A Black Man Talks of Reaping

By: Arna BontempsBy: Scott Freedom Sier Jr

Self-EmployedBy: David Ignatow

Self-Employed By David IgnatowI stand and listen, head bowed, to my inner complaint. Persons passing by think I am searching for a lost coin. You’re fired, I yell inside after an especially bad episode. I’m letting you go without notice or terminal pay. You just lost another chance to make good. But then I watch myself standing at the exit, depressed and about to leave, and wave myself back in wearily, for who else could I get in my place to do the job in dark, airless conditions?

Second Poem

About Arna Bontemps• Arna Bontemps was born on October 13, 1902, in Alexandria, Louisiana.• At age three his family moved to Los Angeles because his father was threatened by

two drunk white men.• His father was a former slave from Haiti.• He taught a Harlem Academy in 1924 and at Oakwood Junior College in 1931.• He mostly wrote about the Civil Rights movement and slavery.• A poet of the Harlem Renaissance

A Black Man Talks of ReapingA Black Man Talks of Reaping By: Arna Bontemps

I have sown beside all waters in my day. I planted deep, within my heart the fear that wind or fowl would take the grain away. I planted safe against this stark, lean year. I scattered seed enough to plant the land in rows from Canada to Mexico but for my reaping only what the hand can hold at once is all that I can show. Yet what I sowed and what the orchard yields my brother's sons are gathering stalk and root; small wonder then my children glean in fields they have not sown, and feed on bitter fruit.

Structure

• Ballad• 3 stanzas• 12 lines• 4 lines in each stanza• End rhyme• 10 syllables per line

Speaker

• I think the speaker is a black man explaining what he has been through and what his children are going through.• I think he is a black man during the Civil Rights Movement because he talks

about what he has sowed (children) is yielding due to the racial violence.

I have sown beside all waters in my day. A

I planted deep, within my heart the fear B

that wind or fowl would take the grain away. A

I planted safe against this stark, lean year. B

I scattered seed enough to plant the land C

in rows from Canada to Mexico D

but for my reaping only what the hand C

can hold at once is all that I can show. D

Yet what I sowed and what the orchard yields E

my brother's sons are gathering stalk and root; F

small wonder then my children glean in fields E

they have not sown, and feed on bitter fruit. F

Literary Elements• End Rhyme- every other line has

rhyme• Metaphor- he has been through

a lot of racial situations and now his children are experiencing the same situations

Imagery“I planted deep, within my heart the fear that wind or fowl would take the grain away.”

Imagery• “I scattered seed enough to plant the land in rows from Canada to

Mexico.”

Imagery• “Yet what I sowed and what the orchard yields.”

Literal Meaning• I scattered seed enough to plant the landin rows from Canada to Mexico• I have sown beside all waters in my day. • I planted safe against this stark, lean year. • My brother's sons are gathering stalk and root.

Figurative Meaning• Small wonder then my children glean in fields they have not sown,

and feed on bitter fruit.• But for my reaping only what the hand can hold at once is all that I

can show.

Author’s Purpose• Arna Bontemps’s purpose was to explain about what he has been

through.• He is explaining about his discrimination.• Arna is also explaining in the last line of his poem how his children are

starting to go through discrimination.

Theme• Childhood events can have a strong impact on an adult’s life.

Sources• http://www.poetryoutloud.org/poem/176999• https://www.google.com/imghp