I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
The door representing opportunity and wealth with the word gold, and the lamp representing hope for the future or light in the darkness for the immigrants to escape their places of imprisonment and poverty in Europe
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
She is trying to help her people, which are Jewish from anti Semitism
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
The people who were against her, which I recognized as being the people who had anti Semitism, when she was in Germany and Russia
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free
The many desperate immigrants leaving Europe becasue of the many crisis, in search for opportunity
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
The calmness of the liberty statue to that of the giant statue of Rhodes
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
Here this remarks the cries of anti Semitism which she was met by Russia and Germany against her people becasue she was Jewish
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
The bridge refereed here would be the Brooklyn bridge
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
Beacon of hope and freedom for all
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
The exiles representing the immigrants
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Does the lightning refers to Zeus who was another Greek god, which was the leader of all greek gods, and ironic how she displays the statue of liberty as imprisoning's this lightning
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
The contradictions to a god, to a normal person, which is represented through the Statue of liberty
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
Refers to the statue of liberty
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
How the ideals shared with the Greek statues differed that of the Liberty statues, as the Greek one emphasized imperialism and conquering, which contradicts the Liberty statue
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
That the statue of liberty, will hold different meanings than those of the Greek statues in Greece
The label, the labor, the color, the shade. The shirt.
All of the things that make up a shirt
Printed in black on neckband and tail. The shape,
Here, I see how he describes the shirt with that quality and class
The buttonholes, the sizing, the facing, the characters
How every aspect of the shirt was made with precision
Down to the buttons of simulated bone,
How the shirt turned out to be perfect and well fitted
Both her and me. We have culled its cost and qualit
This shows how both people enjoy the shirt and how it was made of good quality.
And feel and its clean smell have satisfied
A customer satisfied with the product of the shirt
And she inspected my shirt. Its color and fit
Is Irma selling a shirt or checking the shirt for a potentional consumer
Lady in South Carolina, her name is Irma
Irma, working in these hot conditions, that would happen to slaves throughout colonialism
George Herbert, your descendant is a Black
Herbert was a famous Welsh-born poet, he was born around the time that colonialism took place
As slaves in calico headrags sweated in fields
Compares the workers in sweatshops to that of slaves
Sweating at her machine in a litter of cotton
The long hours and tiring conditions in which workers work in
The docker, the navvy. The planter, the picker, the sorter
The different roles and how all of it connects to make the shirt
Weavers, carders, spinners. The loader,
Describes the different roles in the workers that work to make these shirts
To wear among the dusty clattering looms
The consumers that buy and wear these shirts made in these sweatshops
Bailey, MacMartin. The kilt, devised for workers
A type of clothing being made
By a fabricated heraldry: MacGregor,
Another type of fabric
To control their savage Scottish workers, tamed
How the containment of these factories with their strict rules are used to keep the immigrant workers in check
Invented by mill-owners inspired by the hoax of Ossian
Shows the relationship between the shirts and the laborer's who made them
Houndstooth, Tattersall, Madras. The clan tartans
The type of fabric and patterns in those fabrics
Or a major chord. Prints, plaids, checks,
I like how he used the word chord, as if it correlates to music.
Corners of both pockets, like a strict rhyme
The strictness of how the clothing is made and how it is always in uniform
Across the placket and over the twin bar-tacked
Describing the building and the floor he is falling on
Wonderful how the pattern matches perfectly
The repeat of people jumping out of the building
Like Hart Crane’s Bedlamite, “shrill shirt ballooning.
The word ballooning, describes how the shirt is being expanded becasue of t he wind as he is falling
Air filling up the legs of his gray trousers—
The air of him falling going into his pants
And fluttered up from his shirt as he came down
Oh is this him stepping of the edge of the building to escape the inferno
He stepped to the sill himself, his jacket flared
He walked into the inferno himself
Her into space, and dropped her. Almost at once
Did she die ?
Around his neck and kissed him. Then he held
Being grateful?
A third before he dropped her put her arms
She was happy at being alive
To enter a streetcar, and not eternity.
The death that was occurring at the factory and the death of people falling
And then another. As if he were helping them up
Fire department helping ?
Away from the masonry wall and let her drop.
The terrible situations of people leaping of the building to escape an inferno
Up to the windowsill, then held her out
The people from the factory trying to escape an inferno
Who watched how a young man helped a girl to step
I'm assuming the young man is either a firefighter, or a sweatshop worker
The witness in a building across the street
Shows how people witnessed the event, but could not help ?
On the ninth floor, no hydrants, no fire escapes—
Here goes again with the lack of safety regulations
One hundred and forty-six died in the flames
These were the people who were trapped in an inferno becasue of the sweatshop lack of safety regulations
At the Triangle Factory in nineteen-eleven.
This was a historical event, that occurred in 1911, which led to the many reforms of the period to better factory workers rights and regulations
The treadle, the bobbin. The code. The infamous blaze
This describes how the workers work in a hostile environment, with the work being considered vigorous
The wringer, the mangle. The needle, the union,
The noise and racket that goes on in the sweatshop
Of cuff I button at my wrist. The presser, the cutter,
Goes into details the extent of how the shirt is made
This armpiece with its overseam to the band
Referring back to the making of the shirt in the sweatshop
Or talking money or politics while one fitted
Another daily thing the workers discuss
Gossiping over tea and noodles on their break
The daily life and routine of the workers
Turned in a sweatshop by Koreans or Malaysians
Those shirts are created by the Koreans and Malaysians
The nearly invisible stitches along the collar
The makings of a shirt
The back, the yoke, the yardage. Lapped seams,
Is this some sort of factory?
Some of us were craftsmen in the old world, good with our hands and proud of our work.
How , in their previous country they were proud of themselves, but within a new country with no knowing of how the people are here, they are working in jobs that many immigrants never fathomed of working in.
Some of us were craftsmen in the old world, good with our hands and proud of our work. Others were good with their heads. They used common sense like scholars use glasses and books to reach the world.
The diversity within immigrants, like how not all of them were blunt labor workers, but were filled with scholars and very intelligent people as well as people who had previously worked in trades
we will now live in. We take tests.
Another part of the naturalization process that immigrants go through
where counselors orient us to the new land
How immigrants are thought the laws and way's of life in the new country they are in
Then we gather in another room
The process of naturalization for immigrants
We are given shots and doctors ask questions.
This show's us how he had to accommodate with life being behind bars
and we are given overalls like mechanics wear
How prison, will usually have their inmates wear clothing, that were made for the use of them to be able to work labor jobs in them
our old clothes are taken
I guess you can take this, like how they make you abandoned your own culture to assimilate
At the gates we are given new papers
The movement of people between borders, where many immigrants have to pass through
looking for better days ahead.
Wanting to leave the troubles of the passed behind him
We are born with dreams in our hearts
Makes me think of the American dream, that many immigrants believe in, and is their reason for coming here to the us
driven by a godawful wind.
How the wind carried the smell of death in which he could not escape
She burns like a burning bush
Burning bodies, that surrounded him
to my nostrils.
Stench of death
She rises like dragonsmoke
Another beacon for hope
at the edge of a rain forest.
The setting in which this is based of off, which is Vietnam.
She burns like a field of poppies
Again with the fire, which in Vietnam was very prevalent with the use of napalms
She burns like a shot glass of vodka.
Since vodka, is a strong liquor, he might be referencing to how all the death around him stung like that of a vodka drink
at nightfall.
When ambushes would happen
A tiger under a rainbow
How the scenery in Vietnam is pretty, but behind it all it was filled with death and misery
silent as quicksilver.
The deadliness of the Vietcong
of a banker's cigar,
The butt end of a cigar is usually black and crisp
She glows like the fat tip
The remains of a body in ash
dipped in gasoline
Is this refereeing to the burnings that happend in the Vietnam war, with the American napalm bombs
She burns like a cattail torch
Another image for hope maybe
She burns like oil on water.
Is he scared that by being with her would be a bad idea
like a sack of dry ice.
Regret ??
while she burns
Is this that hope he sees, but does not pursue
hanging at our sides,
How both are away from one another, like he is scared
We stand with our hands
Is this him being passive and not pursuing her
dances around herat dusk.
The setting of the sun, represents beauty and love.
A skirt of flames
Is this a beacon of hope ?
in a thigh-shaped valley.
His warmth for embracement
She burns like foxfire
She emits a light , in his life
she burns like a piece of paper.
He doesn't want to lose her like how a piece of paper is lost to a fire
inside my head. At daybreak
Doesn't go a day without thinking about her
belongs to a girl still burning
His regrets for a girl he still loves
The cry I bring down from the hills
I take this as a sign of regret, or depression
Or does it explode?
Spurs of violence regarding the civil rights movements, this is what this line reminds me of.
like a heavy load.
Heavy load, represents the powerful connotations of the civil rights movement, but also how it brings it self down because of it
Maybe it just sags
Maybe this is to show, that maybe the civil rights movement, does not lead to equality and instead just sits in dormancy.
like a syrupy sweet?
I'm assuming, that when the poet used the word syrupy, he refers to how the process of granting equal rights freedoms for African Americans is a long enduring process
Or crust and sugar over
Is the civil rights movement going to live up to it's dream and provide this equality?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Is the dream gonna have a bad taste to it afterward, in a sense of figuratively
And then run?
What would it be running from?
Or fester like a sore
Does the dream turn into the thing it sought to go against?
like a raisin in the sun?
Emphasizing the civil rights movement on being forgotten to how like a raisin gets dried up and useless.
Does it dry up
The civil rights movement, being left behind and forgotten because of the overshadow of other movements
What happens to a dream deferred?
Is this referring to the dream of equal rights for African Americans?
Pick the Mac up, told brothers, "Back up, " the Mac spit
He was protecting his family, as to why he says back up, and the mac spit meaning he fired
And lamp like Capone, with drug scripts sewn
Referencing Al Capone who was a very popular and dangerous gangster in New York
I ran like a cheetah with thoughts of an assassin
That he was going to be back for the person who almost killed him
Once they caught us off-guard, the Mac-10 was in the grass and
That living a life of crime/gang violence's , you are always on the edge of death.
Time to start the revolution, catch a body, head for Houston
Represents gang violence, that he is exposed to.
Negroes be running through the block shootin'
How he is exposed to this violence that influences his rap
Reminiscing about the last time the Task Force flipped
Maybe he is referring to a time where there wasn't violence in rap maybe or in his neighborhood
G-packs get off quick, forever negroes talk stuff
There are rumors about him, and people talking behind his back
Laughing at baseheads trying to sell some broken amps
Him mocking the people who are living life in a miserable way instead of pursuing music like him
Or either on the corner betting Grants with the cee-lo champs
Maybe referring to gambling out in the streets in New York city
I keep some E&J, sitting bent up in the stairway
What is E&J?
Y'all know my steelo with or without the airplay
I get the sensation that he likes to brag about his wealth, or his money
Hand me a nine and I'll defeat foes
When he refers to a nine, I think he means a Glock nine which is a type of pistol, that is a common sidearm for civilians to own
Bullet holes left in my peepholes, I'm suited up in street clothes
There is violence in his life, but he is always ready
Holding an M-16, see with the pen I'm extreme, now
The cultural that surrounds rap songs that usually include violence in them, or people always relate rappers to violence
Of pain, I'm like Scarface smelling amphetamines
Is Scarface another rapper ?
I be kicking, musician, inflictin' composition
That he is directly affecting and changing the music industry with his rap?
Rappers, I monkey flip 'em with the funky rhythm
His bars are so good that he compares his competitors as jamming with him becasue of his beat
I don't know how to start this stuff, yo
Reminds me how rap is generally associated with it always including the word yo in it's songs
Where fake negroes don't make it back
Where do they not make it back from?
(Word, it's time negro?)
Some bars are about to be said
Yeah, it's time man (aight negro, begin)
Start of a rap song
Straight out the friggin dungeons of rap
Like the start of an old school rap songs, that remind me of Tupac
Yeah yeah, aiyyo black it's time
Grabs my attention, since it seems like it's directed to the reader
floating perfectly through the net.
That even with his doubts he was still able to succeed in his life and decisions he made
and swiveling back to see an orange blur
But he then realizes that even with his doubt, there is still hope, as the orange blur represent the basketball
for the game he loved like a country
This shows his deep passion, and that without it he would not be where he is today, as many people see sports as a means of life and accomplishment
with a wild, headlong motion
This shows his emotion, and I take the phrase "headlong motion, as him reflecting upon something
inexplicably falling, hitting the floor
That even with all the training and having a well organized team, you can still fall down
but losing his balance in the process
That he goes for the layup, but falls short, showcasing how society sees him
against the glass for a lay-up,
With the word glass representing the backboard
by himself now and laying it gently
Implies the gracefulness of his jump
in a fury, taking the ball into the air
That all of the teamwork and passes among his teammates led up to this moment for him to take the stance and go for the dunk
while the power-forward explodes past them
The confidence is really implied here, especially in context with the phrase "explodes past them"
and commits to the wrong man
Shows how the author is confident, as he suggest that the player made a mistake by taking him on
until the guard finally lunges out
The defensive player taking action on the author, as a guard in basketball is a defensive position
a single bounce hitting the hardwood
With teamwork, the ball does not have to touch the floor as the players pass it to one another
between them without a dribble, without
Show's how he is show correlated with his team that they pass it to each other with out the ball even reaching the floor
together as brothers passing the ball
In order to be successful in a sport you need to have confidence in your team to come out on top
and filling the lanes in tandem, moving
This is in correlation to the various places you can shoot your shot in basketball, like a 3 point shot, or a 1 point shot
the way that forwards should, fanning out
He looks up to the forward, which is a position, and usually people who are forwards are one of the teams important players as they are the ones to make most of the shots and are usually the most powerful players
both forwards racing down the court
I think this corelates to how people chase their dreams
like a coach’s drawing on the blackboard,
The coach acting as a means of the choice he was given, and how his life is in comparison to a black board, as it has already been layed out and planned out
in slow motion, almost exactly
This is a reference to how he just takes in life by the moment and cherishes it.
letting the play develop in front of him
This showcases how he just lets his life happen, and just goes along with it. Instead of regretting his past choices he just goes with the flow
of a high, gliding dribble and a man
Refers to how the crowd perceives the players, as graceful and how he misses and opportunity
in the wrong direction, trying to catch sight
That maybe the author regrets some of his past decisions in life, and is tying to catch a glimpse at what could've been
who looks stunned and nailed to the floor
He is surprised that he was able to achieve his goal, but is still held down by society
scissoring past a flat-footed defender
Scissoring in literature may have to do with an emotional trauma that requires healing
an underhand pass toward the other guard
The corporation of basketball between teammates, and how teamwork is key in the game of basketball
to the outlet who is already shoveling
The outlet could mean that big decision that his is trying to overcome
and spinning around to throw a strike
This represents how he is ready to make his move in his life, so he takes his chance
from the air like a cherished possession
That if he does not make this shot this could means his career, and by using the word cherished and possession it shows the importance of basketball
perfectly, gathering the orange leather
How players will be moving around the court together as a team, and orange leather representing the basketball
boxes out his man and times his jump
He timed his play with accuracy, as in basketball players usually wait to strike for the best moment to get a dunk or take a shot
and for once our gangly starting center
Gangly- means a tall and thin and moving person with a loose-jointed awkwardness.
hangs there, helplessly, but doesn’t drop,
Someone not being able to let go
A hook shot kisses the rim and
The author expressing his love for basketball, in reference in them taking action
I call for you
Her advising or telling the inmates some wisdom
long blows that you want to give and blows you are going to get.
Well, now I can interpret this as her trying to say that by being good and showing kind acts is greater than restoring back to criminals ways of doing things. As this is her talking to the inmates in the cell
Where it is dry.
She uses this phrase again to showcase the significance of dryness, which I took it as boredom, which I can see how being in a cell can be really boring/dry
in the chalk and choke
is this referring how someone could feel claustrophobic from being in a cell, or how one feels lost or pressed down from being confined
in the many many mornings-after;
How prisoners serve long sentences, and those sentences can be seen as ongoing repeating days, kind of like Deja vu
in the non-cheering dark,
refers to the confinement of the darkness and sadness of confinement in a cell
I call for youcultivation of strength to heal and enhance
Here again the author creates the sense that this person is once again calling for help to redeem themselves and begin to be a better person.
Overwhat wants to crumble you down, to sickenyou.
The confinement of a cell creates this sensation of depravity and sadness that can overcome a person.
Over
Since she uses this twice, I take it that this means that the person is trying to overcome something?
cultivation of victory Overlong blows that you want to give and blows you are going to get.
Here she references how she is trying to overcome a challenge
I call for you
She needs help of some sort
Where it is dry.Where it is dry.
Does this mean that they are saying that they are bored, in sense with the word dry usually being used to express boredom, or not descriptive
Under the wolves and coyotes of particular silences.
Wolves in literature usually symbolizes danger or destruction, it can also mean courage, strength and loyalty
in the hot paralysis.
That there is going to be conflict
in the vertigo cold.
A time where they are confused or lost
Dark gardening
That all of her good aspects in life are swallowed in darkness or negative aspects
I call for you cultivation of strength in the dark.
I interpret this as the author wanting to acquire strength through difficult times.
Nor any Placard boast me ‑Itʹs full as Opera
Even though, her talent isn't showcased in postcards, she still gets an audience to her shows
Nor any know I know the ArtI mention ‑ easy ‑ Here ‑Nor any Placard boast me ‑Itʹs full as Opera
That she doesn't brag about how she is talented, and because nobody knows of her art
Till I was out of sight, in sound,The House encore me so
She returns back to her world, away from crowds and people.
And though I had no Gown of Gauze ‑No Ringlet, to my Hair,Nor hopped for Audiences ‑ like Birds ‑One Claw opon the air
That even though she did not have the things to enhance her beauty, she worked with what she had and was proud, therefore reflecting how she is self independent and does not rely on others opinions
That had I Ballet Knowledge ‑Would put itself abroadIn Pirouette to blanch a Troupe ‑Or lay a Prima, mad,
If she was able to dance, she would dream of it, as she references how she would put itself abroad.
No Man instructed me ‑
She is her own person, and no man will have influence on her, showing how she is independent and does not rely on anyone
I cannot dance opon my Toes
When I read this, I guess this shows how the author is not self confidant and maybe struggles with some kind of insecurities
, the team received immediate backlash. Head coach John Sung extended his apology for the team’s actions
in order for us as a society to move forward and progress, it first comes with stopping the usage of a word that in it's infancy had such a negative connotation, idk why we still use it today.
“Freaky Friday” by Lil Dicky featuring Chris Brown, which uses “n-----” in the lyrics. The song tells the story of a white man, Lil Dicky, who switches bodies with a mixed man, Chris Brown, and then asks if he can say the N-word now since he is black.
I see this as spreading awareness of society double standard and what we as society believe
Clearly, those on the far-right and neo-Nazis
There are still people that use the word in its racial sense in todays world, there is no escape from that reality, as racism will never fully disappear, but we can still try to make the world better.
“N-----” is, undoubtedly, offensive.
Why is the word still being popularized in music and within the black community?
He asserts that white people have been raised in a society whose laws and culture communicates that “everything belongs to you
This statement seems to be very one sided, and that if we really see the lives of both blacks and whites, how we live really isn't that different, and that in the end we are still both humans, that we know for a fact.
He argues that white people can’t seem to accept this because of white privilege.
I do not think this is the case, as I think most people are good natured and mean well
The normalization of the word in pop culture has led to some white people also saying the word
That by normalizing the word, I see that we in society are progressing backwards in terms of using the N-word and racism.