The first poem “of De Witt Williams on his way to Lincoln Cemetery” talks about a black boy and what they are doing with him. They mention all the streets and buildings they pass on the way to the cemetery, and what those streets/buildings meant to this little black boy. Based on what you are given in the poem it is implying that this little boy is already dead, and they are taking him to Lincoln Cemetery to be laid to rest. What the poem doesn’t tell us is how this little boy died, but this is where the poem “The Boy Died in My Alley” commentaries the first poem. This second poem is all about a boy dying in an alley all by himself. Throughout the poem it mentions what the police are asking this one specific person who knew the boy. Apparently, he knew the boy and heard the killing shot, but didn’t see the death of the boy. Brooks wrote this second poem to allow the readers of the first to understand what happened to that little boy in the first poem. This was what Brooks knew she had to do to be able to speak of and for the larger black community after attending the conference . Personally, I like the first poem better because you aren’t given all the details. Yes, details are great when trying to interpret a poem, but in this situation, I would rather wonder what the poem meant then finding out that a little boy was shot and they where taking his body to the cemetery.

Whether the black artists write to represent and be faithful to his larger black community or to find their place in the so-called western canon, their work is going to connect and have an impact on somebody. I don’t think that they should make their pieces of art to try and win popularity of one group or the other. The artists should do whatever they want to do and feel in their heart, whether that be something that speaks to most black or most white people. Even though there were racial problems during the Harlem Renaissance, I don’t it would have been right for people to judge other people based on what they created and who it was directed towards. Langston Hughes essay “From the Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain really inspired me to answer the question the way that I did.

From the beginning to the end of the essay it talked about how artist shouldn’t be afraid of who they are or what they produce in the pieces. He specifically stated that “no great poet has ever been afraid of being himself.” These words spoke to me, because it helps me understand why I believe that no artist back then should be influenced by a community of one color. The poem “The Weary Blues” by Hughes also shows that produce what you want to produce not what other people want. In this poem it talks about how on artist was singing and playing his own tones, but it was for himself and what he thought about his life and what other people thought and wanted him to think. Everyone is going to have different opinion on what artists should come out with and what artists during the renaissance should have done what producing work, but that doesn’t matter because anything anyone says isn’t going to be truth full unless they decided that is what they want and believe.

In chapter ten of Fredrick Douglass’s book, he offers his opinion on Christian slaveholders with no hesitation. Douglass believes that Christian slaveholders are worst ones any slave could possibly have, however as he writes the chapter, he creates a counter narrative. He creates this counter narrative by writing about what his Christian slaveholder was like. Even though he states that Christian ones are the worst, his story about his own experience doesn’t resemble that. Throughout several paragraphs Douglass talks about how his Christian slaveholder was like, and how he was nothing like the other ones. He stated this his slaveholder was very kind by giving them plenty of food and a lot of time to eat all their food, unlike others. Another positive he stated was that he only made his slaves work from sunrise to sunset and not a second before or after. One thing that Douglass said the slaveholders did was whip their slaves every chance they got no matter how big or small the reason was. In Douglass case, he never got whipped once out of the whole year he was there, and none of Douglass’s fellow slaves did either. It was interesting how Douglass was so persistent on Christian slaveholders being the worst, but his wasn’t anywhere near what he thought.

Another important thing in this chapter is the moral center. Towards the end there started to become more parts that would help the reader keep hope, but the main one was how is Christian slaveholder treated him. Most of Douglass’s holders before this one wasn’t very nice to him and didn’t care one bit about their slaves, but this one was different. It showed the audience that not every slaveholder was very rude, and that they could be a positive future for Douglass. This one section in the whole chapter changed the audience perspective on whether there was hope or not for the slaves.

After reading both “The Birth-Mark” and Nina Baym assumption on Hawthorne, it made sense to why Baym believes that Hawthorne is a feminist. Baym stated that Hawthorne didn’t embrace those “misogynistic male fantasies” (that is, fantasies driven by hatred of or prejudice toward women), but that he was instead careful to highlight the profound burdens placed upon women by men who seek to control them. The whole story “The Birth-Mark” shows that Baym is right in her statements about Hawthorne and how he shows the sides on how men try to seek control over women.

“The Birth-Mark” is based on Georgina and Aylmer, who are married. Georgina has a birthmark on her cheek, which is referred to has the “hand,” that her husband doesn’t like. Throughout the first half of the story, Aylmer tries to convince his wife that it is ugly, doesn’t belong there, makes her not perfect, and needs to be removed. Every time that he mentions it, she gets upset and cries, while saying that he doesn’t like what was given to her by god. She also doesn’t like the fact that her husband thinks that she is almost perfect, but the thing that doesn’t make her perfect is the birthmark. He doesn’t give up in trying to persuade her that he should remove it, so she can be completely perfect. This explanation shows that Hawthorne is a feminist and likes to show the burdens of where men try to take control over the women.

 I would use “The Birth-Mark” to support Nina Baym’s statement on how she views Hawthorne. The whole story shows he wants what is best for women, but there are so many men in this world that try in control women. While Hawthorne doesn’t come straight out and say that he is a feminist and doesn’t like men controlling women, he shows it by writing this story and making you think about the meaning behind every scene.

In this moment as Emerson describes himself as a “transparent eyeball,” he is talking about the fact that when walking through the woods of nature he can just see the beauty. He compares himself to a transparent eyeball, because that is his way of saying that when he is looking at nature all by itself, he doesn’t have to say or do anything to make him happy because nature does it all itself. Emerson also states that “In the wilderness, I find something more dear and connate than in streets or villages.” This statement by him just confirms that he pretty much only finds beauty in nature. Going off of this, it leads him to reflect on his life and everything go on around him.

All this explaining about the “transparent eyeball” statement and reading this paragraph several types made me realize that the most interesting part about it is, the paragraph and meaning itself. When living the life that I do I don’t realize that there is so much beauty in nature that tons of people forget about. Having Emerson write about it and explaining how much beauty he finds in it and how it helps reflect on things makes me realize that if you just take a moment everyday and just look at nature you probably will get a glimpse of what he sees and how it helps him reflect on life. Nature isn’t just something that holds leaves, trees, plants, flowers, insect, etc., it has so much more beauty to it then we think. When thinking about this it reminds me of some childhood memories where I had similar moments.

Every year during fall, my dad and my siblings would go outside and make leaf piles in all our yards. We would jump in these piles for hours without stopping. All we where doing was enjoying nature for what it is and not for what we thought it was. Now that I look back on these good memories in nature, I have realized that it is beautiful and there is nothing like it. Knowing what we where doing in nature made me realize and reflect on what my life was and what it is now. I may not be able to fully relate to Emerson, but I understand what he is talking about when he called himself a “transparent eyeball.”

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.