American. He mainly talked about being treated unfairly by others because of it, though.
ReplyDeleteYour video was fun to watch. I laughed out loud a couple of times.
Our poems were rather similar. My story also used very much imagery and metaphors. This must have been a common theme of the Modernism time period. My story was written during the Great Depression, so it was focused on the downfalls of society, but it also told of a successful woman. My story was more focused on love, which was another difference between our stories. It jumped out at me that the author used so many metaphors, but this was a commonly used literary tool because most of the works I have read include many metaphors.
ReplyDeleteI like how you connected the speaker and the river as to being rivers and or such as is.
ReplyDeleteOur poems have little in common save the fact that both of our works had metaphors; hardly something substantial. I liked how you showed the many depths and meanings to the different symbols. Also, the suit really tied everything together.
ReplyDeleteSomething that stuck out to me was the way African Americans were treated, and the way Langston Hughes was about the metaphorically address that through the poem. My story did not address the African American prejudice and,therefore, is not similar, but different from your poem. I also enjoyed that hilarious video.
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