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Sunday, 21 May 2017

Famous Poets Of Resistance Of All Time

By Steven Wood


History has witnessed cases of oppression featuring different minority groups. When they lacked a channel to air their grievances, they turned to poets of resistance. These writers could capture the mood of the oppressed and send shivers down the spines of oppressors. Their words rallied the masses behind liberation struggles.

Langston Hughes was born in Joplin, Missouri and is famous for being a columnist and a social activist. He is a notable figure in the Harlem Renaissance when he was based in New York City. He has over 15 poetry anthologies to his name. His famous poem is I Look at the World. In the poem, he depicts the life of blacks as restricted and fenced. He uses the poem to rally them to rise and create the life and world they have always dreamt about.

Maya Angelou is a famous female poet and social activist born in Missouri, St. Louis in 1928. Beyond being a poet and a renowned author, she was a memoirist. For her contribution to social justice and awakening, she has received over 50 honorary degrees. Her most famous piece is Caged Bird which though restricted, the caged bird sings of freedom.

Denise Levertov uses her bullet pen to criticize the war in Vietnam. In her words, this is an injustice against masses with no gain or winner. She is known for using different artistic writing forms to pass her protest message. Among them are news casts, diary entries and conversations. They are formatted in form of a conversation between two individuals. In Making Peace she calls upon people to pause and reflect on peace and what it means.

Jamaica witnessed the birth of Claude McKay in 1889, who would grow to join the Harlem Renaissance and be regarded as a famous communist. Claude refuses the communist tag but remains a prolific crusader in his poetry, fiction and non-fictional works. If We Must Die is among his best pieces where he urges the oppressed to fight other than watch their oppressors laugh at their misery. Even at death, they must remain noble by fighting back.

Margret Walker made entry into the world when she was born in Alabama Birmingham in 1915. She was a member of the African American literature movement that was based in Chicago. Her most famous and award wining verse is For My People where she castigates them for comfort amidst oppression and urges a new generation to rise and fight in order to change the situation.

Jane Hirshfield is viewed as clear and simplistic in her writing. She was part of the pioneer Princeton University lot that included the first female grandaunts. She made her mark with Let Them Not Say, a verse warning oppressors that the public is watching.

The beautiful pieces were not meant to drastically change humanity but to awaken the consciousness of masses. It jolted people to action and warned disports that the oppressed subjects were watching. There are more poets who resisted different scenarios and sort to awaken social consciousness through their verses.




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