american political poetry in the 21st century - STIBA Malang
american political poetry in the 21st century - STIBA Malang
american political poetry in the 21st century - STIBA Malang
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192 AMERICAN POLITICAL POETRY<br />
vibrant, part of <strong>the</strong> culture, never<strong>the</strong>less I believe that this part is<br />
critical to <strong>the</strong> culture’s place as a dynamic <strong>political</strong> art, capable not<br />
only of poetic agency, but <strong>political</strong> agency <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> public sphere. I hope<br />
that those readers familiar with hip-hop will f<strong>in</strong>d <strong>the</strong> chapter illum<strong>in</strong>at<strong>in</strong>g,<br />
<strong>in</strong>novative, and an impetus for fur<strong>the</strong>r <strong>in</strong>quiry. For those readers<br />
familiar with hip-hop only through its dom<strong>in</strong>ant cultural images,<br />
I hope that chapter 4 offers an alternative perspective <strong>in</strong>to <strong>the</strong> culture,<br />
and an entrance po<strong>in</strong>t <strong>in</strong>to those aspects of it that elude ma<strong>in</strong>stream<br />
publicity.<br />
Now that I have summed up <strong>the</strong> four chapters, I want to consider<br />
a poem that has multiple poetic agencies. Then, follow<strong>in</strong>g my read<strong>in</strong>g<br />
of this poem, I discuss a poem that uses humor as its primary form of<br />
agency, before mak<strong>in</strong>g some general conclusions about politics and<br />
<strong>poetry</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> United States. In “The House Slave” former Poet<br />
Laureate (1993–1995) Rita Dove creates a figure of voice that imag<strong>in</strong>es<br />
<strong>the</strong> first-person speak<strong>in</strong>g “I” of a slave. The speaker narrates <strong>the</strong><br />
poem contemporaneously as if she were present on a n<strong>in</strong>eteenth<strong>century</strong><br />
plantation. She speaks <strong>in</strong> present-tense, active first-person<br />
verbs <strong>in</strong> order to describe <strong>the</strong> horrors of witness<strong>in</strong>g her family’s<br />
mistreatment: “I watch <strong>the</strong>m driven,” “I cannot fall asleep aga<strong>in</strong>,”<br />
“I lie on my cot,” and “I weep” (29). The reader knows that Dove<br />
was not a slave herself, but <strong>the</strong> poem works because we are will<strong>in</strong>g to<br />
go along with her experience of be<strong>in</strong>g an African American woman.<br />
Yet what is more important is <strong>the</strong> poet’s and reader’s temporal<br />
distance from slavery. Just as <strong>the</strong> house slave <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> poem is <strong>in</strong>sulated<br />
from <strong>the</strong> greatest suffer<strong>in</strong>g—she is <strong>in</strong>side and not subject to <strong>the</strong> horrors<br />
of <strong>the</strong> fields—and witnesses it from <strong>the</strong> w<strong>in</strong>dow, <strong>the</strong> poet is both<br />
<strong>in</strong>sulated by over one hundred years but still witnesses it through <strong>the</strong><br />
w<strong>in</strong>dow of <strong>the</strong> poem, <strong>the</strong> history that <strong>in</strong>forms it, and <strong>the</strong> racism that<br />
still pervades American society. After all, do not hundreds of thousands<br />
of African American women keep house, so to speak, <strong>in</strong> large<br />
corporations and universities—“houses” run by rich white men? The<br />
poem enacts <strong>the</strong> isolation of <strong>the</strong> house slave, <strong>the</strong> isolation of <strong>the</strong> poet,<br />
and <strong>the</strong> suffer<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong>y both witness.<br />
“The House Slave” has two overlapp<strong>in</strong>g types of poetic agency. It<br />
is a poem of experiential agency, but with a difference. There is <strong>the</strong><br />
first-person speak<strong>in</strong>g “I” witness<strong>in</strong>g and narrat<strong>in</strong>g. There is<br />
<strong>the</strong> reimag<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g of collective experience. There is <strong>the</strong> force of her status<br />
as an African American woman. But <strong>the</strong>re is also a palpable discursive<br />
tension with equivocal agency. The scene she describes certa<strong>in</strong>ly<br />
happened, but it never happened to <strong>the</strong> poet or to anyone she has<br />
known. This poem thus illustrates how and why poems are not subject