Journal #18

Sterling Brown's poetry has a very different style and feel than the poetry I have read so far in the Harlem Renaissance Reader. She really uses the African slang in almost every word she writes. Her language seems similar to Zora Neale Hurston's in that regard.

"Southern Road" is a very sad and almost spiteful poem that tells about the hardships of slavery. Every stanza is repeated, and I'm not really sure why she wrote it that way. If I were to guess I would say that she repeats the lines to signify a slave's life and repetition that their lives consisted of. Day in and day out, swinging that hammer, a hard life, but also dull and monotonous. The lines that I found most significant were "Double shackled-hunh, guard behin; Ball and chain bebby on my min'." The image of chains is very vivid, you can almost hear the clang and although very few readers could ever empathize with the horrible life of slavery, she lets you live it in her brief poem.

I was kind of disturbed by the poem "Frankie and Johnny." The story of the white girl's love afair with the black slave is always a sad tale. I noticed that Frankie is almost demonized in the story, as if her behavior was all her own fault as well as her love affair with Johnny. She was beaten and treated horribly by her family, obviously her life could not have compared to Johnny's. They knew their actions would have to lead them down a very tragic path, and so it did. Sterling's words are graphic and she leaves out few details. This is usually the sign of a great poet, unafraid to speak the truth, but it doesn't make the poem any less morose. If she had told this story in a different way, that did not include any visuals of Johnny's death, would it have made the same impact? Would we be reading this poem in class if it did not have the shock value that it does?

"Ma Rainey" feels like more of a song to me than a poem. There is a definite rhythm to it even though the poem is seperated in sections. I'm not sure why it is arranged that way, but I think it gives her words more flavor and keeps the reader interested with the different patterns instead of the same old thing. "Ma Rainey" makes you feel at home, like you know this woman and join in on the contagious laughs. So much different than her previous poems, "Ma Rainey" makes you feel like you belong.

Brown, Sterling. "Poetry." The Portable Harlem Renaissance Reader. Ed. David Lewis. New York: 1995. 227-237.