Saturday, March 10, 2012

Find a poem that revolves around a particular metaphorical concept (like the examples we discussed).
Racism has a human heart,
An artery of cruelty & death,
It has blood of anger, & evil…,
Has a force of pain & antipathy.

Racism has a human mind….
An Intellect of terror & delusion,
Has an emotion of extreme savage
Imagination of vile ideas, macabre.

Racism has a human mouth,
It has tongue of torture, depravity,
Many teeth of brutal incision & kill
Has a lip of sorrow, hate & death.

JOHN NELSON 4-Mar-09

Identify the metaphor and the relationship the two things being compared- what do they have in common? How can we understand one in terms of another?
Racism is being personified as a 'bad' human being in this poem. The speaks about racism as a person, with human characteristics; like human heart, human mind, blood, teeth and lips. However since there are good and bad people in the world, racism is described as the bad person with the savage and cruel personality that you wouldn't want to be around, and this is why the author describes these features with negative descriptions (like lip of sorrow, hate and death, teeth of brutal incisions and kill and also blood of anger and evil). Racism is very harsh and hurtful and can destroy lives of many people and this is what the person (Racism) is described as in the poem.

What cultural significance does this metaphor have?
Racism is an issue and occurs in many nations of the world. People are being judged and abused based on their race or where they come from. Racism tends to de-personalize people, it abuses their human rights and the concept of equality- all humans being equal. Therefore this person that is being described in the poem 'Racism' is perceived to be a very hurtful and horrible person, that has a negative effect on the races on the world, racism terrifies and tortures all the worlds' races.

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