Poetry Analysis
Introduction
Poetry is a form of literature that employs rhythmic and aesthetic qualities of language. It uses a set of elements or instruments to help bring imagination, emotion and meaning to a reader. Some of the elements used include images, diction, figurative language, lines and stanzas, symbols, and syntax. These elements contribute to the poem’s effect. To this end, poets should strive to use either one or a combination of these elements in their poem(s) to appeal to the sense of the reader(s) as well as give them new insights beyond the literal meaning of the words used in the poem.
The use of figurative language in the poem “On Being Told I Don’t Speak like a Black Person’, by Allison Joseph
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Metaphor is a figure of speech in which a word or phrase that ordinarily denotes one thing is applied to something else in order to suggest an analogy or a likeness between the two things (Starkey, 2014, p. 46). The entire poem is rich with metaphor as the poet’s mother and her fellow pupils in the class represent the group of Black American students in the United States, who are looked down upon in their educational institutions because of their Jamaican ascent. In their social encounters, these students are forced by their teachers and fellow students to change their Jamaican ascent to speak English with a British ascent. This is evidenced in the poem’s first stanza, where Allison Joseph asserts, “And I didn’t sound like a Black American, college acquaintances observed, sure they knew what a black person was supposed to sound like. Was I supposed to sound lazy, dropping syllables here, there, not finishing words but slurring the final letter so that each sentence joined the next, sliding past the listener? The poem also shows how ascent can be manufactured and faked. For example, in the poem’s first stanza, Allison asserts, “I didn’t sound like anyone or anything, no grating New York nasality, no fastidious British mannerisms like the ones my father affected when he wanted to sell someone something.” Here the ‘fastidious British mannerisms’ the poet’s factor put on when he wanted to sell people things depicts how ascent can