Strategies
Historically speaking, Terry's poem "Bars Fight" is the first poem written by an African American. It addresses an Indian raid on an area (Bars) outside of Deerfield, Massachusetts in 1746. It was not published, however, until 1855, which is why Phillis Wheatley is credited with being the first published African American poet. For both poems, students will be asked to compare their initial impression of the authors, their audiences, and their messages with closer readings of the texts.
Initially, the students know nothing about Lucy Terry. A first reading of this piece finds an historical event presented in sing-song detail, showing great sympathy for the settlers who were attacked by "awful" Indians. Students are then given details about Terry's history and social position, and are asked to consider the importance of the writer's audience. Then, they re-read the poem and discuss why Lucy Terry would write in this style from this particular point of view. They are challenged to find any hidden or deeper messages embedded in the text. They will likely select passages like, "Eleazer Hawks was killed outright,/ Before he had time to fight," "Simon Amsden they found dead/ Not many rods distant from his head," "John Sadler fled across the water,/ And thus escaped the slaughter," and Eunice Allen getting "tommy hawked" on the head because she tripped on her petticoats. These lines indicate that Terry is showing particular empathy for people who were killed, injured, and kidnapped in a surprise attack — something not unlike the experience of Africans, including herself, who were brought to America. The subtext, then, is a vivid statement against being attacked and enslaved.
To take this lesson a bit further, students will be asked to step back from the poem for a moment. The questions they must consider are: "Why would Lucy Terry, a slave, want to compose this poem? It wasn't going to be published. She had no reason to feel any sympathy for the white people who were attacked by the Indians. No slaves appeared to have been involved in the incident. Why write it at all?" These questions, in fact, appear to supersede those concerning audience. Through guided discussion, students will infer that Terry was seizing an opportunity to protest the conditions of slavery, presenting it in the guise of a poem that eulogizes in a most traditional form the white victims of racial violence. It is not a stretch to imagine young Lucy Terry deliberately using the double-speak tactics of the trickster, part of her own cultural heritage, to voice an objection. Not only does she escape any negative consequences; she is recognized for expressing salutary sentiments in a poem that was kept alive for 100 years before its actual publication.
When reading Phillis Wheatley, one can conclude that much of the complexity of the embedded messages in Phillis Wheatley's poem "On Being Brought from Africa to America" eluded her predominantly white audience. This poem not only employs traditional poetic form, but it appears to embrace Christian values wholeheartedly. It goes so far, on one level, as to express her gratitude for being kidnapped so that she could escape her "Pagan" world for a Christian one.
Students will be asked create lists of "messages" in the poem that are both evident and implied. They will then analyze these messages in terms of audience, author's purpose, and evidence of "trickster technique." A close reading of this poem for audience can conclude that the first stanza sets up the second one which, even to an "unsuspecting" reader, implies that in the eyes of God all peoples may achieve salvation. Saying "some" instead of "all" in line 5 allows any reader to exempt himself from being the one who scorns or calls Africans "diabolic." And yet Wheatley indicts them all when she says, "Remember, Christians. . . ." Her scolding tone is then modified by the self-referential "black as Cain," implying her and her people's sinfulness, and the use of the word "may" in the last line, implying that not all Negros are deserving of salvation. Many students may note the irony of her calling herself "benighted." First, it is a sophisticated term that plays against the ignorance it denotes. Second, it plays on the word "be(k)nighted," implying either "of the darkness," or deserving of the dignity of a knight, a person who is recognized for great achievements. Reading "mercy," "taught," and "understand," ironically can turn the poem nearly inside out. Another irony makes the case that since "Once [she] redemption never sought nor knew," it is not likely she needed redemption, already possessing the religion of her people. This religion is rendered invisible, as is her entire country; the capital "P" in "Pagan" denotes it as a vague "somewhere" ("land" is also far less definite than country), obliterating the specific indigenous name it possessed. When students have finished their lists and compared them, they will hopefully see that, in addition to gaining an audience, this highly publishable, traditional poetic form selected by Wheatley provides endless opportunity for double-meanings, irony, word play, and, above all, protest. And, like the trickster, she gets away with it, brilliantly so. While Lucy Terry had to be bought out of slavery by her husband, Abijah Prince, Phillis Wheatley essentially "earned" her emancipation through her work. For reasons discussed earlier, it is quite clear that "a 'gifted Negro' in the time of slavery was more politically provocative than an angry slave would have been" (Leonard, 2006).
Introducing the sonnet form itself will be accomplished through using a short excerpt from Maya Angelou's autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. After the horrors of being raped and feeling responsible for the murderous revenge taken on her attacker, Angelou returns to Stamps, Arkansas, to live with her grandmother. Initially, her trauma renders her mute. A neighbor, Mrs. Bertha Flowers, intervenes and introduces her to poetry, which eventually draws Angelou out of her silence. Upon reading Shakespeare's Sonnet #29, she "met and fell in love with William Shakespeare" (Angelou, 1983). Using the excerpt from Angelou and the text of Sonnet #29, students will determine why this particular poem mirrored Angelou's feelings so closely. Following a discussion of the poem, students will address the sonnet form itself, including number of lines, rhyme scheme, rhythm, the volta, and so on. The students will review sonnet structure sufficiently to be able, later, to see the ways in which African American poets modify the form for their own purposes.
To prepare for Natasha Trethewey's "Native Guard" sonnet cycle, students will do some historical research on African American soldiers during the Civil War. There are many websites devoted to this topic, so the students will have plenty of information. After sharing their research, students will read "Native Guard," comparing what they have discovered to what Trethewey portrays in the cycle. They will then write an analytical essay about the differences and similarities between textbook history and poetic history, and the different kinds of "truth" found in each.
As with their study of Trethewey, students will research the lynching of Emmet Till in 1955. The murder of this young boy, accused of "whistling at a white woman," galvanized the Civil Rights Movement. Many websites have information about this event as well, along with images, newspaper articles, coverage of the trial, speeches, and other material. Nelson's book offers helpful glosses for each sonnet, so students can, in groups, address sonnets individually, and then share their discoveries and analyses with the whole class. As they did with Trethewey, students will discuss what Nelson's work brings to the story of Emmet Till. Then, in small groups of three to five, students will select another important historical moment, one which may or may not be related to African American history. They will research the event, and then write three to five original sonnets relating to that event. These sonnets will bring a different angle or insight to the event while remaining true to history. In addition, they must connect poetically with each other, by repetition of imagery, first and last lines, or some other way the students choose among themselves.
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