They point with pride to the roads you built for them They ride in comfort over the rails you laid for them
Much like Hughes's writing, it discusses the labor of black individuals, but whites will take pride in these things that have been done by African American's.
The strong men keep a-comin’ on The strong men git stronger.
Like Hughes, as a black you must keep striving. You do get stronger, but is not recognized like whites.
An’ some folks sits dere waitin’ wid deir aches an’ miseries, Till Ma comes out before dem, a-smilin’ gold-toofed smiles
This reminds me of Hughes because his poems similarly address fear, and no matter the success of blacks, their is always something that is going to get in the way of getting what is truly deserved.
spring
Much like The Burial of The Dead, he refers to spring, and also discusses flowers blooming. This poems relate with their context.
merge the broken images
This is similar to Waste Land because although things are scattered in that poem, but at the end of each scattered lines or stanza, the poem comes to some sort of light, like this one.
dry root
Like Eliot's poem he uses the word "dry" or "dryness" a lot. In Eliot's poem it was related to death.
“Are you alive, or not? Is there nothing in your head?”
Zombie motif--"in-between"
But dry sterile thunder without rain
"Dryness" is another motif in the poem, I think that when "dry" is being used, it is referring to death or something that is coming to an end.
If there were water we should stop and drink
Water is a continuous motif in the poem. Although water is an essential part of life, the poem refers to water as death if there is too much.
Fear death by water
Eliot uses water in the poem a lot, but each time it is used there is something that contradicts water being resourceful and a good thing. Here he uses it "Fear death by water" which is describing that a man has died by drowning.
nd the dry stone no sound of water
The author use of the word dry is a pattern. It refers to things being dull, or having "no life" because of the way he is using it. I think the title of the poem is to more so describe death than really describe spring, because spring is usually a blooming beautiful time.
breeding Lilacs out of the dead land
The author describes spring in a contrasting way because spring is usually a happy time when the season begins, flowers begin blooming and the weather starts to get warmer. Here he describes spring a little differently, I think he describes it this way because it is also known as a rebirth and something may have altered him to see April as a cruel month.
Mere colors.
E Pluribus Unum by Rebecca Warde, The Montpelier Foundation, 2017.
bloom.
Ethel.
wildcarrot leaf
I have never heard of a "wildcarrot leaf" but its good to know what they are and what they look like.
viburnum
I see these kind of plants all the time when I am out in public, but never knew the name of them, prior to this text.
young slatterns
This image is a picture of a kitchen Slattern. I also had to look up the term Slattern: "A dirty, untidy women, also known as a slut, prostitute.
with its isolate lakes
This isolated Jellyfish lake is beautiful.
superfluous
I had to look this word up because I am not familiar with it. I saw that it means unnecessary. I guess the author was trying to be unique with his vocabulary. Its just a weird word that I do not think a lot of people use often.
It is better to present one Image in a lifetime than to produce voluminous works.
I think the author may be suggesting that one big picture can do the trick if it contains the right amount of details, and the quantity of the image.
words are shovelled in to fill a metric pattern or to complete the noise of a rhyme-sound
It seems that they do not like freestyle writing. If it doesn't hit a note then it does not belong
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I- I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.
At first this seemed to be a problem, but in the ed, it was for the better. Sometimes taking chances is for the better. You never know what you are going to get unless you try it.
And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Even though at first he can't make a decision, when he finally does he choses to take the one that isn't taken very often. When he finally takes it, he realizes it was for the better. This is important because we should all do the same and try new things.
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood
This is something we all struggle with. Trying to do more than one thing at a time is difficult, sometimes we can and other times we cant. I think this line is very relatable.
WENT
I was wondering why this is capitalized? Was it a forceful "WENT" to the dances, as if it was a bad thing?
Tragedy, comedy, valor and truth, Courage, constancy, heroism, failure–
These are all of the things that were going on around the village that he seemed to miss.
All in the loom, and oh what patterns! Woodlands, meadows, streams and rivers– Blind to all of it all my life long.
This line here is describes how the life around the village was going on around him, but he was blind to all of it.
SEEDS in a dry pod, tick, tick, tick, Tick, tick, tick, like mites in a quarrel–
I think line means that he is hearing something, but very faintly. I feel that poetry doesn't always make sense but there is always meaning behind the lines.
There was not much that was ahead of him, And there was nothing in the town below–
The townspeople do not know him, and the new people are strangers.
Secure, with only two moons listening, Until the whole harmonious landscape rang–
I think that this line hear is personification.
alnage
I had to look up the term "Alnage" because I haven never heard of this term before. It means "a measurement of cloth"
You think you have mastered it, but just as you get well underway in following, it turns a back-somersault and there you are. It slaps you in the face, knocks you down, and tramples upon you. It is like a bad dream.
Here she discusses the pattern of mental illness. Individuals who suffer from mental illness, tend to have these patterns, You think you escape it, but then it just comes back all over again.
more society and stimulus—but John says the very worst thing I can do is to think about my condition, and I confess it always makes me feel bad.
I think this makes a connection with some of Du Boi's writing because I feel that this line has to do with not liking what you are being forced to do something that you do not want to do or simply having to accept what you are according to society.
the pure human spirit of the Declaration of Independence than the American Negroes; there is no true American music but the wild sweet melodies of the Negro slave; the American fairy tales and folklore are Indian and African; and, all in all, we black men seem the sole oasis of simple faith and reverence in a dusty desert of dollars and smartness.
The oppression that has been experienced is a need for change in society. The Negros of this time have gained strength through these struggles, but should be able to advance regardless of their racial background.
He simply wishes to make it possible for a man to be both a Negro and an American, without being cursed and spit upon by his fellows, without having the doors of Opportunity closed roughly in his face.
It sad to read that this is how individuals were treated because being someone of color. This man so badly wanted to be an "American" as well as being treated with respect regardless if he was colored. He was treated unequally all because of racism during this time.
And yet, being a problem is a strange experience,
I think this line discusses how racism played a role of colored people--they were considered a "problem" even when they were not doing anything wrong. Some of these individuals only knew of being a "problem" in society due to their color.
ow does it feel to be a problem? they say, I know an excellent colored man in my town; or, I fought at Mechanicsville; or, Do not these Southern outrages make your blood boil? At these I smile, or am interested, or reduce the boiling to a simmer, as the occasion may require
As this discusses the dehumanization on individuals, even the ones who are "excellent" it shows that they will not be represented in society regardless. The issues keep getting worse, rather than fixed.
quintessence
I had to look up this word, because I have never heard of it prior to reading this. "The most perfect or typical example of a quality or class"
Society regarded this victory over sex as its greatest triumph, and the historian readily admitted it, since the moral issue, for the moment, did not concern one who was studying the relations of unmoral force. He cared nothing for the sex of the dynamo until he could measure its energy.
It is really interesting how individuals felt victory when it came to forced sex. During this time, sex represented power, rather than representing it in its natural ways.
Nothing in education is so astonishing as the amount of ignorance it accumulates in the form of inert facts.
This line really stood out to me because I think it represents all of the controversy in the world on the topic of education. There are a lot of issues that individuals have on public education. In other words nothing about education has been surprising, except for the same issues and "inert" facts.
superfluous
I have never heard of this word before, so I looked it up. "Unnecessary, especially through being more than enough"
They Lion grow.
I like use of "They Lion grow" I think it is a way of interpreting the anger of rebellion, but regardless of the indifference, "They Lion" is still fed and grows from the taunting.
Out of the gray hills Of industrial barns, out of rain, out of bus ride, West Virginia to Kiss My Ass, out of buried aunties, Mothers hardening like pounded stumps, out of stumps, Out of the bones’ need to sharpen and the muscles’ to stretch, They Lion grow.
I think that in this verse, again they are representing challenges that are representing the working/ poor class. They discuss "Mothers hardening like pound stumps" to me that may relate to single hard working mothers who are trying to support their families.
Out of the acids of rage, the candor of tar, Out of creosote, gasoline, drive shafts, wooden dollies, They Lion grow.
In this first verse of this poem, It seems like this is a representation of some sort of challenges that are going on, but through the challenges "They Lion grow"
