The speaker in this poem does not identify him- or herself. However, there are elements in the poem which give us some clues as to his identity. In the first place, the title, "Dream Variations," indicates that the speaker is a dreamer, someone whose thoughts turn to imaginings which, at face value, are not particularly fantastical, but which obviously seem beyond reach. In the poem, the speaker describes his "dream" as being to dance "in some place of the sun" for the duration of the day and then rest afterwards in the cool of the evening. This is seemingly something which is not possible in the speaker's everyday life.
At the end of each stanza, the speaker gives further insight into why he so craves this scenario. He imagines a night which is "black like me," "dark like me." So, we can assume that the speaker is a black person who, perhaps, does not have any experience of existing in the kind of quietude he describes in the poem. He also seems to express a longing for his surroundings to be "like me," as if, in his own life, he has been made to feel that he does not belong because of the color of his skin.
Saturday, January 6, 2018
Who is the speaker in “Dream Variations”?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
What is the theme of the chapter Lead?
Primo Levi's complex probing of the Holocaust, including his survival of Auschwitz and pre- and post-war life, is organized around indiv...
-
The statement "Development policy needs to be about poor people, not just poor countries," carries a lot of baggage. Let's dis...
-
James is very unhappy on a number of occasions throughout the story, but he's especially unhappy with his life situation as the story be...
-
Primo Levi's complex probing of the Holocaust, including his survival of Auschwitz and pre- and post-war life, is organized around indiv...
-
One of the plot lines in Pride and Prejudice is Mrs. Bennet’s plan to marry off her daughters, preferably to rich men. Throughout the novel...
-
Bacteria are single-celled microorganisms that thrive in diverse environments (such as the ocean, the soil, and the human body). Various bac...
-
As if Hamlet were not obsessed enough with death, his uncovering of the skull of Yorick, the court jester from his youth, really sets him of...
-
Note that these events are not in chronological order. The story is told by the narrator, looking back upon her life. The first notable even...
No comments:
Post a Comment