social commentary
There's a rich history of poetry serving as social commentary, intended to inspire calls to action.
The Earthen Dance
The footsteps turning round the mounds and rounds of silt and the powdery, fertile soil resound: Stomp! Plodding, marching in toil, and tough- ened skin, serrated bones, igneous blood- stained lesions in the depths of flesh, and sinew-hardened strength beat the brows above the eyes— brute force, hot sweat, and bestial plaintive blows. Corduroy, almost velvet: the Earth’s in measured rows from the plow, down-pressed and forth, with upturned brown as bitter iron scratches through the folded ground, marking out the furrowed sillion; creases burrow in the wrinkled flesh of ancient earthen skin with a hemorrhage. Each is the part the other lacks, each the berater, and the other’s better half.
By Teddy MacQuarrie5 years ago in Poets
I Know why the Caged Bird sings- Racism and Poetry
How much affect can a poem exert on the society? Can the poet’s own experience be an impact on the reader? Well, yes it can. A poem created through the Poet’s own life experience can make a huge implicit impact towards the reader as well as the society too. Maya Angelou’s most famous work “I know why the caged bird sings” is a great example. First published in 1983, it plots a storyline related to two birds, from which one is caged whereas the other is free. The work metaphorically expresses racism placed in America. In more ways it focuses the caged bird rather than the free bird. Maya’s work can also relate highly to today’s society since Racism is one of the top talks in the town.
By Cordellia Novis5 years ago in Poets
