The Poem as a Message
Poems often use the rhythmic and artistic values of language to present an idea. Readers often have to read a poem a couple of times to get the message of a poem. Understanding the message of a poem is akin to decoding a beautiful puzzle that has a profound message. So there are many instances when poems can be viewed as a social commentary. They serve as messages to the reader about what is going in society. In the present day and even in the past there are problems that continue to haunt society. Racism and the ills that come with it are a problem. We see one cross-section of society alienated based on race. Yet another issue is the clash that results from the upheaval of society, where one society clashes with another. Another issue is the fast-paced change that can affect human relationships. These concepts are discussed in Dudley Randall’s “Ballad of Birmingham,” and Langston Hughes “Dream Boogie,” as well as in the pieces of Run DMC (from Peter Piper) and William Blake’s “Jerusalem”. These poems mentioned come from different times in history that both similarities and differences that will be discussed. In the end, we will find that despite their diversity of the poems, they all have certain aspects, such as problems, imagery and perspectives that are significant.
A problem discussed in the poems is change. In order get a better perspective, we will discuss the poems in the order of their timeframe. We will start with Blake’s “Jerusalem”, then Hughes’ “Dream Boogie”, then Randall’s “Ballad of Birmingham”, and finally Run DMC’s “Peter Piper”. In Blake’s “Jerusalem” the problem that the author presents is change. Blake harks back to the past as he ponders Jerusalem’s present, saying “And did those feet in ancient time / Walk upon Englands mountains green” (1-2). The problem that Blake is presenting in the poem is the modernization that England is undergoing that in his mind is affecting society. This is similar to the problem of change, which was not happening in the United States with regard to the treatment of Blacks. In the Hughes’ “Dream Boogie”, the first line says, “Good morning, daddy! / Ain’t you heard / The boogie-woogie rumble / Of a dream deferred?” (1-4). It is in this line that tells the reader that Blacks have been yearning for change but has not been happening. History tells us of the oppression of Blacks in the history of the United States that goes as far back as the time that they were slaves. Equality is a dream deferred in this case. It is a change that they have been longing for. In Randall’s “Ballad of Birmingham”, the situation has changed slightly. Change has not come, but Blacks are already fighting for it. In the poem, a child ask the mother ““Mother dear, may I go downtown / Instead of out to play, / And march the streets of Birmingham / In a Freedom March today?” (1-4). In the poem, we are presented with the problem of inequality being addressed by the Blacks through marching in the streets and letting not only government know, but also of the whole of society. Finally, in more modern times, there is already equality, and it is evident in Run-DMC’s song “Peter Piper”. The song is full of imagery of how Blacks are now able to do things that they want to do. Change has come in the form equality and the ability to do what they want.
It is the perspective of the movies that we find differences. This is especially evident in who the authors of the poems are and how the portray they world. For example, in Blake’s poem, the perspective is from one who sees the world through the eyes of one who does have impediments on their rights. Essentially, Blake was a White man in England. He did not have any problems with anyone oppressing him. In his poem, he laments the changes that are destroying the England that he knows. So his perspective is different. It comes from a privileged point of view. In the case of the three succeeding authors, the perspective is different. However, even if Hughes, Randall and Run-DMC are the same, they also have different perspectives. Their similarity appears in the notion that they are African-Americans who all share the same history of oppression. However, their timeframes are different, so their perspectives are also different. In the case of Hughes, he lived during of a time when Blacks faced great oppression. In the poem he asks of the beat, “You think /It’s a happy beat?” (1-2). This is similar to asking if what is going in society was good. The question in this case is how Blacks are being treated by the mainstream of society. In Randall’s case, he lived during a time of great upheaval, because Blacks then were already fighting for their rights. The poem was about the bombing of a church in Birmingham, Alabama. It was the result of the protests that were being undertaken at that time by Blacks. In Run-DMC’s case, the group was already living in a time when equal rights for Blacks and Whites were already the norm, so they were no longer speaking about oppression and asking for change. Their song was already about how a Black man was now able to go out into the world and take what they wanted. The imagery in the song is rich with how a Black man was faring in American society. For example, the song tells us of “Jay’s like King Midas as I was told /Everything that he touched turned to gold” (24-25). Indeed, it is different from how Randall described his society as violent and forbidding for a Black person.
Poems are often appreciated for their technical aspects, such as meter, rhyme and the like. However, even without looking into these aspects, poems offer readers even more. In the case of Dudley Randall’s “Ballad of Birmingham,” and Langston Hughes “Dream Boogie,” as well as in the pieces of Run DMC (from Peter Piper) and William Blake’s “Jerusalem”, we find that there are different perspectives about the society that we can see. There is change, the resistance to change and how certain people react to them. In many ways, the message of a poem is important because it presents a slice of society and the perspective of the poet about what is going on and what they have to say about it.
Works Cited
Blake, William. “ Jerusalem”. Poetry Foundation, 2017, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/54684. Accessed 11. January 2017.
Hughes, Langston. “Dream Boogie”. Poem Hunter, 27 March 2010, http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/dream-boogie/. Accessed 11. January 2017.
Randall, Dudley. “Ballad of Birmingham”. The Poetry Foundation, 2017, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/46562. Accessed 11. January 2017.
Run-DMC. “Peter Piper”. Genius Lyrics, 2017, http://genius.com/Run-dmc-peter-piper-lyrics.
Accessed 11. January 2017.