The plurality of the tense is interesting. the people who were living in the singular tense (was, like he/she was) are now dead, but those who were living in the plural in the plural tense (were, like, they were) are still living, but are seemingly wanting to die. Ironic because it is likely that those that died would be wishing to be alive.

Tarot cards that possibly tell futures that aren't the cheery futures people hope for when they visit someone they consider to be a mystic.

this line contradicts the title. The title simply states that none mourn him, but this line states that something does indeed mourn him.

My grandmother grew up in Poplar Bluff, Missouri and has told me about some of the intense racism that was present including, but not limited to, the sign alongside the road into town which I will not repeat.

In this poem, Brown is focusing much more on the way people speak and pronounce rather than how people communicate when they write.

reference to the African slave trade and addressing the first generation slaves rather than future generations of slaves.

this instantly reminds me of Brathwaite's idea of nation language.

the tense of the poem is past tense much like the blues speaks of the past.

Polysyndeton makes these lines feel exhausting.

I don't know why this is hear, but it is intriguing. Makes me wonder what this qualifier is for Abe Lincoln going to New Orleans.

Duke Ellington maybe?

a google search defines this as: Syncopate "displace the beats or accents in (music or a rhythm) so that strong beats become weak and vice versa."

This seems to be implying that a dream deferred isn't really a dream that has been deferred, but rather a dream that has died, never to be revived.

saying when company comes, it seems to imply that in private company, the speaker is not sent to the kitchen to eat.

This title has always made me think of Whitman's "I Hear America Singing"

Seeing a white European woman sing her native songs is high art, however, seeing a black woman sing songs of a culture in which she is a part of is seen as being less than. The statement is showing the rejection of black culture by black people and the elevation of white culture.

Andalusia is the southern autonomous state of Spain.

Raquel Miller was a very well known, white, singer from Spain. 1926, when this essay was published, is the first time she played in the US, with New York City being one of the stops on the tour.

a reference to W.E.B. Du Bois?

Seems like a different way of saying "white washed"

According to google, this means: "I'm not Russian at all, I come from Lithuania, pure German."

"The better maker" also a reference to Dante's Inferno.

Franz Ferdinand possibly? The Arch Duke that was assented and essentially started World War 1

April being the cruelest month is a reference to all the men that were left impotent after The Great War (World War 1) and is arguably one of the most famous lines in modernist poetry.

a band of Greek Heroes, not quite sure what they are doing here other than being relieved.

this word seems wildly out of place in relation to all the words around it. It sticks out like a sore thumb and makes the readers consider what they are reading as being potentially wicked or evil in some way.

a Jack Rose is a drink that was popular drink in the 20's as well as the name of a notorious gambler.

the purposeful typo is also confusing because it is "bullpen" not bull pin and I cannot figure out what the point of this "misspelling" is.

I am so curious what a cow curtain is, even in relation to a bull pin I cannot figure out what a cow curtain might be. it is rather confusing.

the closeness of this word to the word dog makes me think it is talking about a cat, but at the same time I feel the reader is definitely supposed to question which is being referred to.

this line is oxymoronic, numbed and terror are on different ends of a spectrum, numbness is feeling nothing while terror is an overwhelming feeling. The juxtaposition of these two possibly implies that the numbness is what is ultimately terrifying.

Mignonette is a grey green color

no love nor night of passion is more valuable than sustenance.

Love is not enough to sustain life, and it should not be considered the end all be all of life

This part I have always found to be interesting because she had just told him where the key is, but he like in the rest of the story, doesn't listen to her.

I took the water, in the context of being included in this chapter, representing freedom and at the end the speaker isn't just longing for freedom, but freedom is yearning for him/her.

Du Bois, here seems to be naming what he thinks of as the different races of the world, even though most are white. This is a confusing and follows with saying that "the Negro is a sort of seventh son" which seems to say that of all the races, black people are especially othered.

This as well as "from the" are used repeatedly as anaphora throughout the poem which could be a reference to the "I Have a Dream" speech by Martin Luther King Jr. which also notably makes use of anaphora.

West Virginia being mentioned could connect to all of the black imagery as a possible reference to West Virginia being a major producer of coal which is further reenforced near the end when "oil-stained earth" is said.