A Postcard from the Volcano by Steven Wallace
This short poem written by Steven Wallace is more about the remains of a person after his demise. It is related more to the impact that the future generations would have as a result of the remains after the death of an individual.
The poem is written in verses of three lines. This short poem written by Steven Wallace, offers a unique perspective to its readers. Steven Wallace starts the poem with imagery as the tone for the entire poem is set through its imagery. Every image that Wallace uses in the poem convey various emotions.
There is significant shift of tense within the poem, which while separating the past from the present, also connects the two in a truly beautiful way. Abstract imagery, imagery that conveys distance, among others are prominently used within the poem.
The entire poem gives out an informal speech, in which the narrator while addressing himself offers a contrast between himself and the future generations. This contradiction is presented with the help of an abstract imagery.
The connection with the current generation is apparent in this poem, because the poet refers to the contemporary times more than once in the entire poem while for every reference of the modern times, has a flashback that is related.
While explaining the days he spent with his friend when he was young, the narrator also constantly shifts between generations to explain the difference that exists between the past and the future generations.
As already mentioned above, the poet uses abstract imagery to show the relationships and how they develop or growth with the passage of time, and the focus is constantly upon the future, though the reference is about the current or the past generation.
“Song for a Dark Girl" by Langston Hughes and the usage of the song ‘Dixie’
This particular poem of Langston Hughes is purely about racism and subjugation. The extent to which the girl in the poem is heartbroken can be understood clearly from the quotes that Hughes used in the poem.
The title of the poem proves that the girl in question is a black girl and this translates to racism being the crux of the discussion. The agony and despair of the girls is because of the death of her lover, who is also a black male. He dies because he was forcibly hung to the branch of a tree.
Hughes makes extensive use of "Dixie" in order to ensure that the readers understand fully the travesty occurred in some place of the south. All through the whole poem, there are minor links to the black lover of the girl who died and Jesus.
The question that the heartbroken black girl asks is what the benefit of praying to a white Jesus is. Dixie and its usage in the poem substantiates that fact that the incident has taken place in the south, where racism was at its height. It narrates how bad and heinous things were for the black people living in the south.
Dixie essentially brings back strong and painful reminiscences and recollections of the Civil War, which was a horrifying and atrocious period, especially for the slaves. At the end of the poem, the black girl sings Dixie in order to ensure that people never ever forget the pain and agony that she experiences while in South.
References
Stevens, W. (1991). A Postcard from the Volcano. In W. Stevens, The Plain Sense of Things. New York: Oxford University Press.
