Ashley Wilson
Brown
English 152 OM3
6 November 2016
Read Between the Lines
The anthology The New Census: An Anthology of Contemporary American Poetry captures a wide range of contemporary poems covering formal, social, and creative concerns. Although The New Census includes multiple poems from forty poets, there were two poems that both employ aesthetic traits and were the most engaging. The most intriguing literary piece presented in The New Census is “Coon Songs Must Go! Coon Songs Must Go on” by Tyehimba Jess. The second poem that wasn’t as engaging as “Coon Songs Must Go! Coon Songs Must Go on” but still possess interesting elements is “Tin Man” by Jericho Brown. Unlike “Tin Man,” the speaker of “Coon Songs Must Go! Coon Songs Must Go …show more content…
Brown automatically assumes that most readers are familiar with the speaker. This reference creates an allusion, a structure that many poets do not include in their poem, in order to give the reader a sense of familiarity of the poem. This is an important element in order to grab reader’s attention, however, Brown dosen’t construct “Tin Man” in a more unique way than Jess did in “Coon Songs Must Go! Coon Songs Must Go on.” Brown goes above and beyond and creates a three column poem, but struggles to make the poem to be easily read horizontally and vertically. Horizontally the poem reads “In my chest/ a slit of air./ Don’t say love” (Brown 67). Vertically the poem reads “In my chest/ drop a penny./ Cities shine gray./ No green is god” (67). Brown did an excellent job by separating the lines into three columns, but he confuses readers who don’t know whether to read horizontal or vertical. In this case, reading “Tin Man” horizontally conveys the message clearly and can be easily read rather than reading the lines vertically. Brown may have incorporated some unique elements into his literary piece, however, Jess executes elements in a well-structured manner that is clear to …show more content…
Determining the lineation of a poem is beneficial for the reader in order for them to understand the speakers flow of thoughts. In “Coon Songs Must Go! Coon Songs Must Go on”, Jess uses enjambment lineation, “…or some other song/ that has plenty of coon in it/ with an emphasis on the word coon” (Jess 154). Enjambment lineation shows readers that the speakers is running on of a thought from one line to another without a punctuation mark. This form of lineation also allows readers to read the poem thoroughly without interruptions from pauses within the poem. On the other hand, many other poets such as Brown end lines with natural pauses or with punctuation, also known as end-stopped lineation. End-stopped lineation was applied to “Tin Man”, “…Man made me. Add a little oil, drop one penny, / Pull the lever; I chop. Men made me…” (Brown 67). Although end-stopped lineation is most commonly used amongst poets, it creates a distraction for many readers. While reading “Coon Songs Must Go! Coon Songs Must Go on”, the speakers message and thoughts were clear and informative. However, while reading “Tin Man”, more critical thinking had to take place due to the numerous pauses. Tyhehimba Jess displays a more powerful message because all of the speaker’s thoughts were able to be read at fast paced rhythm, whereas in “Tin Man”, I had some difficulty understanding the