African American Essay Example for Free

African American Essay Poetry can evoke strong feelings in readers. Select three poems we’ve read and examine the literary techniques the poets used to evoke a reader’s emotional response (note: not your emotional response. ) How do the poets’ various techniques connect to their readers’ feelings? Because a writer wants to evoke strong feelings into their writings, they use a variety of techniques from wording to the sense of the feeling the reader feels. In the poem, â€Å"Harlem,† by Langston Hughes, he uses the descriptive words to describe how many people’s dreams have been put on hold or eliminated totally due to the era of war. It reflects on how many African Americans have been among those who have left their dreams behind, or deferred them. It follows where they are in the present time. In the poem, â€Å"My Papa’s Waltz,† the writer expresses the feelings he has towards his father and the affection felt. He shares his experience with the times he shared with his father as they danced. As you read the story, the writer then expresses some resentment he might have towards his father, as interpreted by the reader. In the poem, â€Å"Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?  Ã¢â‚¬ the writer is expressing the strong feelings he has for someone he loves. He compares the woman he writes about to a summer day and that her beauty will never fade. In the poem, â€Å"The Negro Speaks of Rivers,† it is written in a 1st person voice using the word â€Å"I. † The writer speaks of bathing in the Euphrates, the hut he built near the Congo and watching the sun set on the Mississippi. He compares the African American history to the history of the river he speaks of. In the poems â€Å"The Lamb† and â€Å"The Tyger,† the writer uses words that describe how the Lamb is one of innocence and purity. The Tyger is one that has the reader interpreting that he is one of evil and no remorse. It has the reader comparing the two different beings to what life is now as we know it. So when writers write their poems and want to express feelings for the readers, they use physical locations for the feeling of placement or feelings. They use colors for the sense of the characters feelings. For instance the colors white, gray and black would represent sadness of gloominess. Brighter colors make the characters happy or cheery. The colors can make the setting one of the readers can feel. He uses words that describe the environment using colors and descriptive words. When a poem is written that grasps the reader’s attention and makes him feel the intensity and tone of it, the reader can understand and empathize with the characters of the poem. If the beginning lines of the poem grab the attention of the reader, and keeps the attention without losing momentum, then the poem is one that the reader will enjoy reading and read over and over. Poems are to stimulate the senses of the reader and they compare the words of the poem with reality. They use words to build up the emotions they are trying to put into the poem they are writing. They keep the readers interest by using rhymes, form and sound’s throughout. As we read we look for the next intense point of the poem and decipher the meaning as we interpret it. Poems are a great way for a person to indentify personal feelings and experiences. By using the poem as a wall for their feelings, readers can identify and compare to their own feelings and experiences. That is why writers who want you to feel their writings and explore their world of poetry will use different ways to express and present feelings, moods and atmospheres through their writings. Works Cited McMahan, Elizabeth, Susan X. Day, Robert Funk, and Linda Coleman. Literature and the Writing Process. Pearson, 2011. Web. Blake, William. The Lamb. 1789. Blake, William. The Tyger. 1794 Hughes, Langston. Collected Poems of Langston Hughes. Random House, Print. Roethke, Theodore. Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke. Hearst Magazines, 1942. Print.