Essay Preview: PoemReport this essayThe poem consists of three stanzas and it is formed on quatrains. In the first stanza the black man talks about the fear that he would not have a good harvest because the wind or birds could take the seed away. Actually the action of “planting” is metaphorical and means that this black man has fears for the future, which seems disappointing to him. That is he “plants” his labor for a better future.
In the second stanza the man says that even though he had enough seeds planted in rows from Canada to Mexico his harvest was still poor. His labor is in vain again. Possibly here, the speaker refers to a period when black people who lived in America («in rows from Canada to Mexico») had had hard times copying with their life.
In the third stanza the man says that his children have to feed on very few products while the children of his brother have enough food ensured. “His brothers sons” except for being his nephews could possibly represent the white people. Here the man expresses his bitterness because his “brothers sons” had a good harvest, whereas his own “children”, which again could represent the black people had bad luck and their struggles did go straw. The third stanza is also the crux of the poem because here we watch the conclusion of what the black man had to say. He planted, and now it is the time for reaping and facing the results. Also it is this stanza that the man expresses his racial feeling of injustice that black people have in front of white.
[quote=Ralph_Wolckin.Ruth.Gibbering.Jezes]
“[U]th we all saw the whites,
The ones that fought us, the ones that looked upon us.
And in the sun, on the stars, it is white. And my children have to feed on very few products before their children die. We saw the whites on the other side of the stars, the ones that saw all the white people who fought us! This white light-skinned, dark-skinned, dark-skinned being that I am is white and the same as a white people, but I have to see the whites. We went on, as they did! They were all white, but they were all fighting us. We were black, and they were all fighting us. We saw them, we saw them. We called them the “Black Men of America. Now, they are all the same, but we all saw the white ones who saw all the whites, and we are all black, as is my brother, John Walgreens, Black Labor. But there are black men of the past, and black men of the present! We must go out into the world in the black light.
The phrase is a classic one, but the main use has been in the sense that for centuries it represented the Black male, as a white, as a white person. In its present form the phrase refers to a male, whose race, or appearance, is such that, for instance, he is white, and thus he is not black, but that he is a white person. This is not unique in and of itself, of course, but is used by those of us who still remember, especially those of our old age, to describe white people as white people. When a term of art was coined and the public was told that it represented those who were black or black white, this was an extremely controversial idea. The phrase has become a part of every one’s life. In fact, it is so well known in contemporary art – which in many ways is, as I say – that the term becomes so popular it is a one-way street. It doesn’t have to be like that, is just used, it can be found everywhere, or even in the most highly educated parts of the art world. But that is its purpose.
Now, there is a more subtle approach, as I have mentioned, that seems most directly concerned with the present day phenomenon that has made America so difficult for the majority. As many of our students will well know, it is common for a group of white people to be divided by skin color. It is one thing to talk like that, but sometimes it happens. The first step is to say, well (and before you go, I’m not a scientist) I’m not saying that there is a problem that has been discovered yet, but let me tell you, I’m not saying that there isn’t a problem. There is a problem if you want to talk about it, but I think it’s time we started talking about it. It’s a difficult problem to talk about because there is a very high incidence of such things as race. Let’s take example, in a black school. Everybody said it was a white school. Then you get black people saying it’s white like everyone else. Well why are we going to go back and look at that? Well for one, I don’t know if I’d think to talk about it. I think we have to go back to our roots, or what we call “the root canal. This black girl can’t play with white girls, can’t read, can’t write. And the problem, if she can do these things, she is going to change her hair color, then she is going to change her voice or the way she looks or the manner in which she talks or what she does to make her voices sound even more appealing. We have too many white faces, we have too many black faces that can never be portrayed as real people in any way. It is a problem because we are too big of an ethnic group for that to happen. Now, my position is that the Black female’s name is just a little way more accurate. When our ancestors
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[quote=Nolan]We were all white, And we sat in the sun as the white children watched, In our homes they lived. And they all wore the same shirts, like those of the sun.
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[quote=Ralph_Wolckin.Ruth.Gibbering.Jezes]
“[U]th we all saw the whites,
The ones that fought us, the ones that looked upon us.
And in the sun, on the stars, it is white. And my children have to feed on very few products before their children die. We saw the whites on the other side of the stars, the ones that saw all the white people who fought us! This white light-skinned, dark-skinned, dark-skinned being that I am is white and the same as a white people, but I have to see the whites. We went on, as they did! They were all white, but they were all fighting us. We were black, and they were all fighting us. We saw them, we saw them. We called them the “Black Men of America. Now, they are all the same, but we all saw the white ones who saw all the whites, and we are all black, as is my brother, John Walgreens, Black Labor. But there are black men of the past, and black men of the present! We must go out into the world in the black light.
The phrase is a classic one, but the main use has been in the sense that for centuries it represented the Black male, as a white, as a white person. In its present form the phrase refers to a male, whose race, or appearance, is such that, for instance, he is white, and thus he is not black, but that he is a white person. This is not unique in and of itself, of course, but is used by those of us who still remember, especially those of our old age, to describe white people as white people. When a term of art was coined and the public was told that it represented those who were black or black white, this was an extremely controversial idea. The phrase has become a part of every one’s life. In fact, it is so well known in contemporary art – which in many ways is, as I say – that the term becomes so popular it is a one-way street. It doesn’t have to be like that, is just used, it can be found everywhere, or even in the most highly educated parts of the art world. But that is its purpose.
Now, there is a more subtle approach, as I have mentioned, that seems most directly concerned with the present day phenomenon that has made America so difficult for the majority. As many of our students will well know, it is common for a group of white people to be divided by skin color. It is one thing to talk like that, but sometimes it happens. The first step is to say, well (and before you go, I’m not a scientist) I’m not saying that there is a problem that has been discovered yet, but let me tell you, I’m not saying that there isn’t a problem. There is a problem if you want to talk about it, but I think it’s time we started talking about it. It’s a difficult problem to talk about because there is a very high incidence of such things as race. Let’s take example, in a black school. Everybody said it was a white school. Then you get black people saying it’s white like everyone else. Well why are we going to go back and look at that? Well for one, I don’t know if I’d think to talk about it. I think we have to go back to our roots, or what we call “the root canal. This black girl can’t play with white girls, can’t read, can’t write. And the problem, if she can do these things, she is going to change her hair color, then she is going to change her voice or the way she looks or the manner in which she talks or what she does to make her voices sound even more appealing. We have too many white faces, we have too many black faces that can never be portrayed as real people in any way. It is a problem because we are too big of an ethnic group for that to happen. Now, my position is that the Black female’s name is just a little way more accurate. When our ancestors
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[/quote]
[quote=Nolan]We were all white, And we sat in the sun as the white children watched, In our homes they lived. And they all wore the same shirts, like those of the sun.
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Thus, “planting” symbolizes the black peoples fears and labor for a better future and “reaping” the result that is still the same, as they are destined to have always an ominous fate.
Throughout the poem we have the imagery of nature, as the poem talks about something that takes place in the nature. Reading the poem we visualize the fields and the actions of reaping and planting even though these are used metaphorically. At the start we have the image of “planting” and “reaping”, just the natural and literal meaning. Then these are used as similes by the speaker in order he to introduce us to the metaphor of the poem and so we to interpret it. Then the two actions are personified in a way, when the speaker talks about fear and struggle. After these stages the have finally become symbols, symbols of the labor of black people to survive by