The poem I chose to analyze is "Southern Mansion" by Arna Bontemps.
What stands out to me in this poem is its imagery. She uses sounds to describe the scene of the southern mansion. For example, "there is a sound of music echoing" and "an iron clank." She also uses vivid phrases such as "the sound tinkling in the cotton."
Arna uses the the simile "poplars stand there as still as death." to open and end the poem. A poplar is a tree in the willow family. Arna is trying to describe how still and haunting the southern mansion is with this simile. Since willows flow in the breeze, so if the poplar is still as death, the atmosphere must be still as well.
Arna uses consonance in the line "another sound tinkling in the cotton." She is trying to express the crisp sound of the chains of the slaves (bondmen) in the next line with repetition of the t sound. She also uses consonance in the simile "poplars stand there still as death." She wants to use the s sound to imply the scary feel of the southern mansion.
