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“Epitaph” byDennis Scott
http://thetbjoshuafanclub.wordpress.com/2010/07/29/condemned-to-die-destined-to-live/
An Epitaph is a short text honouring a deceased person, strictly speaking that is inscribed on their tombstone or plaque
http://linuxologist.com/1general/top-20-geek-epitaphs/
http://professionalheckler.wordpress.com/2009/08/02/famous-epitaphs-repost/
Dennis Scott was born in Jamaica in 1939. He had a distinguished career as a poet,
playwright, actor, dancer in the Jamaican National Dance Theatre, an editor of Caribbean Quarterly and teacher.
His first collection, Uncle Time (1973) was one of the first to establish the absolutely serious use of nation language in lyric poetry.
He died at the early age of fifty-one in 1991
They hanged him on a clement morning, swung between the falling sunlight and the women's breathing like a black apostrophe to pain. All morning while the children hushed their hopscotch joy and the cane kept growing he hung there sweet and low. At least that's how they tell it. It was long ago and what can we recall of a dead slave or two except that when we punctuate our island tale they swing like sighs across the brutalsentences, and anger pauses till they pass away.
What is the poem about? A man was hanged in the morning and
left there for women and children to see.
http://www.britsattheirbest.com/freedom/f_abolishing_slavery_six.htm
The tale of the hanging of slaves has been passed down from generation to generation but is questioned by the narrator since “they” did not care about slaves.
Those who re-tell the tales of hanging in recent times connect with their ancestors; their writing is filled with emotion.
Photo: Caribbean writers at Carifesta 1995, Trinidad. L-R: Derek Walcott, Martin Carter, George Lamming, Earl Lovelace, Ernest Mootoosamy (Guadeloupe), Kamau Brathwaite. Photo (c) by Sherwin Griffith.http://mahanaimnotes.blogspot.com/2010/05/select-bibliography-of-west-indian.html
Poets who “WRITE BACK”.Caribbean people were unable to tell their side of the story until recently
Simile “like a black apostrophe to pain”
Comparison of the victim’s shape to that of an apostrophe’s
“they swing like sighs” comparing the words to emotional release
Metaphor “we punctuate our island tale” “the brutal sentences”
non-literal comparisons exploring the Caribbean people’s use of language in order to express self and tell tale
Alliteration “breathing like a black...” “hushed/their hopscotch joy” “they swing like sighs”
influences the rhythm of the poem
Personification “anger pauses/till they pass away”
Anger is given human-like characteristics to show that it is so much that it has taken on a “life” of its own
Irony “They hanged him on a clement
morning” The word “clement” means “merciful”. The narrator is using irony to show that although the executioners believed that they were exacting mercy those close to the victim knew otherwise
Bearing in mind that: The theme reveals the connection
between the literary work (the world created by the author's imagination) and the outside world
What main ideas (themes) can you identify in the poem?
Can you give examples to justify your choice of theme?
After having discovered the themes How do these relate to other poems
you have already covered or are yet to cover?
How does the content contrast with other poems?