“When it is finally ours this freedom, this liberty, this beautiful” (Line 1) is one of the many lines in Robert Hayden's poem “Frederick Douglass”. One of many poems in which Hayden takes events or figures from African American history as his subject. This poem was written as a tribute to Frederick Douglas himself. One of the very well-known and praised African Americans in the nineteenth century. This is no ordinary poem for Hayden. It is written in an improper sonnet. By improper I mean, sonnets are usually fourteen lines using any of a number of formal rhyme schemes, which typically has ten syllables per line. Hayden has done a great job in using many different literary techniques to emphasize the work Frederick Douglass has done. …show more content…
Anaphora is defined as the repetition of a word or a group of words in the beginning of a sentence to add an emphasis and/or bring clauses together. It is important to understand that the utility of anaphora is most commonly used in poetry to add an artistic effect. With that being said, the opening anaphoric, “When it is finally ours, this freedom, this liberty, this beautiful and terrible thing” creates a momentum which will sustain this sentence for eleven lines. The next clause in this sentence switches the anaphora from “this” to “when it”. The overall function of anaphora is not only to add emphasis but to create a form of rhythm to make it memorable and pleasing to the audience. Similes were used in this poem is different ways. Hayden was trying to get the readers to understand what he was trying to say by making some simple comparisons. Similes is a figurative language that is defined as drawing comparisons. An example of a simile in the poem would be “Needful to man as air, useable as earth” (Lines 2-3) Hayden is comparing freedom to air and earth. Hayden is trying to get the reader to understand how important freedom is to a human being. Freedom and liberty is something that we all should obtain. The next literary technique used in this poem is imagery. Imagery is a mental image. Hayden states “This man Douglass, this Negro, Beaten to his knees exiled, visioning a world, where none is lonely, none haunted, alien” (Line 7-9). Hayden is trying
In the pre-Civil War plantations of the South, slaves were forbidden to read or write. In other words, they were forced to be ignorant and locked in mental darkness. In the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, he writes in dept about his life as a slave in these plantations. After leaning the ABC's and learning to spell words consisting of three or four letters from Ms. Auld, Frederick Douglass illustrates how he secretly taught himself how to read and write using various strategies such as: Learning the letters on the timber at Durgin and Bailey's ship yard, getting lessons from the white boy's he met on the street, Webster's Spelling Book, and master
In Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Douglass explains, in great detail, how slave master would use a variety of methods to dehumanize slaves located on their plantation. These methods involved both severe physical and psychological trauma. Nevertheless, Douglass remains diligent and finds a way to resist the harsh reality of being a slave. Because of his immovable desire to acquire knowledge to his fighting encounter with Mr. Covey, these experiences help shape Douglass to be the archetype of what it means to go from slavery to freedom. This essay will highlight the physical and psychological tactics used on slaves. In addition, the aspect of how Douglass resists the
ATTENTION: you must complete 5 journal entries. MAKE SURE that you are ANALYZING, not summarizing!!! Your analysis MAY NOT have the word “quote” in it anywhere, nor should you start your analysis with “this shows,” or “here Douglass uses.” Instead, indentify the ACTION that is taking place in terms of language. If you see a biblical allusion, type “Douglass employs biblical allusion to emphasize…” or something similar. You may NOT use first (“I,” “me,” “we,” “us”) or second person (“you”). Also, you should not begin every sentence
In the Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass: an American Slave, written by himself, the author argues that slaves are treated no better than, sometimes worse, than livestock. Douglass supports his claim by demonstrating how the slaves were forced to eat out of a trough like pigs and second, shows how hard they were working, like animals. The author’s purpose is to show the lifestyle of an American slave in order to appeal to people’s emotions to show people, from a slave’s perspective, what slavery is really like. Based on the harsh descriptions of his life, Douglass is writing to abolitionist and other people that would sympathize and abolish slavery.
1. Douglass opens his novel by talking about the ambiguity he faced in his life as a slave. He didn’t know when he was born, how old he was, or who his father was. Douglass begins the novel this way to exhibit how as a slave, his personhood is marginalized. His marginalized personhood encompasses what it is like to be a slave; and shows how slaves are treated more like property than humans. Because slaves don’t know much about themselves, they are deprived of things that humanize them, such as birthdays.
Frederick Douglass was a wise and brave man that grew up in the American slave system. He knows first hand the hardships of being owned by someone and having no way to escape that kind of life. After escaping from slavery he decided to write a book on the hardships of his life. In the book he describes the life of the slave and the many aspects that are not usually learned. These aspects describe the life of a slave in a point of view that is not usually looked at; the point of view of a slave.
During the mid-19th century, the issue of slavery divided the nation between two firmly rooted camps, the southern slave owners and the northern abolitionists. As authors and activists attempted to shed light on the issue of slavery, they appealed to the millions of citizens who were in between camps, whether due to a lack of knowledge or lack of importance in their daily lives. The story of Frederick Douglass is one such literary work that helped inform American citizens on the horrors of slavery, offering a first-hand account as Douglass rose from a slave to an educated free man. Within his narrative, Douglass describes his life as a slave and transition into American society with newfound freedom, highlighting the dehumanizing results of slavery. Furthermore, Douglass appeals to the three Aristotelian appeals throughout his novel, synthesizing the argument that slavery should be abolished. Specifically, Douglass makes use of vivid imagery that appeals to readers’ pathos, inciting horror in his audience at the sight of atrocities committed by slave owners. Moreover, Douglass references a number of prominent literary works when forming analogies between slavery and history, appealing to readers’ ethos by illustrating his education and increasing the credibility of his argument. Finally, Douglass utilizes a parallel sentence structure to appeal to readers’ logos by presenting his arguments in a cohesive and logical manner when writing of the slave’s lack of autonomy over their own lives .
Douglass continues to talk about how they all came to celebrate the fourth of July, but to remember that the nation is still young and has room for positive change. Douglass then asks this question, "Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us?” (p.407) By us Douglas is meaning blacks. This is supported by when he states that, “This Fourth of July is yours not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn.” (p.408) Slaves and former slaves like Douglass are only saddened on Independence Day because they still have no independence to cheer for. They were lied to and taken for granted after all the work they did to earn equal rights. To ask black people to celebrate the White man’s freedom is only teasing and disrespectful irony.
“There were no beds given to the slaves, unless one coarse blanket be considered such, and none but the men and women had these. This, however, is not considered a great privation.” (Pg. 27). Slaves are treated very badly and Frederick Douglass is one of them. He explains his story as a slave and many of his surroundings affected his moral character. The surroundings include things that are cultural, geographical, and physical.
The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave is an account of Frederick Douglass’ life written in a very detached and objective tone. You might find this tone normal for a historical account of the events of someone’s life if not for the fact that the narrative was written by Frederick Douglass himself. In light of the fact that Douglass wrote his autobiography as a treatise in support of the abolishment of slavery, the removed tone was an effective tone. It gave force to his argument that slavery should be done away with.
Captain Anthony had three children, Andrew, Richard, and Lucretia, who was married to Captain Thomas Auld. They lived on the plantation home of Colonel Edward Lloyd. This was the home that Douglass describes in the previous summary. "It was here that I witnessed the bloody transaction recorded in the first chapter; and as I received my first impressions of slavery on this plantation, I will give some description of it, and of slavery as it there existed." The plantation raised tobacco, corn, and wheat, they shipped the goods out to Baltimore. Lloyd owned three to four hundred slaves, they got poor monthly allowances," The men and women slaves received, as their monthly allowance of food, eight pounds of pork, or its equivalent in fish, and one bushel of corn meal."Their yearly allowances consisted of the bare minimum to that the master could lower spending costs. "Their yearly clothing consisted of two coarse linen shirts, one pair of linen trousers, like the shirts, one jacket, one pair of trousers for winter, made of coarse negro cloth, one pair of stockings, and one pair of
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is written by the ex-slave Frederick Douglass and recounts his life as a slave and his ambition to become a free man. This edition is edited with an introduction by David W. Blight, an American History teacher.
In Frederick Douglass’s narrative, Frederick Douglass struggles to free himself mentally and physically from being a slave, he also struggles with the lack of knowledge surrounding his family and his parents, and he also struggles with the reality of being a slave. Douglass struggles to save money to escape to New York City, in the end; he ends up marrying a free black woman and becomes a speaker for the Anti-Slavery Society.
of living a slave life and he feared he would walk that path for the remainder of his life. Despite
“This Negro beaten to his knees, exiled, visioning a world where none is lonely, none hunted” (Hayden 7-9). Then a short background of both the Poet, Robert Hayden, and Frederick Douglass. Haydens abusive childhood influenced many of his poems, he also understood the plight of African Americans in America which influenced his poems entitled the Middle Passage and Heart-Shape in the Dust. When he wrote black poetry like his poems Frederick Douglass and Ballad of Remembrance he emphasized the African American wish to have freedom be real and forever an acknowledged famous African Americans who fought for the cause like Malcolm X and Frederick Douglass.