Def Poetry Jam...... On A Page
This poem was written in the slam movement, which is dated back in 1994, and is still present in poetry today. Slam poetry was started in the Get Me High lounge in Chicago by poet Marc Smith. Slam features a variety of cultures, because all the poems that are recited are usually written by the poet reciting it. there is no specific way a slam poem should be recited, it all depends on the poet, that's why slam poetry is seen as the most flexible. Noted Slam Poets: Big Poppa E, Ragan Fox, Marc Smith, as well as many hip hop artists.
Breakdown
This poem was written about the poets specific encounter of losing love. It is obvious that the poet was led to believe that he was in love with some individual , however, he finds out later on in this experience that he wasn't in love with the persons real personality, he was actually in love with who he believed and wanted the person to be., which I captured within one of the first lines "Pleasure turns to the pain of lessons learned from the strain of the questions burned in my brain about whether love is humane in its touch". Through out this experience, he realizes he was lied to, and those lies "cracked the foundation of what we once shared ". However, the poet stated that he wouldn't change anything about his experience, because now he's experienced love in his opinion of the worst form, deceit, which was stated within these lines "Even though I’ve seen its darkest form; deceit ,Nothing else could tastes this warm or feel this sweet"
Literary Devices...
"The seeds of these lies,
Rooted so deeply
They have cracked the
foundation
Of what we once shared," - that one part
is interpreted by many, most having a
different literary device. i believe that it is imagery. that
phrase is describing how the lies that he was told rooted, or was set in his
mind, so deep that it ruined the love, and broke them apart from one
another.
"...To stay down and Let Love die?
just
Lay down and Let Love Lie?
Naw, Naw, Not i." - These lines,
specifically the first two, are a set
of Alliterations, which are a group of
constant sounds on a stressed syllable, and are describing his
determination and perserverence towards keeping love
alive.
"Allowing the faith in us I had sealed inside
to gush out like a river
Ripping the image of our future together from my
thoughts as violently and as brutally as if it were a child being taken from its
mothers arms" -Simile. What the
poet is saying is that the thought of him and the person he is writing
about being together and in love was taken out of his mind, however, since he
was comparing it to a baby being taken from its mothers arms, he probably didnt
want to let go, but the brutality that his mind was going through forced him to
let that thought go.
"Even though I’ve seen its darkest form; deceit ,
Nothing else could taste this warm or feel this sweet" - I believe that these lines are some forms of euphemism. The poet uses friendly sounding words like warm and sweet to make it seem like his experiences ended happily, but in reality, he had lost the one he believed was the love of his life, undermining the actual unpleasantness of the situation.
Rooted so deeply
They have cracked the
foundation
Of what we once shared," - that one part
is interpreted by many, most having a
different literary device. i believe that it is imagery. that
phrase is describing how the lies that he was told rooted, or was set in his
mind, so deep that it ruined the love, and broke them apart from one
another.
"...To stay down and Let Love die?
just
Lay down and Let Love Lie?
Naw, Naw, Not i." - These lines,
specifically the first two, are a set
of Alliterations, which are a group of
constant sounds on a stressed syllable, and are describing his
determination and perserverence towards keeping love
alive.
"Allowing the faith in us I had sealed inside
to gush out like a river
Ripping the image of our future together from my
thoughts as violently and as brutally as if it were a child being taken from its
mothers arms" -Simile. What the
poet is saying is that the thought of him and the person he is writing
about being together and in love was taken out of his mind, however, since he
was comparing it to a baby being taken from its mothers arms, he probably didnt
want to let go, but the brutality that his mind was going through forced him to
let that thought go.
"Even though I’ve seen its darkest form; deceit ,
Nothing else could taste this warm or feel this sweet" - I believe that these lines are some forms of euphemism. The poet uses friendly sounding words like warm and sweet to make it seem like his experiences ended happily, but in reality, he had lost the one he believed was the love of his life, undermining the actual unpleasantness of the situation.