Savannah State University Poem Analysis Discussion

1. Consider the key ideas concerning social, political, and cultural information about the early 19th century. Choose one work (or two if comparing) that we have read. In your own words, explain ways in which these poems, rhymes, songs, and narratives contribute to the body of African-American literature? Identify features of orality. Conclude with the most surprising or disturbing fact you have learned. In other words, what is your takeaway from these units.

2. Use in-text citations and provide a Works Cited page for examples and texts used. Cite sources if critical quotations are used to back up your claims.

3. In what way does the text articulate the theme of Alienation/Otherness or The American Dream/Nightmare? Using specific textual quotations, show how the Black Lives Matter message is communicated by the AA authors up to 1919, up to the Harlem Renaissance.

*must have a clear thesis sentence.

* One key topic you can discuss is The journey: How your text traces the movement of African-American people in a physical sense and within historical movements to bring about freedom, justice, and social equality

*Another one could be Turning points and crossroads (slavery, reconstruction,NNM, HR, etc.How does the writer link past to present? Oral and print?

*analyze elements of literature and how they function to make the author’s point

Use these poems and resources to help you with the paper and USE GALILEO TO LOCATE AT LEAST ONE SOURCE.

Phillis Wheatley, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/45465

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/52519

An example is below to help you with the paper. vv

(In an analysis of the short story “The Silver Bullet,” the reader is confronted with the theme of intergenerational conflicts which McPherson develops through the crafty use of diction, symbolism, and humor. )