Emily Dickinson-Poetry

Emily Dickinson's numerous poems represent a life of solitude, isolation, sadness, but also hope. Her poems reflect her life's events and her innermost thoughts and feelings. She wanted to have all her poems and correspondence letters burned after she died, but her sister decided it was important to save most of her poems and share them with the world because they are so extraordinarily and yet simply written.

Ballad of Birmingham by Dudley Randall

-The poem is about a mother and her little girl who wants to go join the freedom march, but the mother tells her to go to the church instead. The church ends up being bombed by a white supremacist (Robert Chambliss) and the little girl died in the explosion.

Necessary to Protect Ourselves-Interview with Malcom X

-Malcolm X says that because the government has proven its inability to protect Negroes, it should be left in the hands of the Negroes to protect themselves.

Stride Toward Freedom by Martin Luther King, Jr.

-Oppression-acquiescence
-Some slaves prefer to be slaves than to be free because it is what they are used to and comfortable with/familiar with.
-"Been down so long that down don't bother me."
- By giving up, the oppressed become as evil as the oppressor.
-To accept being treated badly would say to the oppressor that their being treated that way is okay.
-Oppression-violence/violent protests
-Oppression-non-violent protests-not aimed at the "oppressors" but the oppression.

Coming of Age in Mississippi by Anne Moody

-Anne is trying to graduate from Natchez College; she does not have enough credits, but she is happy because she gets to stay on campus and help with "the movement."
-Anne knows that some of her teachers are waiting for her to drop out of school, but the movement has helped Anne to know she has nothing she needs to prove to others.
-Anne is recruited to do a sit-in at a diner and agrees because she doesn't care if she goes to jail or not; she has nothing to lose.
-Anne, Pearlena, and Memphis sit down in the white section of the diner and refuse to move when asked.
-A white woman says that she would stay with them, but her husband is waiting for her.
-Anne and the others at the sit-in are abused terribly at the diner.
-Anne doesn't hate the whites; she believes they are merely "sick with a disease that is incurable."
-Anne wouldn't stop fighting for her cause and act like a coward; she was determined and brave.

Gettysburg Address

Questions on pg. 607
3) I think Lincoln was a very earnest, smart, and strong-willed person. Lincoln instills a sense of sadness, but want for equality in his speech. His attitude is that there is hope for the future of this country, and that all men are created equal. The men who fought in battle, fought with courage and died for their cause. He wants to live in a free country someday, and he wants to persuade his listeners to want the same thing. He uses sentiment to reach out to the audience. Those who fought in the war were/are dedicated to their country. Lincoln states that the nation, under God, will someday be free.

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

The story is written by Frederick Douglass, and he tells about his life as a slave and how he was treated horridly by his owner. His original "master" sent him to another plantation to work and be "broken in." While Frederick was there, he was beaten weekly and had a near death experience in which he walked a great distance to plead his previous owner to take him back. His previous owner wouldn't allow this, so he sent him back to the plantation where Frederick was being beaten. Frederick met up with another slave and his free wife, and they let him stay there before he returned to the plantation. The slave and his wife told Frederick to go to this special place and take one of the roots from it. Frederick was to put the root in his pocket and keep it with him always as to protect himself from further harm. Frederick returned to the plantation a little more hopeful at his future and wouldn't allow his master to beat him anymore. The two get in a rumble, and Frederick stands up against his master and scares him. His master didn't whip him ever again after that.
Styles of Writing:
formal (conversational)
concise
matter of fact
personal and emotional
word choice
sentence length
tone
figurative language
use of dialogue

Figurative Language:
"I expected every moment that my brains would be dashed out against the trees" (pg. 563).

Word Choice:
"Upon this he rushed at me with the fierceness of a tiger, tore off my clothes, and lashed me till he had worn out his switches, cutting me so savagely as to leave marks visible for a long time after" (pg. 564).

Tone:
"...scarce a week passed without his whipping me" (pg. 564).
"He appeared to us as being ever at hand" (pg. 565).

Personal and Emotional:
"My awkwardness was almost always his excuse for whipping me" (pg. 564).
"I was broken in body, soul, and spirit" (pg. 565).

Use of Dialogue:
"Take hold of him, take hold of him!" (pg. 569).