After reading The Harlem Dancer by Claude McKay I almost immediately felt an emotional connection to the poem and the way it described the dancer. The way the dancer entertained others and the way they were reacting to her reminded me how in life people often set aside their dreams and admirations to simply satisfy the needs and wants of others. Sometimes when this happens it by choice. We as people are likely to try to please people as we go through life. I know because I personally experienced this myself. For a long time, I ignored my dreams to help others accomplish their dreams. This came with so many emotional difficulties in my early adulthood. It wasn’t until I decided to put myself first and do something that was going to benefit me, then I started to feel better about my life. Other times, much like the dancer described in the poem people are forced to do things they would not normally do in order to survive. In the poem, the last line says, “I know her self was not in that strange place.” To me, that is supporting the idea that the dancer may have been there physically but mentally and emotionally may have not been there. It reminds me of the way mothers often sacrifice and do whatever they have to do to take care of their children. Throughout the poem, McKay refers to the audience watching the dancer as boys and girls so that made me think of parents putting themselves in uncomfortable positions to be the role model they feel they need to be for their families. Another line in the poem says the dancer had a falsely smiling face. Again, I feel the dancer does not want to be in the place she is in. Since McKay was a key figure in the Harlem Renaissance I also imagined he could have been targeting the mistreatment of black people during those times. I remembered the way black people would often entertain white people as a way to express their art while trying to make it. This may not have been the ideal platform for them but at that time options were few and the chances of them taking on an actual gig were slim. McKay invoked several emotions and experiences with this poem. So much so that after reading it I wanted to know more about the way prostitutes and other related people influenced the world during the times of his work. Learning that it was very similar to the way they do now surprised me. Of course the advancements of the world today made a significant difference but the root of their lives was much like it is today. They faced many addictions and other issues which to me is a metaphor for the different ways people handle challenges and hardships in life.

After reading Scars by Ruth Stone I immediately thought about how she uses scars as different symbols throughout the poem. While I first got the impression that scars were the overall theme for the poem I did some research and discovered Stone uses her personal experiences to influence her poetry. I then learned that her second husband, poet, and writer Walter Stone committed suicide leaving her to raise three children. From this point on this incident marked her poetry for the rest of her life. She also uses colors and textures throughout to poem Scars which to me signifies her love and taste for everyday things the average person overlooks or takes for granted. This detail showed a great sense of her creativity and how to advance her skills were. She is able to grasp the attention of her audience without over-using popular or familiar dialogue in her poetry. I also have seen some traditional ceremonial usage in Scars. By including these types of practices Stone reaches a certain target audience without openly excluding those who may not participate in those types of things. Again, we see such a clever way she uses her work in multiple ways giving different messages and reaching different types of audiences. Although the death of her husband was tragic, it may be seen as something that impacted her work in a positive way. At times people experiences tragic things in their life which brings out emotions they may not have used or knew they had in them. These emotions often allows individuals to tap into a layer within their creativity that could not be used in an ordinary situation.

In the introduction we are afforded the opportunity to witness the various reasons chose to

In the introduction, we are afforded to opportunity to witness the various reasons Rita Dove chose specific artists as well as the way she lists their work in her book. She opens the introduction with a letter that seems to be written to a close friend and or colleague. In this letter, she outlines five reasons why she has chosen to produce this book. Among these reasons was the influx of creative writing programs which gives young writers a place to exist as they develop the necessary skills to advance in the area of creative writing. This is extremely important, especially to young black writers who may often find themselves in a space where they are not treated equally or have access to the same resources as their white counterparts while striving to advance their writing ability. Given the history of non-white and female writers whose voices were not heard as much; the reshaping of African American poetry is highly regarded as a tool to further those who fall into spaces of not being treated fairly. Dove also includes poetry that over time has made a major influence on American history. Some of the works follow major occurrences that impact people of different races and cultural still today. This is important because as time goes on many people began to forget major things that have happen in the past. Especially during the new millennium age where the past has truly become the past. By forgetting the past we may find ourselves forgetting those who came before us and opened many doors for us to be able to live the lives we are living. People may also find themselves taking things for granted that were fought for many years ago. This is quite dangerous to black people especially. These are the cases when we run into things like political issues because people take voting too lightly. Dove states “We begin to wrap up things before the end arrives.” These reminded me of how often times white people would quickly try to silence black people when talking about slavery. Too many times white people try to sweep slavery under the rug as though it was not a big thing and in a way suggest black people should get over it since it has been over for years. Funny how fast they forget that black people still suffer from the awful days of slavery. America has been shaped based on the white hierarchy of white supremacy. Unfortunately, the world’s views of black people have not totally changed since and even some black people fall victim to the harsh reality of their ancestors once being enslaved. The structure of the world has been systematically set up to keep black people feeling inferior to white people and for generations, this has influenced the way many black people feel towards themselves and even other black people. Poetry has become a great avenue for blacks to freely express and share many of the hardships once forced upon them. As Dove mentions, some people either experienced slavery first-hand or from a relative and it impacts them tremendously. However, as the new century dawned, some people who could afford wiggle room were able and motivated to start fresh, do things differently, and embrace the new which helped them in overcoming some of the trauma many still dealt with.