Poem Analysis

 Happy Holidays everyone!

How was you guys' holidays?

Personally, I had a fantastic holiday and I wish for a beautiful year;)

Anyways, this blog will analyze the poems I was assigned, which are "Ode to Pork" by Kevin Young and " I, too, sing America" by Langston Hughes. 

The first one is Ode to Pork.

I wouldn’t be here 

without you. Without you 

I’d be umpteen

 pounds lighter & a lot 

less alive. You stuck 

round my ribs even 

when I treated you like a dog 

dirty, I dare not eat.

 I know you’re the blues 

because loving you 

may kill me–but still you

 rock me down slow 

as hamhocks on the stove. 

Anyway you come 

fried, cubed, burnt 

to within one inch 

of your life I love. Babe, 

I revere your every 

Nickname—bacon, chitlin, 

crackling, sin. 

Some call you murder, 

shame’s stepsister– 

then dress you up 

& declare you white 

& healthy, but you always

 come back, sauced, to me. 

Adam himself gave up

 a rib to see yours

 piled pink beside him. 

Your heaven is the only one 

worth wanting– 

You keep me all night

 cursing your four-

 letter name, the next 

begging for you again.

Analysis

The theme of this poem is the love and hate-relationship with pork and fighting the desire to eat pork for health issues. It also shows Kevin Young's childhood which is connected to body image and diet. 

Who is Kevin Young?

• Director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture 
• He lived in Boston, Syracuse, and Chicago before his family settled in Topeka, Kansas, where he attended high school.

The second poem is "I, too, sing America" by Langston Hughes.

I, too, sing America

I am the darker brother

They send me to eat in the kitchen

When company comes,

But I laugh,

And eat well,

And grow strong

Tomorrow,

I'll be at the table

When company comes.

Nobody'll dare

Say to me

"Eat in the kitchen,"

Then.

Besides,

They'll see how beautiful I am

And be ashamedー

I, too, am America

Analysis

Stanza one

"I" shows the readers that this poem is a very personal poem and that Hughes is the speaker.

Stanza two

Hughes refers to himself as the black "brother" who forcefully gets hidden by his "family" whenever company comes

In the last three lines of the stanza, he shows that despite his treatment, he still is happy and has hope.

Stanza three

"Tomorrow"= in the near future

Hughes shows his hope that someday he would be able to sit with everyone even If company comes. 

Stanza four

Hughes brings the thoughts expressed in stanza three, the hope that everyone (white people) would acknowledge them (Africans)

Stanza five

Hughes proclaims that he too, is just as important as everyone else.

Who is Langston Hughes?

• Born in 1902 and died in 1967

• He witnessed America's advancement of equal rights for minorities during the course of his lifetime.

• Despite the fact that slavery had been ended years before Hughes was born, he was subjected to overt bigotry and oppression because he was Black.

• He frequently depicts this injustice in his writings, and in his poems, he rebels against the establishment and extols the virtues of his fellow African Americans.