Preface+to+a+20+Volume+Suicide+Note+(Block+34)

__**Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note**__ Lately, I've become accustomed to the way The ground opens up and envelopes me Each time I go out to walk the dog. Or the broad edged silly music the wind Makes when I run for a bus...

Things have come to that.

And now, each night I count the stars. And each night I get the same number. And when they will not come to be counted, I count the holes they leave.

Nobody sings anymore.

And then last night I tiptoed up To my daughter's room and heard her Talking to someone, and when I opened The door, there was no one there... Only she on her knees, peeking into

Her own clasped hands

http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/a_f/baraka/onlinepoems.htm

__**Analysis of Poem

Structure**__: Fixed/closed Rhyme Scheme: none Stanzas: 7 stanzas (5,1,4,1,5,1) Punctuation: Uses the “…” Author is an African American Written during the 1960’s when prejudice towards blacks was prevalent in America. Repetition: “And now…” “And each…” “ And when…” “ The ground envelopes me” “ Broad edged silly music” “ Tip-toed” “ Clasped hands” Personification: “The ground envelopes me” “ Broad edged silly music the wind makes…” **__Theme__**: African Americans are frustrated because they are being oppressed by whites. Amiri Baraka was born on October 7, 1934. Preface to a Twenty-Volume Suicide Note was published in 1961, and it was his first volume of poetry. He was the founder of Totem Press, as well as the Black Arts Repertory Theatre/School. Baraka has also written many off-Broadway plays and has taught at colleges such as San Francisco State University, Yale University, and George Washington University. He has been a professor of Africana Studies at the State University of New York at Stony Brook since 1985.
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 * __Tone__**: Hopeless
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