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American poets


             The first three lines describe the life stealing heaviness that America places on the speaker. America is personified and McKay uses this device to depict the murderous nature that the speaker associates with the country. He uses the image of America sinking her teeth into him as a way to show his frustration and agony in the way that he has been treated as an American citizen. The idea that he is being fed "bread of bitterness" ties into the same idea that he is frustrated with his mistreatment. This day to day battle makes him feel as though America is "stealing his breath of life" yet he does not give up hope. The next lines of the poem illustrate that even though America is against him, he continues to be strong in order to survive the everyday struggle that he faces as a black man. Lines 5 and 6 depict the speaker's will to rise above America's oppression. "Her vigor flows like tides into my blood, /Giving me strength erect against her hate" (5-6). These lines illustrate the idea that the speaker will continue to live in spite of America's wish to kill him. America's hate for him only makes him stronger and gives him the desire to succeed. America's will to push him down is the same energy he uses to boost himself up. The speaker continues to show that he is not fearful of America and nor does he hold any ill feeling toward her, yet he feels loss at the fact that such a promising nation would be lost to the corruption and ill treatment of its people. Lines 8-10 express this idea. "Yet as a rebel fronts a king in state, /I stand within her walls with not a shred/Of terror, malice, not a word of jeer." (8-10) Even though the speaker is bitter about the way that America has treated him, he does not harbor any malice or contempt. He uses his poor treatment for the foundation of his strength and resilience. In the last lines of the poem the speaker describes his feelings that America's promise has been lost in its impurity.


Essays Related to American poets

1. The Great American Poets

The Great American Poets During the nineteenth century, many new authors blossomed in America. ... Besides Robert Frost, Longfellow may be considered the most popular American poet. ... He soon became associated with the symbolic American Poet. He was appreciated not only in America, but in England as well, where a marble image of him was placed in the Poets" Corner in Westminster Abbey, London. ... They will be forever remembered for their amazing talents as American poets of their time....

  • Word Count: 738
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: High School

2. Poets are born not made

Walt Whitman was considered to be the poet of the people. ... The works of American poet Robert Frost tell of simple things- swinging on a birch tree, stopping by woods on a snowy evening, and the death of a hired man. ... He later became editor of the school newspaper and was elected class poet. ... Robert Graves said, "the truth is that Frost was the first American who could be honestly reckoned a master-poet by world standards. ... Today many consider Whitman to be the greatest American poet. ...

  • Word Count: 3004
  • Approx Pages: 12
  • Grade Level: High School

3. Rap is Poetry of Today

Rap might not be poetry to most literature professors or the Academy of American Poets, but I would ask them what poetry is. ... Poets use language to express an idea: to make it tangible in a form that can be shared. ... I would tell the Academy of American Poets that rap is the poetry of today just like rock and roll was a few years ago. ... Rappers, or the poets of today express themselves in ways the common street person can understand. ... In my 4 page paper coming up I would like to write about the best Poet alive right now. ...

  • Word Count: 320
  • Approx Pages: 1
  • Grade Level: High School

4. Early American Poets

Anne Bradstreet, Edward Taylor, Michael Wigglesworth, and Ebenezer Cook are all classic examples of early American poets. ... Although each poet had different styles, all four are early American writers who had strong thoughts and were not afraid to express these thoughts in their writings. Not only is she considered to be the first established female writer, Bradstreet is also recognized as America's first poet. ... But even so, he is still regarded as a powerful American poet. ... Although not all of their beliefs or writing styles were the same, through their works, Anne Brads...

  • Word Count: 1254
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Grade Level: High School

5. Poetry

There are also many poets with different styles, here are two great American poets Walt Whitman and Robert Frost. ... (www.Encarta.com) Walt Whitman (1819-1892) was a very famous American poet, whose work boldly asserts the worth of the individual and the oneness of all humanity. ... (www.Encarta.com) Robert Frost (1874-1963) was another American poet who drew his images from the New England countryside and his language from New England speech. ... Publishing his book of Poems "A Boy's Will", also Robert met other American Poets in England including fellow New Englander Amy Lowe...

  • Word Count: 882
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: High School

6. Robert Frost

Born in San Francisco in 1874, Robert Frost was an American poet who was much admired for his depictions of the rural life of New England, his wide use of American colloquial speech, and his realistic verse portraying ordinary people in everyday situations. ... In the early 1890's, he worked in New England as a farmer, an editor, and a schoolteacher, however his career as a poet never blossomed as he had hoped it to until he moved with his wife, Elinor White, to London in 1912. There, he was introduced to contemporary British poets such as Edward Thomas, Rupert Brooke, and Robert Graves...

  • Word Count: 1053
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: High School

7. Robert Frost

Born in San Francisco in 1874, Robert Frost was an American poet who was much admired for his depictions of the rural life of New England, his wide use of American colloquial speech, and his realistic verse portraying ordinary people in everyday situations. ... In the early 1890's, he worked in New England as a farmer, an editor, and a schoolteacher, however his career as a poet never blossomed as he had hoped it to until he moved with his wife, Elinor White, to London in 1912. There, he was introduced to contemporary British poets such as Edward Thomas, Rupert Brooke, and Robert Graves...

  • Word Count: 1000
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: High School

8. Paul LAurence Dunbar

No Negro of finer artistic spirit has been born in America (Bone 131). ... Paul Laurence Dunbar is a well know African American, classical poet of the nineteenth century, who writes poems in standard English or black dialect, seeks to recreate the Negro, and cries out to freedom form slavery to all of the Negroes who read his work. ... Dunbar was an American poet and some say he rarely condemned racial stereotypes and black discrimination (Draper 623). ... He was the first black American poet to gain this national praise, although white and black writers before him have used it also (Laryea 1...

  • Word Count: 1623
  • Approx Pages: 6
  • Grade Level: High School

9. Famous Latin American Authors

José Martí was a Cuban poet, essayist and journalist, who became the symbol of Cuba's fight to get independence from Spain. ... In 1914 he was honored in New York with a silver medal from the Hispanic society of America. When Blue was released he was introduced as the spokesman for Latin American modernism. ... Nicola¡s Guillén was a Cuban poet and a leader of the Afro-Cuban movement which was developed in the Caribbean. ... By the end of his life he was known as the most influential of the Latin-American poets who dealt with African themes....

  • Word Count: 601
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Grade Level: High School

10. Robert Frost

Robert Frost was considered the "most popular modern American poet of the twentieth century" (Literature Online 1). ... Nevertheless, he has, even after his death, remained as "one of the greatest, if not the very greatest, of modern American poets" (Literature Online 1). ... Frost did not fret, and shortly after he became a successful poet. ... It is no wonder that Frost has been quoted as the "American equivalent of a poet laureate" (A Tribute To Robert Frost). ... Sarah Jackson said in 1996, "There will probably be few American Poets to gain in their lifetimes the recognition Ro...

  • Word Count: 2122
  • Approx Pages: 8
  • Grade Level: High School

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