jeudi 25 mai 2017

World Famous Poets Of Resistance

By Steven Wood


History has witnessed cases of oppression featuring different minority groups. When they lacked a channel to air their grievances, they turned to poets of resistance. These writers could capture the mood of the oppressed and send shivers down the spines of oppressors. Their words rallied the masses behind liberation struggles.

Langston Hughes was born in Joplin, Missouri and is famous for being a columnist and a social activist. He is a notable figure in the Harlem Renaissance when he was based in New York City. He has over 15 poetry anthologies to his name. His famous poem is I Look at the World. In the poem, he depicts the life of blacks as restricted and fenced. He uses the poem to rally them to rise and create the life and world they have always dreamt about.

Women resistance poets are led by the famous voice of a performer, author and memoirist Maya Angelou. She was from Missouri as well and is among the most decorated social justice activists with over 50 honorary degrees. Caged Bird is a verse that narrates the differences in the lives of free and oppressed people. The verse captures the life of a caged bird that only sings and another that is free to pursue its dreams. The imagery used in this poem is so powerful, sending the message home in a memorable version.

Denise Levertov trains her barrel pen on the Vietnam War. She views it as one of the worst injustices meted on innocent people. She uses different artistic forms including diary entries, news casts and conversations. Most of them feature battles between individuals and groups which represent the government. Making Peace is her most famous verse where she advocates for a pause so that people can ponder about peace.

Jamaica witnessed the birth of Claude McKay in 1889, who would grow to join the Harlem Renaissance and be regarded as a famous communist. Claude refuses the communist tag but remains a prolific crusader in his poetry, fiction and non-fictional works. If We Must Die is among his best pieces where he urges the oppressed to fight other than watch their oppressors laugh at their misery. Even at death, they must remain noble by fighting back.

In 1915, Margret Walker was born in Birmingham, Alabama. She became a prominent member of the African American literary movement operating from Chicago. She is famous for the verse, For My People which addresses a complacent people who are comfortable in oppression. She pushes them to fight by rising from their slumber and instigating for change.

Jane Hirshfield is viewed as clear and simplistic in her writing. She was part of the pioneer Princeton University lot that included the first female grandaunts. She made her mark with Let Them Not Say, a verse warning oppressors that the public is watching.

Protest poems were not designed to cause drastic change in social order. They set to awaken the conscious of oppressed masses into taking action against their wayward behaviors. They sent a message to oppressors that their time was nigh.




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