My Journey

     There is more to poetry than just unusual typography, enjambment, figurative language, or couplets. Instead, it is about the beauty in which a certain set of words comes together with such grace.

      Every person has an unique voice that comes through in their poetry. Whether it be Knight's depictions of the Black Arts Movement, or Whitman's celebration of the common man, each poet has an unique view on the world.

     I have learned that there is much more to poetry than meets the eye. I now see poetry through a different lens, one with much more positive light. Don't get me wrong, I always respected renowned poets, but I never fully appreciated them. This class has changed that.

     I now can see beyond the saggy pants and gold chains of today's rappers, and acknowledge how talented they actually are. Each rap tells a story, and not everyone can tell a story like they can.

     Blogging is also something I have never really been a fan of, until this class showed me how empowering it can be. Your blog is your time to shine, to write about whoever or whatever is on your mind. It's also a great place to learn more about things you aren't very familiar with.

     Each time I write a blog post, I have to do some research on what I'm talking about, that is if I want to have at least some credibility. In order to write about a poet, I need to research him or her and in doing that, I learn more about that poet. I learn about their writing process, their background, and even about other works they have done over the years.

     Similar to poetry, blogging has no rules or restrictions. It can be as biased or as unbiased as you please, which is why it is so empowering. I can express my opinion freely without having someone tell me that it's wrong.

     A blog is like a diary, a space in which you can express yourself or even just put your thoughts onto paper. The difference is, a blog is shared with the world and so someone out there is reading your words and feels the same way you do. For once, you're the author and someone out there is praising you.

Your blog is your unedited version of yourself. 

Sources: 
http://www.clemagazine.com/home/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Poet-Smurf.jpg
http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/glossaryItem.do?id=8102
http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/E._E._Cummings#Poetry
http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/style-and-usage/Figurative-Language.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Couplet
http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/158
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Arts_Movement
http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/126

Power to the Blacks!

A group of African-Americans doing the Black Power symbol.

    The Black Arts Movement was founded in Harlem by writer and activist, Amiri Baraka. This movement can be seen as the artistic branch of the Black Power Movement. This movement inspired black people everywhere to establish ownership of publishing houses, magazines, journals and art institutions. 
    Many blacks of the time actually encouraged separate communities, and therefore separate arts and music from the whites. This may seem ironic to some because all anyone every heard was that the blacks wanted equal treatment and this just doesn't seem like the way to go about getting it.
    BAM sought “to link, in a highly conscious manner, art and politics in order to assist in the liberation of black people”, and produced an increase in the number and visibility of African-American artistic production. Literature, drama, and music of Blacks “served as an oppositional and defensive mechanism through which creative artists could confirm their identity while articulating their own unique impressions of social reality.”
    Before Blacks could inspire others, they had to first change the way that they viewed themselves. For generations, they had been belittled and told that they were inferior to whites, and now they had to break free of the oppression and become their own people. They had to escape from the white norms and strive to be more natural, a common theme of African-American art and music. 
    By breaking into a area typically reserved for white Americans, artists of the Black Power era expanded opportunities for current African Americans. Today's writers and artists recognize that they owe a large amount of their success to the Black Power's explosion of cultural orthodoxy. 
   

"I think what Black Arts did was inspire a whole lot of Black people to write. Moreover, there would be no multiculturalism movement without Black Arts. Latinos, Asian Americans, and others all say they began writing as a result of the example of the 1960s. Blacks gave the example that you don't have to assimilate. You could do your own thing, get into your own background, your own history, your own tradition and your own culture. I think the challenge is for cultural sovereignty and Black Arts struck a blow for that," said Ishmael Reed, a modern American poet.  

                                                                                                                                                                                                             Sources: 

http://ww2.madonna.edu/NEH/05/tunite.jpg

http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/blackarts/historical.htm

http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Black+Power+Movement

http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/750