American Literature Poetry Test

What is the meaning behind the metaphor made in the third verse?

"And cotton scarce as any southern snow," This is stating that the cotton is very rare to find like snow in the south. It happens but not very often.

When did the Harlem Renaissance start?

1918 - 1937

When did spoken word poetry start?

1980s

What is the definition of Analogy?

A comparison between two non-related ideas

What is the definition of Metaphor?

A comparison which does not use the words like or as in the phrase

What is the definition of Simile?

A comparison which uses the words LIKE or AS

What is the definition of Allusion?

A reference to a historical or literary referance

Who is the author speaking to?

African Americans in the streets of Harlem

What kinds of people might the "speaker" be representing? Why might it be important that it isn't specifically said?

African Americans. Well known, terrible torture of African Americans.

Who wrote "I sit and sew"

Alice Moore Dunbar-Nelson

Where did spoken word poetry start?

Chicago, Illinois

Who wrote "The Tropics of New York"

Claude McKay

Who wrote "From the Dark Tower"

Countee Cullen

Why is the speaker being sent to the kitchen?

Due to the fact that company is coming and a slave cannot be seen.

What is a verse?

Each line of a poem, they vary in length

Who wrote " Common Dust"

Georgia Douglas Johnson

How is Trochaic measured?

Hard, Soft

How is Dactylic measured?

Hard, Soft, Soft

Does the speaker in the poem seem to feel patriotic? How do you Know?

He doesn't take pride in America, instead he takes pride in who he is and his culture. His writing expresses equality for colored men and women.

Why does the speaker laugh?

He knows the future will be greater.

How does Cullen emphasize the theme of beauty and pride in the black culture?

He tells how there is beauty and pride in the black culture because we all have things that we are better at than others.

How might the 11th verse of the poem be taken literally and metaphorically?

He wants the fruit from Jamaica. He is wanting to go back to the culture in Jamaica where there was no discrimination.

Who wrote "Sonnet to a Negro in Harlem"

Helene Johnson

What is the cotton flower supposed to represent?

Hope

What are the different types of rhythm?

Iambic, Trochaic, Anapestic, and Dactylic

Who wrote "November Cotton Flower"

Jean Toomer

Who wrote "I, Too"

Langston Hughes

Where did the Harlem Renaissance start?

New York, specifically Harlem

Does the speaker of this poem seem to enjoy the task given to them? Which repeated line tells you this?

No she thinks it is useless and a waste of her time. The repeated line is "but- I must sit and sew"

What are the verse lengths?

One foot = monometer two feet = dimeter three feet = trimeter four feet = tetrameter five feet = pentameter six feet = hexameter seven feet = heptameter eight feet = octameter

What is the definition of foot?

One stressed and one or more un stressed syllable combinations

How do you interpret the lines "Here lies the one unlabeled; The world at large his home!"

People are not limited to just their origins, they belong to the world, and they share the world with everyone no matter what.

What is the definition of a Free Verse Poem

Poetry that is written without concern for regular rhyme schemes and meter

What are some of the positive things the author has to say? Negatives?

Positive = The Negro has a perfect body and is magnificent. Negative = The Negro is disdainful and has a pompous giant

What are the elements of SPOTTTS?

S = Subject P = Paraphrase O = Occasion T = Tone T = Theme T = Title S = Speaker

What is she comparing mankind to? What reasoning might she have for it?

She compares mankind to society and the reasoning is because slavery played a dramatic role in categorizing people, leading to segregation. They had lost respect for one another.

How does repetition help Johnson establish her ideas?

She reminds us throughout the whole poem over and over again that we all go through something no matter where we are in life. However, at the end of the day we are still united together, we live in the same world, breathe the same air, and we stand united together.

How might this relate to other aspects of the author's life? Does it mean more than just battle?

She wants to be able to fight for her rights as well but is unable due to her being a women of color.

How does the author feel about war and fighting?

She wants to be able to help those fighting

Where can we see and example of alliteration?

Significance. Superstition Saw Something

What groups of people does Johnson seem to be targeting?

Society at that time and the racial discrimination.

How is Iambic measured?

Soft, Hard

How is Anapestic measured?

Soft, Soft, Hard

What is the definition of Personification?

The act of giving an object human like qualities

Who is supposed to be planting? Who is supposed to be reaping?

The black people are planting and the white people are reaping but thats not how it should be

What startled the old folks? Was it a good thing or a bad thing?

The drought is going away and flowers starting blooming, it was a good thing

What kind of symbolism is being used in this poem? What message is Cullen trying to send?

The lights and darks in the poem represent white people and black people. Whites and blacks should be equal.

In your own words, describe the story going on in this poem?

The poem is about Claude, a Jamaican native, living in the busy city of New York. He misses the life he used to have in Jamaica. He uses different types of fruit to give him back those visual thoughts and memories of when he was a child growing up in Jamaica.

What is the definition of Consonance?

The repetition of familiar consonant sounds

What is the definition of Assonance?

The repetition of similar vowel sounds

What is the definition of Parallel Structure?

The repetition of similarly constructed sentences

What is the definition of Alliteration?

The repetition of the same consonant at the beginning of the words

What is the shift in mood with this poem? How does the author make this shift happen?

The shift in mood goes to depressing to having some hope. He talks about how to winter makes everything cold and sad. Then he says that the snow starts melting then says that flowers bloomed showing hope.

What is the definition of Imagery?

The use of language to evoke visual images as well as sensations of smell, hearing, taste, and touch

What is the definition of Onomatopoeia?

The use of words whose sounds echo their sense

What is Hughes hoping people will be ashamed of?

The way our country treated the African American culture.

Why did the Harlem Renaissance start?

To blossom the African American culture, particularly in the creative arts, and it was the most influential movement in African American literary history. Jazz music was created during this time period which also sparked a lot of other genres of music.

Why would the author contradict themselves?

To show the good and bad in someone. She likes and dislikes the person she is talking about.

Why did spoken word poetry start?

When a local poet and construction worker, Marc Kelly Smith, felt that poetry readings and poetry in general had lost their true passion and had an idea to bring poetry back to the people

What is the definition of Internal Rhyme?

When a verse of poetry has two words that rhyme within it

What sort of pattern do you notice about the stanzas and how might they relate to the setting of the story?

With each stanza McKay becomes more sad, wanting to go back to Jamaica and his old ways.