Sterling A. Brown

I found Brown’s poem “Southern Road” really interesting. I like the repetition of the word “hunh.” It forced me, when reading, to imagine the swing of the hammer, and the monotony of the work of the chain gang when I was reading. I think that was a very creative auditory device.

I also liked the progression of the poem “Strong Men.” The whole poem documents the things that black men have been subjected to by whites, but it has a hopeful tone in that it discusses the fear that the whites feel regarding their oppressed counterparts. To me there is a lot of pride in the fact that an oppressed people can frighten their oppressors. It makes the reader feel as though the blacks have something left, some defense. I also like how the poem uses some lines from other things we’ve read, i.e.: “walk togedder, chillen,/ Dontcha git weary….” That brings a sense of the history of the situation into the poem. The author notes the transportation of slaves, the work they did on roads and railroads, the poor living conditions blacks were forced into, and segregation. Throughout all this though, there’s a sense of the blacks getting the last laugh, so to speak, and I like that more than other optimistic poems we’ve read.