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Literary Studies

Poetry is used to express feelings or ideas to an audience and it can be seen through the poets distinctive style, figurative language and value systems to affect the mood and evoke an emotional response.Identity is a complicated subject but has an important role in everybody’s lives. Identity is who we are, where we come from and where we have been or going. It is also how a person’s qualities and beliefs can make up a personality and how others see us or how we see ourselves.

Poets such as Gabriel Okara, Robert Frost and Maya Angelou explore identity in each of their poems. They explore this through their poem’s subject and theme. In Once Upon a Time (Okara, 1978) it explores how identity can change when transitioning from childhood to adulthood, and how people’s attitudes can turn from honest to deceitful. The speaker in the poem talks about adapting to his environment around him and how that is threatening his identity which also translates to him losing his innocence due to the harsh realities of growing up. The Road Not Taken (Frost, 1916) explores how a person’s identity plays a role in making difficult choices in life. The act of making a decision involves a lot of contemplating. It isn’t as simple as choosing what to wear or what to eat. It is something deeper, a decision can impact a person’s life sometimes quite dramatically.  We make millions of decisions everyday without thinking about them but choosing to be yourself or choosing to be someone else is a different matter. Phenomenal Woman (Angelou, 1978) is on her identity as a woman. She explores how she is proud of her appearance and although she is not the most beautiful woman in societies eyes she has proven to be smart and phenomenal and is successful without the essential female traits. Her confidence and faith in her inner strength is highlighted throughout the poem.

Poets use poetic devices to create rhythm, enhance a poem’s meaning or intensify the mood or feeling of the poem. Gabriel Okara’s Once Upon A Time (1978) has no rhyme scheme which emphasises the fact that the poem is a monologue from father to son. Another poem that follows this same scheme is ‘If’ by Rudyard Kipling (1895), a poem that is also a monologue from father to son.

Okara uses a metaphor in the first stanza to describe how people now lack emotion.

“Their ice-block-cold-eyes search behind my shadow” (stanza 1, lines 5-6)

This line suggests that there is no feeling or warmth in the words they say, it also makes the reader visualise a block of ice and makes you feel cold and uncomfortable. Okara also speaks about how he has to pretend to feel what is expected of him in different situations, and he does this by using a simile to describe how he wears many faces like dresses.

“I have learned to wear many faces like dresses - homeface, officeface, streetface, hostface, cocktailface, with all their conforming smiles like a fixed portrait smile” (stanza 3, line 17-22)

This quote also makes light on how there is certain attire for certain occasions and he needs to ‘change faces’ to adapt to his environment. The ‘like a fixed portrait smile’ (Okara, 1978) makes a comparison to paintings and it implies that their smiles are fake or painted on. The imagery and metaphor used in stanza five compare his laugh to a snake. Gabriel Okara is a Nigerian born poet but later moved to London to teach a number of courses, as well as studying at the Northwestern University in the U.S. where there was a special programme for foreign journalists. African society very much admire sincerity, wholeheartedness and friendliness in people, however moving to London and America caused Okara to adapt to his environment in order to fit in with Western Culture which can also threaten his identity.

“Most of all, I want to relearn how to laugh, for my laugh in the mirror shows only my teeth like a snake’s bare fangs!” (stanza 5, lines 30-33)

The exclamation point at the end suggests that he is disgusted by this since snakes are known to be deceptive. The use of snakes makes a comparison to Adam and Eve in the Bible where the snake symbolises deceit and treachery. The religious link in this line is not a new concept for Okara as it can be found in many of his other works such as ‘The Call of the River Nun’ (1953). As well as this the line above is an example of how Okara has had to change who he is in order to fit in with the rest.

Overall I like that Once Upon a Time (1978) is didactic and it can be read like you would read a story. The title of the poem helps give that effect. It’s also an effective poem because Gabriel Okara makes his feelings known by the way he uses poetic forms and language and gives the reader a direct insight to his point of view and the way he has experiences things. Since the time the poem was published, the expectations that are put on to people haven’t really changed. If anything it has worsened especially since the rise of social media. We have become more wary of people and our fake persona’s aren’t expressed through ourselves anymore but through our social media profiles. Social media has become an extension of ourselves and it is different to who we are in real life, and you could say that means we can have two different identities.

Unlike Once Upon a Time (1978), The Road Not Taken (1916) does have a rhyme scheme and there is a ABAAB rhyme scheme throughout the entirety of the poem. Not all poems follow a strict set of rules when is comes to structure and this poem isn’t an exception, commonly in poetry the use of iambs is in pentameter, which means that there are five units of stressed and unstressed syllables in a poem. However this poem is in iambic tetrameter, which means there are only four units in the poem, as this line shows:

“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood” (Stanza 1, Line 1)

This poem does have a rhythm and rhyme scheme but does depart from the norm. The effect of this style causes the reader to read the poem longer than it should take which can relate to Frost’s decision making process, he is unsure which path he should take and he is projecting that on to the reader. As well as that the entire poem is an extended metaphor. Frost never makes a direct comparison between life and the road but the poem implies it. The first line sets the scene for the metaphorical fork in the road. The diverged road is a metaphor for the choice he needs to make and it is carried throughout the poem.

“And looked down one as far as I could to where it bent in the undergrowth” (stanza 1, line 4-5)

This line is a metaphor for the future, we can only see the path for a short distance and Frost uses this line to imply that we can only see the consequences for our actions for a short time.  The personification in the second stanza is used to foreshadow which path he is going to take:

“Because it was grassy and wanted wear” (stanza 2, line 7)

The grass cannot be worn per say but it suggests that the grass needs to be walked on, and by saying this he is thinking about choosing the unpopular choice.

Finally the repetition of the first line in the last stanza brings the poem full circle.

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less travelled by, and that has made all the difference” (stanza 4, line 18-20)

The repetition reflects back to the theme and how choices affect people’s lives. The last two lines then concludes the metaphor, as well as the last line confirming that Frost took the road less travelled by and it changed his life. But there is no indication whether this was a good decision or a bad one. All of this makes the poem very effective because it is a relatable subject and a majority of people can identify with making the hard decision to make a choice and that is something that hasn’t changed in society in the 100 years since the poem was published.

Compared to Okara’s and Frost’s poems, Maya Angelou uses a wide range of different literary devices to enhance the poems meaning. One way she does this is the structure of the poem, it has curves which is suggestive of the female form and relates directly to the theme. There is also an irregular rhyme scheme but there is a specific rhythm and flow to the poem that is almost song like or lyrical, and it is consistent throughout. The use of anaphora and repetition in the middle of each stanza also affects the rhythm:

“The span of my hips, the stride of my step, the curl of my lips” (stanza 1, line 7-9)

“The flash of my teeth, the swing in my waist, and the joy in my feet” (stanza 2, line 23-25)

“The sun of my smile, the ride of my breasts, the grace of my style” (stanza 4, line 39-41)

“The bend of my hair, the palm of my hand, the need of my care” (stanza 5, line 54-56)

These lines are extremely effective and helps the flow of the poem, making it more engaging to read. As well as that the use of adjectives and verbs gives the reader strong imagery. Also ‘The sun of my smile’ is a metaphor and compares her smile to the sun which suggests that her smile is bright and full of energy, creating more imagery for the reader. Furthermore there is also repetition at the end of each stanza:

“I’m a woman phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, that’s me” (stanza 1,2,3,4, lines 10-14, 26-30, 42-45, 57-60)

This repetition has a huge affect on the theme of the poem. By repeating it throughout the poem it makes it difficult for the reader to forget it and suggests that it was Angelou’s intention to make the women reading it to feel the same as herself, with it being enforced it is very likely to stick with the reader long after they have read it. In stanza two, lines 17-22, Angelou uses metaphors, imagery and hyperbole to support the overall theme:

“The fellows stand or fall down on their knees, then they swarm around me, a hive of honey bees, I say, it’s the fire in my eyes”

This suggests that men fall head over heels for her and compares herself to a Queen bee, men swarm around her just as bees do with their queen.

In 1978 when Maya Angelou published the poem women had only just entered society as equal to men and this poem was a celebration of that. It also came out 14 years after the Civil Rights Act was introduced, so not only was this a celebration of being a woman but a celebration of being a successful black woman. Today feminism is growing and play’s a big role in society. I found this poem incredibly empowering. Angelou is very aware that she doesn’t fit societal expectations and despite that she is proud of who she is and describes her physical attributes in the poem to show where and how she expresses this. Carole Satyamurti and Jenny Joseph are two other poets that aksi have powerful female voices on their confidence and identity and they express this through their poems, ‘I Shall Paint My Nails’ (1990) and ‘Warning’ (1961). Although the poem focuses on being a woman it can still appeal to men as the positive energy from the poem sends a message to everyone to believe in themselves and be proud of who you are.

References

Angelou, M. (2018). Phenomenal Woman by Maya Angelou. [online] Poetry Foundation. Available at: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/48985/phenomenal-woman [Accessed 1 Feb. 2018].

Brothers, T. (2018). Once Upon a Time – a poem by Gabriel Okara. [online] The Henry Brothers' Jim Jam Slam. Available at: https://thehenrybrothers.wordpress.com/2011/06/04/once-upon-a-time-gabriel-okara/ [Accessed 1 Feb. 2018].

Feminist.org. (2018). July 9, 1978: Feminists Make History With Biggest-Ever March for the Equal Rights Amendment | Feminist Majority Foundation Blog. [online] Available at: https://feminist.org/blog/index.php/2014/07/09/july-9-1978-feminists-make-history-with-biggest-ever-march-for-the-equal-rights-amendment/ [Accessed 4 Feb. 2018].

Frost, R. (2018). The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost. [online] Poetry Foundation. Available at: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44272/the-road-not-taken [Accessed 4 Feb. 2018].

Joseph, J. (2018). Warning by Jenny Joseph. [online] Scottish Poetry Library. Available at: http://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poetry/poems/warning [Accessed 1 Feb. 2018].

Kipling, R. (2018). If— by Rudyard Kipling. [online] Poetry Foundation. Available at: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46473/if--- [Accessed 1 Feb. 2018].

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A Perfect Day in...

In the next few years I would like to break out of my comfort zone and travel abroad, alone. The thought is both exciting and very intimidating but since it’s a dream of mine to live abroad, solo travel is probably a good way to start that journey.There are plenty of different countries and cities that are perfect for solo travellers but since it’s not too far from the UK, and only a short train journey into the city, Paris is a good place to start.

Paris is not the biggest city in the world but there are so many famous landmarks and popular destinations to take in and not all of it can be done in one day. To get the most out of my day I would need to take the earliest Eurostar, from there I would find a local bakery and eat breakfast like a true Parisian with a café crème and maybe indulge in a croissant or two…

Next I will need to take the Metro to the L’Arc de Triomphe, a famous monument that honours the soldiers that died in the French Revolution with their names engraved inside and outside the arch. From there you can see the Avenue des Champs-Élysée stretched out in front of me, so I would take a long stroll down the avenue to the Place de la Concorde. An ideal day would be full of sunshine and clear blue skies which would be perfect to sit by the fountain and take in the amazing view of the architectures and statues around the plaza with the Eiffel Tower in the distance. What would a day in Paris be without seeing the iron tower itself.

Just behind the Eiffel Tower is the River Seine, so I would take a boat trip down the river past the Place de la Concorde again and jump off just before The Louvre and head towards a cafe called ‘Angelina’ for lunch. A quaint but popular cafe known for its selection of pastries. Stuffed with delicious French food I will walk to The Louvre and queue for what feels like an eternity before entering and taking a guided tour of the museum and admire the Mona Lisa.

After that I will jump back on the Metro and take an audio tour and walk around the hauntingly beautiful Notre-Dame Cathedral.

Taking a break from seeing landmarks, I will take another stroll along the River Seine towards Les Deux Magots for dinner. I would sit in a wicker chair in the terrace and watch the people of Paris walk by as the sun sets.

At sunset would be the perfect time to head back towards the Eiffel Tower and visit the Musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac. It features the indigenous art and cultures of Africa, Australia, Asia and the America’s. I would wander the thousands of square feet of the gardens and light displays, making sure I pass the living wall of greenery surrounding nearly the entire building.

Just before the end of my day in Paris, I would travel to Montmartre and visit the Roman Catholic church, Sacré-Cœur Basilica. It is the highest point in the city and perfect to view the skyline on last time before I leave. And as I leave I will wander the streets behind the Basilica of the Sacred Heart and discover the gargoyles, fairies and magical beasts that have been carved into the sides of the houses there, then taking my final metro to the train station and make my way home.