...Poem Analysis “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks portrays a fasting living life and dying young. It talks about rebellious youngsters who are not fond of attending school so skip and find solace and pleasure at a pool. This poem holds the whole lives of a teenage gang, from their coolness to their demise. It could be a motto, it could be a song, a chant, a lyric rage against the powers that be. It has end rhyme and internal rhyme which is technically full – cool and school, sin and gin and the repetitive we; this is rhyme that binds together the brotherhood of the gang. The poem is not too long to induce boredom. The tone is one of defiance and stubborn allegiance to the gang. This is a group...
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...The poem We Real Cool was written by Gwendolyn Brooks. The poem expresses the quality of life in the city for young African-American men in the early 1960`s. This poem is short but has a powerful message behind it. The poem is about troubled teens who enjoy being in the streets and that if they continue this lifestyle they will end up dead. The boys are not too fond about attending school so, they skip and go to a pool facility. The poem makes it seem as if the boys do not care about their education and want to live a bad lifestyle. The poem gives the reader an idea about how the author feels about young pool players. Throughout the poem the author uses symbolism, imagery, irony and tone. The title of the poem is ironic, “We Real Cool” contradicts the last...
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...101 Professor Molitoris March 18, 2014 A Breakdown of Two Small But Powerful Poems Robert Frost’s “Fire and Ice” poem and Gwendolyn Brooks’ “We Real Cool” are ten lines or less but are poems that are extremely powerful and influential. Robert Frost talks about death but if the world ended, how would an individual want to die. Would an individual rather die by burning to death or being frozen to death? Gwendolyn Brooks’ poem is about a group of young black men who have no potential or future. All in all these poems have a vivid sense of imagery, an inspirational theme, and an odd rhyme scheme and meter. Although these two poems have two completely different subjects, they make you think and actually begin to questions certain aspects of life. In Brooks’ she sets the scene along with her characters and setting before even starting the poem. She lets know the characters are seven pool players, at the Golden Shovel. The Golden Shovel is a metaphor for these teenagers digging their own grave, when they’re supposed to be having fun, because they’re in their golden years. In lines 2-4 of her poem she talks about how the teenagers dropped out of school, stay out late, and that they commit crimes head on. This is a great example of imagery, because one can easily imagine young African-American kids not having anything to do after they dropped out of school and start to do illegal things. Therefore Brooks’ gave a great name for the setting, the Golden Shovel because these teenagers...
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...2052) or rime, which is when two or more words that contain identical or similar vowel sound (Kennedy and Gioia, 2074). In the two pieces “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks and “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke the poets use a combination of rime, rhythm and meter to get the poem’s meaning across. The poem “We Real Cool” uses rhythm, the pattern of stresses and pauses in a poem, to get across the poet Gwendolyn Brooks’ theme. “We Real Cool” is about a group of boys that should be in school but decide to skip to go do something that is considered “cool”. Brooks uses an imitative tone while simultaneously, questioning of a group of the boys in a pool hall’s lives. Questions come up like “What are they doing here?” and “Shouldn’t they be in school?” but the bigger question is how do they feel about their lives. The poem implies the message that the boys in this pool hall are unhappy with their everyday lives, so they feel the need to pretend to be something else, something “cooler”. By using certain elements of sound Brooks shows the readers that she believes that these boys in the pool hall are trying to be something they are not. The poem also gives the reader a feeling of nostalgia. It brings the reader back to a time when they were younger and reminds them of the times that they tried to be something they were not. Brooks uses elements of sound like internal rime and meter to imitate how she believes that the boys would sound while talking about their activities. In lines...
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...always greener on the other side. This is the case in Gwendolyn Brooks’ “a song in the front yard,” which tells the story of a young girl who yearns to live a life different from her own. This is something that just about anyone can relate to, whether you’re rich or poor. This poem starts off with the narrator saying “I’ve stayed in the front yard all my life.” (Brooks). This metaphor sets the scene for the rest of the poem, which talks of her desire to “peek at the back” (Brooks). The front yard symbolizing the safe, upper-class life that she has been privileged enough to be born into, and the backyard being the more dangerous, promiscuous life that she craves. Brooks manages to accurately portray the secret desires of all adolescents to experience the lives of others, not realizing that these lives come with their own set of ups and downs. “A song in the front yard” is told from the perspective of a seemingly young girl. From the way that this girl describes the “wonderful” yet “rough and untended” backyard, the reader can infer that this is all just a dream of hers...
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...the front yard” Ron Giles (Cited in Lynn, 2004) states that Gwendolyn Brooks “a song in the front yard” tells the story of a young woman who is waiting for the day she can break free of the constraints of her upbringing and live a wild, fun-filled life. Giles further states that this young girl in the poem has already had a taste of that life, and is not simply engaging in the conflict of the innocent upbringing and the urges of puberty; she is longing for the day she can completely break free of her mother's rule. Giles begins his critique by offering the arguments for the Freudian interpretation. He tells what other critics have offered, such as Ronald Janssen's claim that the poem is an id/ego conflict, a young woman's mental exploration of sexuality, and then details his own claim that it goes even further (Giles, cited in Lynn). Using lines from the poem, Giles attempts to support the claim that the girl has already had some experience, some knowledge of the wilder life; Giles claims she has already had “a peek” at it, a sample of it which makes her want more. Giles compares different interpretations, not taking it so far as Shaw (Cited in Lynn) who suggests she is willing to endure spiritual death, but believing that she has already made the choice to experience life without the constraints of morals or propriety, and is merely waiting for the change to complete her transition. In reading the poem multiple times and looking specifically for Giles' indication that...
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...DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND LITERATURE College of Arts and Sciences San Beda College COURSESYLLABUS First Semester, AY2014-2015 San Beda College, a Catholic educational institution, is committed to the Christian formation of the Bedan Community as its service to the Church, the Philippine society, and the world. Vision : San Beda College envisions a community that is Fully Human, Wholly Christian, Truly Filipino, and Globally Competitive. Mission : San Beda College aims to form its members in Faith, Knowledge, and Virtue Core Values : Inculcate in the students the Benedictine core values of Study, Community, and Pursuit of Peace ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________ Course Title Course Code Pre- requisite Credits : : : : World Literature Lit 02 Lit 01 3 Units Vision-Mission Statement : Instructor : Email : Office : Consultation Hours: MWF Venue : Consultation Rm. I. Course Description: Socorro D. De Jesus, Ph.D. Associate Professor 1 socorro_dejesus@hotmail.com General Education Faculty Rm, 2 nd floor, St. Anselm's Building 1 The course will introduce students to the writings of persons from selected countries across the different continents of the world. Students will gain an understanding of literary concepts to be able to interpret, analyze and evaluate various genres. Furthermore, students will have the opportunity...
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...not let you bring me down and every time you do, I will get stronger and stronger. She references that she creates waves like the moon and the sun, that she is challenging and the other person doesn’t like it. She felt the other person was trying to break her down and be dominating but she was a strong woman and would not let that happen. In the end, she says she is leaving all her negatives in the past and focusing on the future. She is a wanted person and she has pride. Maya Angelou was an author and poet. Still I rise was published in 1978. It was Maya Angelou’s third volume of poetry. She had previously written three autobiographies along with her two volumes of poetry. “And Still I rise” is a collection of thirty-two short poems that are divided in three parts. It focuses on the ability to overcome adversity and the challenges that others inflict upon you. She uses these same...
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...COLT 102 February 13, 2015 K. Calhoon Essay Assignment Write a four-page essay (printed, double-spaced) based on one of the following prompts: • Gwendolyn Brooks’ “The Ballad of Rudolph Reed” presents a sequence of events culminating in Rudolph Reed’s death. Canto 33 of Dante’s Inferno presents a similar sequence in which the death of Ugolino’s sons and eventually Ugolino himself is described. Look at these two texts carefully. Compare and contrast the ways in which Brooks’ and Dante’s language develop this crescendo of despair. Note: We are not asking you to tell us what happens but how words work to create expectations, foster tension, etc. • In his “Open Letter on Translation,” Martin Luther faults his detractors for their literalism. Explain Luther’s position, and discuss it in relation to Dante’s Inferno, using examples from the latter text to illustrate where the ability to differentiate between the spirit and the letter matters. • Shakespeare’s Henry IV and Molière’s The Bourgeois Gentleman are very different plays. Both, however, are rich in comedy. Each also contains a play within a play. Compare them with respect to this particular aspect. Analyze each play within a play, and use this as an opportunity to reflect on the nature of comedy as such. Please make use of Aristotle’s Poetics as a possible guide in your discussion. • We have dealt extensively with gesture in the course of our discussions, observing how, in plays such as Molière’s The...
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...HOW TO WRITE A LITERARY ANALYSIS ESSAY The purpose of a literary analysis essay is to carefully examine and sometimes evaluate a work of literature or an aspect of a work of literature. As with any analysis, this requires you to break the subject down into its component parts. Examining the different elements of a piece of literature is not an end in itself but rather a process to help you better appreciate and understand the work of literature as a whole. For instance, an analysis of a poem might deal with the different types of images in a poem or with the relationship between the form and content of the work. If you were to analyze (discuss and explain) a play, you might analyze the relationship between a subplot and the main plot, or you might analyze the character flaw of the tragic hero by tracing how it is revealed through the acts of the play. Analyzing a short story might include identifying a particular theme (like the difficulty of making the transition from adolescence to adulthood) and showing how the writer suggests that theme through the point of view from which the story is told; or you might also explain how the main character‟s attitude toward women is revealed through his dialogue and/or actions. REMEMBER: Writing is the sharpened, focused expression of thought and study. As you develop your writing skills, you will also improve your perceptions and increase your critical abilities. Writing ultimately boils down to the development of an idea....
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...University of North Carolina at Pembroke English and Theatre DEPARTMENT COURSE: ENG 2100: African American Literature Fall 2014 INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Charles Tita OFFICE: West Building, Office of Distance Education OFFICE HOURS: Monday 4-6 and Tuesday/Thursday 10:30-12 OFFICE PHONE: 521 6352 FAX: 910 521 6762 EMAIL ADDRESS: charles.tita@uncp.edu LECTURE TIME: Tuesday/Thursday 2-3:15pm LOCATION: DIAL 147 REQUIRED TEXT Gates Jr., Henry Louis, and Nellie Y. McKay, eds. The Norton Anthology of African American Literature. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2004. OPTIONAL REFERENCES Locke, Alain, ed. The New Negro. New York: Atheneum, 1968. hooks, bell. Teaching to Trangress: Education as the Practice of Freedom. New York: Routledge, 1994. Harrold, Stanley. American Abolitionists. New York: Pearson Education, 2001. Youngs, J. William T. American Realities: Historical Episodes-From First Settlements to the Civil War. New York: Longman, 2000. Fanon, Frantz. The Wretched of the Earth. New York: Grove Press, 1963. COURSE DESCRIPTION: A survey of African American literature, introducing students to genres, trends, and major periods of African American literature, ranging from the 17th-, 18th- and 19th- century autobiographies and narratives to 20tth –century works. Authors include: Jupiter Hammon, Briton Hammon, Sojourner Truth, Nat Turner, Claude McKay, Zora Neale Hurston, Sterling Brown, Richard Wright, Lorraine Hansberry, Amiri Baraka, Toni Morrison...
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... Life Sciences South 163 Monday/Wednesday/Friday 9:30 am – 10:20 am January 9, 2013 – May 10, 2013 Course Description In this class, we will learn about the basic conventions and terms used to understand and discuss the three major genres of literature: fiction, poetry, and drama. This class will help you understand the sometimes baffling world of literature, and is intended to provide the general student with basic experience in literary analysis. Additionally, I hope this class will lead you to a lifelong appreciation for (and engagement with) reading literature. Although this class features extensive reading and writing, it is not necessary for you to be a bookworm or a writing superstar to succeed in this class – if you are willing to put in the time and effort to study, faithfully attend class, keep up on your reading and writing assignments and engage in our discussions ...
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...C h a p t e r 1 Prewriting GETTING STARTED (OR SOUP-CAN LABELS CAN BE FASCINATING) For many writers, getting started is the hardest part. You may have noticed that when it is time to begin a writing assignment, you suddenly develop an enormous desire to straighten your books, water your plants, or sharpen your pencils for the fifth time. If this situation sounds familiar, you may find it reassuring to know that many professionals undergo these same strange compulsions before they begin writing. Jean Kerr, author of Please Don’t Eat the Daisies, admits that she often finds herself in the kitchen reading soup-can labels—or anything—in order to prolong the moments before taking pen in hand. John C. Calhoun, vice president under Andrew Jackson, insisted he had to plow his fields before he could write, and Joseph Conrad, author of Lord Jim and other novels, is said to have cried on occasion from the sheer dread of sitting down to compose his stories. To spare you as much hand-wringing as possible, this chapter presents some practical suggestions on how to begin writing your short essay. Although all writers must find the methods that work best for them, you may find some of the following ideas helpful. But no matter how you actually begin putting words on paper, it is absolutely essential to maintain two basic ideas concerning your writing task. Before you write a single sentence, you should always remind yourself that 1. You have some valuable ideas to tell your reader,...
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...M A G A Z I N E FA L L 2 0 0 2 Volume 20 Number 2 SPANNING THE GLOBE Duke Leads the Way in International Law Teaching and Scholarship inside plus Duke admits smaller, exceptionally well-qualified class Duke’s Global Capital Markets Center to launch new Directors’ Education Institute from the dean Dear Alumni and Friends, It is not possible, these days, for a top law school to be anything other than an international one. At Duke Law, we no longer think of “international” as a separate category. Virtually everything we do has some international dimension, whether it concerns international treaties and protocols, commercial transactions across national borders, international child custody disputes, criminal behavior that violates international human rights law, international sports competitions, global environmental regulation, international terrorism, or any number of other topics. And, of course, there is little that we do at Duke that does not involve scholars and students from other countries, who are entirely integrated with U.S. scholars and students. Students enrolled in our joint JD/LLM program in international and comparative law receive an in-depth education in both the public and private aspects of international and comparative law, enriched by the ubiquitous presence of foreign students; likewise, the foreign lawyers who enroll in our one-year LLM program in American law enroll in the same courses, attend the same conferences...
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...M A G A Z I N E FA L L 2 0 0 2 Volume 20 Number 2 SPANNING THE GLOBE Duke Leads the Way in International Law Teaching and Scholarship inside plus Duke admits smaller, exceptionally well-qualified class Duke’s Global Capital Markets Center to launch new Directors’ Education Institute from the dean Dear Alumni and Friends, It is not possible, these days, for a top law school to be anything other than an international one. At Duke Law, we no longer think of “international” as a separate category. Virtually everything we do has some international dimension, whether it concerns international treaties and protocols, commercial transactions across national borders, international child custody disputes, criminal behavior that violates international human rights law, international sports competitions, global environmental regulation, international terrorism, or any number of other topics. And, of course, there is little that we do at Duke that does not involve scholars and students from other countries, who are entirely integrated with U.S. scholars and students. Students enrolled in our joint JD/LLM program in international and comparative law receive an in-depth education in both the public and private aspects of international and comparative law, enriched by the ubiquitous presence of foreign students; likewise, the foreign lawyers who enroll in our one-year LLM program in American law enroll in the same courses, attend the same conferences...
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