Bop Written By Langston Hughes

• Bop is an exquisite representation of what Langston Hughes is best known for. He is thought of as the primary leader of the Harlem Renaissance, which was a social and cultural movement that mainly took place in the 1920's when the city of Harlem became a mecca for African-American creators, regardless of their chosen art form. In his essay, Bop, Hughes addresses many of the civil inequalities that the Harlem Renaissance brought into question, while still keeping sight of his invention of the iconic art form, jazz poetry. In his piece, Hughes describes a conversation between the narrator, and a supposed friend of the narrator, who goes by the name of Simple. Hughes utilizes first-person perspective throughout the piece in order to give the work an overall feeling of fluency, as well as to make it seem like an active dialogue. The narrator overhears Dizzy Gillespie playing as he passes by, and is invited by Simple to sit down and listen with him. The narrator has very little appreciation for Bop music, much unlike his counterpart who treats Be-Bop music as a religion. Simple explains that  the origin of the music is the struggle of African-Americans, and the embodiment of their culture. Simple directly refers to violent racism that seems almost commonplace to him, "White folks do not get their heads beat just for being white. But me - a cop is liable to grab me almost any time and beat my head - just for being colored,’” (Hughes, pg. 191). Throughout the duration of the essay, Simple continues to shed light on the very obvious racial inequality that occurred at the time that Bop was written, in 1949, but unfortunately still occurs today. In the essay's closing lines, the narrator sympathizes with Simple, leading the readers to do the same, "'Your explanation depresses me,' I said. 'Your nonsense depresses me,' said Simple," (Hughes, pg. 192). He utilizes the rhetorical device known as pathos to get the audience to sympathize with those who are victims of oppression due to race, better achieving his purpose. He does an excellent job communicating the hardships of African-Americans, as well as the artistry that came from this struggle.

When will it stop?: Protesters in Washington D.C. fight for justice after several unarmed African-Americans were murdered at the hands of caucasian police officers. (http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/12/13/washington-justicemarch.html)

• 
  
  1. 
     
     
     
     
     

Once More to the Lake Written By E. B. White

• In, Once More to the Lake, E. B. White returns to the lake where he went with his family every summer as a child. He takes his son with him, but has trouble distinguishing the memories he made as a child and the actions of his son. He describes the newfound sensation, "I looked at the boy, who was silently watching his fly and it was my hands that held his rod, my eyes watching. I felt dizzy and didn't low which rod I was at the end of," (White, pg. 181). In his narrative, he and his son are seemingly doppelgängers, the only difference between them being time. For the most part, his son experiences the lake the same way he did as a child, forcing White to realize that he is playing the part his father once did. He creates an interesting juxtapose in his writing, by highlighting the cherished memories he made at the lake as a child as he recollects them, with the new experiences that his son is living through. Although it is difficult for him, by the end of his narrative, White realizes his own mortality. He is no longer the easy-going young boy swimming in the pond with the children, but now the responsible adult overseeing this activity. Due to this new level of consciousness regarding the contrast of his summers and his son's, he is forced to come to terms with his own mortality. He ends his essay with a final parallel between his son and himself, "I watched him, his hard little body, skinny and bare, saw him wince slightly as he pulled up around his vitals the small, soggy, icy garment. As he buckled the swollen belt suddenly my groin felt the chill of death," (White, pg. 185). He does an incredible job of communicating the manner insignificant in which people live, but also the signifigcance that they are able to timelessly create in the experiences that they share with others. White uses his authority of recounting aspects of his own life, and lots of imagery to solidify his point.  This essay was written for adults who may not have come to terms with growing up, as well as children who should learn to appreciate the time they have with their parents. 
  
  All Life Connects: In this photograph, taken by Raymond Gehman in Canada, it is hard to tell where the forest stops and the reflection starts. White faces something similar when trying to separate his experience at the lake as a child, and the experiences of his son.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

The Figure A Poem Makes Written By Robert Frost

• In his essay, The Figure A Poem Makes, Robert Frost masterfully describes his impression of what a poem should be. Throughout his piece, Frost explains to his audience that poetry is an art, and should be treated as such. Visual artwork is thought of as very difficult to judge, as one person can see a painting and think it is breathtakingly beautiful, while another person could view the same painting and see it as being very ugly. Frost clarifies that poetry cannot be measured by traditional standards of logical reason, "Scholars get theirs with conscientious thoroughness along projected lines of logic; poets theirs cavalierly, and as it happens in and out of books," (Frost, pg. 178).  When he published, The Figure A Poem Makes, in 1939, Frost had already won three Pulitzer Prizes, and was very well known for his large body of critically acclaimed work. The confident tone he utilizes, as well as his reputation, aid to establish his credibility and make readers trust that he has enough authority to explain how people and poetry should interact. He also uses imagery to grab his readers attention, and better achieve his thematic purpose throughout the duration of his essay. He illustrates complex points as a means of bettering the audiences understanding by giving a basis of understanding, "... And kicking ourselves from one chance suggestion to another in all directions as of a hot afternoon in the life of a grasshopper," (Frost, pg. 177). Most people are unfamiliar with the manner in which a poem comes to life when it is spoken, but they can visualize the way a grasshopper moves; by adding in imagery such as this, Frost is able to accomplish his purpose. His essay is very versatile in a sense that it can speak to poetry lovers, just as it can communicate the same ideas to people who do not appreciate poetry and perhaps even peak their interest. This piece is also a helpful piece of literature for those who would like to start writing poetry, as it details the most important elements that a poem should have. I think Frost achieves his purpose well, and communicates his firm belief that poetry is an art. He delves into the wisdom that people can take from poetry, as well as the author's emotion being pivotal to the overall impact of their writing.
  
  Poetry and Art Can Be Synonymous: Artist Juan Osborne gives visual art a new figure by creating detailed portraits and landscapes made up of only words relevant to what he is creating. Although his method and medium is very different than Frost's, the emotion their work evokes is the most key component. 
  
  
• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Artists in Uniform Written By Mary McCarthy

• In Artists in Uniform, Mary McCarthy narrates her confrontation with a man who she encounters on a train voyage across the United States. McCarthy's essay was published in 1953, less than a decade after the end of World War II. In this essay, McCarthy utilizes a scholarly vernacular, as well as her usual confident tone to establish her intellectual superiority to the man she meets. This allows her to establish her credibility, utilizing the rhetorical device called ethos. McCarthy also taps into her audience's emotions by having her story revolve around the general message that biases blinds a person from seeing others as they truly are, but they are also very hard to break free of. She communicates her purpose masterfully by highlighting the colonel's stupidity, when he says hateful things about Jews, yet immediately takes a liking to McCarthy after hearing her very Irish sounding last name. Although she is much more logical than he, she is unable to  shake him of his ignorance towards the Jewish people. McCarthy is a fourth Jewish, but does not let the colonel know this until the very end of their time together because she does not want him to dismiss her thinking as motivated by her own lineage, "Don't start that anti-semtetic talk before making sure there are no Jews present," (McCarthy, pg.205). She makes him look very foolish by employing dramatic irony throughout the piece, because the audience knows she is Jewish, yet the colonel does not. After he makes many offensive and anti-Semitic remarks, McCarthy decides that instead of declining his invitation to lunch as she once intended to, she will go out with him in the pursuit of teaching him the error in his ways. Unfortunately, she in unable to, and she begins to question if her unprejudiced view was acquired in her life, just as much as a the colonel acquired his anti-semitic outlook. As she parts with the man, he asks for her married name. She reveals that it is Broadwater, and immediately the colonel's grimace is traded for a look of understanding, as the name sounds very Jewish. She considers this a victory for the colonel, as he can walk away from the encounter assuming that McCarthy only tried to persuade him to be more tolerant because she was defending her own religious community, but the audience knows that this is not the case. Artists in Uniform is filled with subtle nuances such as this, that add deeply to the thematic message that McCarthy is trying to communicate. Her target audience is post-adolescence, and some level of academia is required in order to understand the significant word  choices she makes. 

Hatred is taught: This is a poster that was shown to the public to advertise a Nazi propaganda movie called, The Eternal Jew. It depicted the Jewish people as parasitic and unclean, using them as a scapegoat for the German failure. Joseph Goebbels was in charge of Nazi propaganda the time, The Eternal Jew, was released. 

• 
  
•