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Listening to the audio clip of “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks further enhanced my impression of the poem as a reflective experience of the author on her youthful days. Although the clip itself featured small background information on the poem, Brooks perfectly captured the intonation of the poem I have in mind through her free-flowing and happy-go-lucky yet clairvoyant recitation. The writing style the poem presents has already gave me the idea on its possible manner of recitation prior to hearing its audio clip, in which the author herself has recited the poem. An African-American, Brooks perfectly encapsulated the culture her community has espoused, which in turn has blended well with the intonation of her recitation. Themes such as jazz music and Prohibition-era gin have become integral to the vividness of the poem in presenting the kind of life Brooks and her peers have been through. The experiences of Brooks as inferable through the poem took place at a time where discrimination against African-Americans still proliferate within American society, despite the reforms the end of the Civil War in 1865 has brought (Perkins & Perkins, 2008).
“My Papa’s Waltz” is a seminal poem by Theodore Roethke that centers on the narrative of a child, possibly the author, being melancholic towards his experiences under the hands of his abusive father. The recitation of the poem featured in the audio clip is by no means an understatement of the prevailing theme. The fact that the reciter used a mellow yet depressed tone stands as an affirmation clearing the somewhat bipolar impression the poem creates when read silently. Combining themes of happiness (e.g. waltz) and depression (e.g. whiskey, battery, etc.), the poem may somewhat confuse readers who would read it silently. Ergo, the audio clip of the poem stands as an essential tool for making readers understand the underlying meanings it possess (Perkins & Perkins, 2008).
References
Perkins, G., & Perkins, B. (2008). The American tradition in literature. New York City, NY: McGraw-Hill.
