African American Poetry Essay Research Paper African — страница 3

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that that would have been right either, but this is worse). Then at the end, the reader is drawn right back into the poem with the mother’s plea, “O, here’s the shoe my baby wore, But, baby where are you?”The Test of Atlanta 1979I personally found this poem to be the most powerful in the anthology. This poem also describes modern day racism, but in a totally different manner as “Ballad of Birmingham” did. Whereas “The Ballad of Birmingham” was more of a story of two people involved in the incident, this poem actively questions the morals of every person. At first the questions don’t really personally affect us, “What kind of a person would kill a black child?” But by the end the questions become more personal:”What kind of a person are you?What kind of a

person am I?What makes you so sure?What kind of a person could save a Black child?What kind of a people will lay down itslife for the lives of our children?What kind of a people are we?”The American JournalIn this poem, Hayden uses the first person of an alien studying Earth in order to give the reader an outsiders view of America. He describes the Americans, as people who really don’t understand their own identity, yet have a tremendous pride. Once again America is attacked for its superficiality and lack of spirituality, as we had seen before when comparing America to Africa. The Americans brag of freedom, yet the ghettos persist. What is so special about America is its diversity. In the end he concludes that although the Americans are a violent people, the alien is

attracted to their diversity, ingenuity and something he can’t describe, the essence of America.