Afro-Caribbean Poetry Essay Example for Free

Afro-Caribbean Poetry EssayIn this essay I will be examine the various items of rime from manyAfro-Caribbean poets. One of the poets is Langston Hughes who wasborn in Joplin, Missouri on the first of February 1902. He startedwriting poetry after moving to Lincoln, Illinois. The poems I will bestudying are Mulatto and I, Too.The next poet I will be looking at is Grace Nichols. Nichols was bornin Guyana in 1950, she came to England in 1977 this is when shedeveloped her fiction and meter writing. The poem I will be studying isPraise song for my set slightly.The next poet I will look at will be Dr genus Benzoin Obadiah lqualZephaniah, he was born in Birmingham, but he spent most of histime in Jamaica. After he spent some time in prison he decided to usehis energy for good and educate himself. The poem I will study I loveme mudder.The last poet shit I will be looking at will be John Agard. Agard wasborn in Guyana in 1949, the country was still a British colony until1966. In 197 7 Agard moved to England. This is where he became thelight of the new West Indian British dawn of various bardiccompositions. Agard is a poet whom blends calypso styled wordingwith unique sounding spoken word.The work I will be studying isHalf-classI have paired the poems up. The pairs either share the same topic, nuance or language. One of the pairs is Half-caste by John Agard andMulatto by Langston Hughes, because they have the same type oftopic and also tone.Half caste is approximately weather the end point half-caste can be applied toany thing else apart from mint. John Agard has written a very goodpoem witch makes you think about the wrangle we use every day without knowing the proper meanings and whether it makes any sensewhen you break the word down. I think that many words we use noware out of date and should be changed for politically correct termsand alternatives. Agard also uses some stunning references to get youthinking.The other half of this pair Mulatto tells us about the harshtreatment shameful women faced at the hands of their white bosses inthe slave era and how the women were only employ as play things, thisis shown in the part Whats a body but a toy?. The word mulattomeans the same as half caste but not as many people use itnowadays. The boy in the story has a trouble fitting in with blackpeople and white people and does not have that sense of belonging ifhe had been born to parents of the same race.The next pair is Praise song for my develop by Grace Nichols and Ilove me mudder by Benjamin Zephaniah. Ive paired these poemsbecause they share the same topics which is their mothers.Praise song for my mother is about how Grace Nichols loved hermother and how she inspired to do the best she could. Its also howshe looked up to her, and how her mother was all the things she likessuch as the sunrise and the fried plantain smell. The poem is set in apast tense which seems to tell us the readers that her mother hasdied.The second half of my pair is I love me mudder. This poem is abouthow Benjamin Zephaniahs mother came from Jamaica on a boatcalled Windrush. Many people came from Jamaica because theythought they would have a better life than the one they all ready had.In black family family (need to delete this) life the figure of themother is very strong and is the main rule maker in the house, andthis poem shows how she works so hard on the dot to make sure her familydont go without.The last pair of poems is taint by Grace Nichols and I, Too byLangston Hughes these two poems have been joined together becausethey twain have kind of the same topic which shows the pain blackpeople have overcome but still yet we are strong.taint is about the treachery that this person has had cast uponthem while they where a slave, the fact that they where stolen by menthe colour of their own skin. This reminds me of the black on blackgang state of war and killings.This person who trusted the people of theirsame skin colour was betraye d. This work also shows how thesepeople where traded like they where animals. The poem has amessage to everyone to stop struggle and live peacefully together.The second half of the pair is I, Too which shows how black peoplehad to eat in a kitchen when company came but they ate healthy andbecame strong. So when company comes no one will dare tell me toeat in the kitchen and now you are ashamed about what you did tome when I was mentally weak. This poem has a promise of hope forchange. Hughes suggests that Tomorrow things will be different andpeople will see that beauty and equality of all peoples.