The poem that stuck out most to me was "Oriflamme". I really liked how in the begining Fauset included a passage from Sojourner Truth because it helped to understand what she was trying to portray in her poem. I feel like in the poem Fauset is describing a sistuation that in in the present but looking towards the past. She mentions slaverys mortal scars which makes me think slavery is over but the person is remembering what occured.
I assumed that the person Fauset is describing looking at the stars was thinking of lost children like Sojourner Truth describes doing because it was the only way that one could feel connected with their family because they look at the same stars. This poem is extremely heartfelt and draws on the readers emotions because it's almost impossible to imagine being torn from your parents and then having no way of communicating with them. It really illustrates another evil of slavery.
7 comments:
I really enjoyed this poem as well. You're absolutely right when you state that being torn away from your parents is another bitter thing that comes from slavery. I can't even begin to imagine how horrific that must have been.
Yeah I wrote about the poems as well this week. That was a cool poem because we first given the background inspiration from the Sojourner Truth quote before reading the actual poem.
I really enjoyed the poem as well. At first I wasn't sure, but once I re-read it and also after discussing it in class, the meaning became more clear. I really liked the passage from Sojourner Truth. I kept referencing that statement from her to try to understand the poem better. The poem was very heartfelt, I agree. When I read it the first time, I got the idea of a mother who lost her children due to slavery. After discussing it in class; however, I can see how it's more of an image of the "mother of race" and a fight to win what she was unable to do. It was a huge connection from the past to the present issue in the poem and still brought together how they are able to connect to each other; from the stars.
I liked the Soujourner truth peace too. I like when we have something to work off of to know more what the writer was thinking about because poemscan be very confusing or can be taken in the wrong direction easily. Sad poem here. I hate think about family's torn apart because of slavery and fathers, mothers, sons and daughters being "sold down or up the river". i wonder if this has anything to do with why there are so many torn african american families in cities today.. are they used to pain?
This poem was not a favorite of mine. I do agree however, that the harsh reality of a young child being torn from their parent is almost to much to handle. I liked the passage from Sojourner Truth. It made the poem more clear to me. Also after discussing it in class I thought mother like as in mother of the race. I liked it better after I understood how the stars link to everybody.
I agree with you. It really does pull on the readers heartstrings because one of hte most basic elements of a person's life is family and when you don't have that a huge piece of you is torn away. They were deprived one of the most basic elements of life.
I do really enjoyed this poem. I thought it was different to read a poem that started off with a passage such as this one did. The passage by Truth was great. Overall I really enjoyed all of Fauset's poems more than the other poems that we've read.
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