African Influences in Their Poetry

Contents

1

1

Introduction3

Discussion3

Analysis of the poem "Ka'Ba"3

Analysis of the poem Muse and Drudge4

Analysis of the poem 'Who said it was simple'5

Analysis of the poem 'Coal'6

Critical Analysis7

A brief History of American African People7

Conclusion10

References12

African Influences in Their Poetry

Introduction

This essay will discuss the reasons why black American poets have looked to African influences in their poetry, and how these influences have shaped their poetry? For this purpose, I will conduct an analysis and discuss many poems of African poets such as 'Ka Ba' by Amiri Baraka, 'Muse and Drudge' by Harryette Mullen 'Sisters in Arms', 'Who said it was Simple' and 'Coal' by Audre Lorde. The above mentioned poem will discuss in the whole and analyzes the African influences in their poetry.

Discussion

All the related work has been discussed separately in the following paragraphs:

Analysis of the poem "Ka'Ba"

The poet Amiri Baraka has used various images in his poem to express a clear meaning through analyzing the words which has been used by the author. He thinks regarding the lives of African Americans and provides us an insight about his feelings. Through his poem, he has expressed that African Americans are left alone in this nation where they are being looked down upon by the white people. The poet describes American as a prison for African people living in the country. The poet has used the phrase "closed window", "sprawl in gray chains" and "captured” in the poem which resembles the prison. They are being cornered in predicament by white people and are being subjected to hatred because they are black. The black people live under the darkness and sorrow their whole life. They are discriminated in the American society. The black people are living in a dismal and gloomy situation and their future in this country is very bleak. This poem tells about the opinion of the author about Africans who are residing in the United States. These black people came from a great land and they are the people with great imagination but unfortunately, they are being looked down upon only because they color of skin is black. The author describes the origin of blacks from where they came. Their customs, traditions and beliefs are unique. Their world is really lovely from where they came. In the words of black people, there exist warm and joy. Their feelings have never been felt by the white people because see them with jaundiced eye. Black people struggle their whole life to come out of the dirty courtyard as described by the poet. They are captured in chains by the white people and they want to free themselves from the turpitude and atrocities by the whites. They have become fed up with the biased attitude of society towards them and they want to escape the land of white people.

Analysis of the poem Muse and Drudge

Harryette Mullen, in her poem Muse and Drudge, has used literary and historical references to describe race and identity. She begins her poem with the phrase “tom-tom can't catch a green cabin,” ...