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.
This poem is actually rather sad sounding to me. The whole thing seems very still. In the lines here Arna expresses that things haven't changed...
ReplyDelete((Poplars are standing there still as death
and ghosts of dead men
meet their ladies walking
two by two beneath the shade
and standing on the marble steps.))
with the thoughts of ghosts of the past. To me this just shows that even with the progression of time, nothing really has changed. That while the white people walk in twos, and listen to music, the bondsmen work in the fields, and still the feeling hasn't changed. That "the years go back" but still things aren't better. The whole thing uses imagery beautifully to create a sort of reminiscent feeling, with a somber tone. The fact that the first and last line are the same is very powerful.
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ReplyDeleteArna Bontemps is a he not a she...
ReplyDeleteArna Bontemps is a he not a she...
ReplyDeleteArna Bontemps
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