Discussion Questions 3/30

Here are some questions to get you guys thinking for tomorrow...

Discussion Questions
1. The poetry we have read for the last few classes has become more creative, dramatic and jolting in its composition. World play gives the poems a list-like feel, but also conveys a different emotion and rhythm in their reading, that I’m not sure I know how to place or completely understand, but that I do think asks to read differently. What do you interpret from this style choice? Why do you think they wrote this way? Does it change or contribute to what they are saying?
2. In comparing and contrasting “Jail Poems” by Bob Kaufman and “A Journey to Auburn by Ken McClane, what commonalities to you see in the presentation of jail life? How do the continued references to jail reflect the feelings of African Americans about their place in society? What might jail imagery represent about non-literal jail experiences?
3. Both Kaufman and Major use a lot of imagery in their poems. “On watching a caterpillar become a butterfly” and “Would you wear my eyes” are two examples of poems with differing levels of reality, but poignant and strong images. How does the use of the imagery contribute to the poem and affect the reader? Why do you think they might have chosen these images or metaphors? Can you think of other examples?
4. There seem to be some common images in the poems we have recently read. Do you think there is any significance to the similar subjects in “The Glowworm” by Ken McClane and “On watching a caterpillar become a butterfly” by Major? What other pairings can you make? Or, what similar topics or subjects reoccur in these poems that we have seen before: for example “Bird with painted wings” by Kaufman and “Sympathy” by Paul Laurence Dunbar.
5. “Would you wear my eyes” seems to ask the reader to put themselves in the shoes of the speaker in the poem. What types of commentary do we get about what life is like for African Americans during this time? Does it differ from the images we saw around emancipation, or the Harlem Renaissance? If so, how?