**  Homework Questions ** (See Part Two   Part Three )

Claude McKay (1889-1948)
"America" (1921)
147:

• Describe the speaker's attitude towards America.
• Explain:  "Her bigness sweeps my being like a flood" (7).
• Explain lines  8-10.

• Which poem form is exemplified here?  Be as specific as possible. Explain.
• Who are "We"?  Who are the dogs?
• Explain the final three lines.

• To whom is this poem addressed?
• What do plums represent in this poem?  Explain.
• Could "Son" have more than one meaning? Explain.
• Explain the fourth stanza.

• Explain the final four lines.

• Why does Toomer use the images of pine, red soil, and sawdust that he does?

"The Negro Speaks of Rivers" (1921) 
See Video 

164:

• Explain:  "I've known rivers" (1).
• Has Hughes actually "done" everything he describes?  Explain.

• What is a "dream deferred"?
• What does it mean to "explode"?
• Why is the last line italicized?

• Compare with Njau, "Prayer of a Modern Woman."
• Compare with Chopin, The Awakening.

• To whom is this poem addressed?
• Explain the images of wealth used in this poem.

• Explain:  "I am a black ocean, leaping and wide" (33).
• What are the "gifts my ancestors gave" (39)?
• What is the "dream and the hope of the slave" (40)?

• What does is mean to "dry up"?
• What does it mean to "fester" ?
• What does it mean to "sag"?

• Why did Angelou stop speaking for five years as a child?

• How does this poem compare to McKay's  "America" or "If We Must Die"?  Explain.
• Which poem form is exemplified here?  Be as specific as possible.  Explain.
• Who are Tantalus and Sisyphus? 
• Explain the final two lines.

• When did Evans achieve prominence as a writer?

• How does this poem compare to Hughes's "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" or Angelou's "Still I Rise"?
• What is a "sweet arpeggio of tears" (3)?
• Explain lines 13-17.
• Explain the final three lines.

• Describe the rhythm and rhyme used in this poem.  Why does Cullen use this format?
• Why does Cullen call the other child a "Baltimorean"?
• What is the source of this child's racism?
• Why is this incident all that the speaker remembers?
• Does every person in Baltimore treat the young speaker the same way? Does it matter?  Explain.

• Why did Alain Locke call Brown "the New Negro Folk Poet"?

• Describe the language used in this poem.
• Who are the strong men?
• What is this poem about?

• Why are the "blind men" blind (44)?

• Why did "White America"  praise Dunbar's "dialect poetry" but ignore his "standard verse"?

• What does the caged bird feel (1)?
• Why does the caged bird beat its wings (8)?
• Why does the caged bird sing (15)?

• What is the Mask?  Why do "we" wear it?
• What is guile (3)?
• What are "myriad subtleties" (5)?

• Explain the first line.
• Explain line 11.
• Explain line 21.
• Explain lines 22-23 (labelled 24-25 in the book).  Whose "crime" is it?  Is it really a "crime"?  Explain.
• Would the speaker have another abortion?  Explain.

• Is this a celebration or a lament?  Explain.
• Is the speaker being straightforward or ironic/sarcastic?
• What does "Jazz June" mean?