What does Baldwin mean when he says:

“Whose little boy are you?”In Baldwin’s “The Fire Next Time,” the line “Whose little boy are you?” is a paramount theme.  In the essay, it is interesting that both the pimps, and the pastor ask this question. Of even more importance is the fact that Baldwin himself longs to be someone’s little boy. Baldwin does not, however see himself as his father’s little boy so the meaning of this question is obviously not literal. When Baldwin poses this question through the pastor he meets, he means, “what is your gimmick or game?” As Baldwin approaches the age of maturity, he begins to realize that he must have a way of living; he needs a gimmick, a trick, a game, to make his living in life. The pimps, street people, and pastors are after him. He only sees these few choices. The question, “whose little boy are you,” can easily be translated, “what are you going to do? Which one will you choose to belong to?” It is also apparent that Baldwin feels that whatever he chooses will own him, and strangely enough, he wants to be owned by something, perhaps to feel safe.  Overall, when Baldwin poses the question, “whose little boy are you?” he means, “what are you going to do? To what/whom will you belong to?”

1 this is what i know

2 my mother went mad

3 in my fathers house

4 for want of tenderness

5 this is what i know

6 some womens days

7 are spooned out

8 in the kitchen of their lives

9 this is why i know

10 the gods

11 are men

(Clifton 29)

This untitled poem found in the “Being Heard” section of Lucille Clifton’s book is poignantly meaningful. Clifton speaks clearly through each line in her poem. In lines 1-2 she states that her mother went mad. The line “my mother went mad,” holds a soft alliteration that breathes so naturally in the poem it could pass unnoticed. In lines three through four, she briefly explains where and why. This sets the tone for the rest of the poem. Lucille goes on to explain; women’s days are “spooned out,” which is an interesting term, “in the kitchens of their lives.” The phrase, spooned out, implies that only a small amount of life is spooned at a time. The phrase, which is metaphorical, implies that someone else is spooning out the lives of women and delegating them to the kitchen. The last stanza brings her point home. She reveals that those holding the spoons are men, and those retaining their wives in the “kitchen of their lives,” are men, and consequently, because of the power they hold, are gods. It is here that she metaphorically ties gods to men declaring that “the gods//are men.” It is also worth noting that Clifton refrains from capitalizing not only her stanzas, but the pronoun I, and the word gods. Perhaps she desires to keep the poem simple, freeing it from the laws of punctuation and capitalization. This leaves the poem in its barest state, free from inhibitors, easy to digest.

sorrows

1 who would believe them winged

2 who would believe they could be

3 beautiful   who would believe

4 they could fall so in love with mortals

5 that they would attach themselves

6 as scars attach and ride the skin                  

7 sometimes we hear them in our dreams

8 rattling their skulls   clicking

9 their bony fingers

10 they have heard me beseeching

11 as i whispered into my own

12 cupped hands   enough   not me again

13 But who can distinguish

14 one human voice

15 amid such choruses

16 of desire

In “Sorrows” Clifton personifies sorrow(s) weaving a lovely metaphor: lends them wings, dubs them beautiful, and capable of falling in love. She also starts her poem with soft alliteration, “Who would…winged,” (Clifton 25). Clifton likens sorrows to “the gods” when she uses the word “mortals,” allowing her reader to contemplate the deity of sorrows briefly. Next she ties in a simile, likening sorrows to scars that attach to the skin. She does not leave off with attachment through, she shows that they also ride the skin. Lucille Clifton implies that sorrows speak, and haunt our dreams. Rattling skulls imply that the sorrows are old, and long dead, but their clicking’s can still be heard when we move their skeletons. Clifton reveals that she has begged the sorrows to leave her, not to visit her, but her last lines lament: “who can distinguish// one human voice//amid such choruses of desire,”(Clifton 25). The meaning of this line is: if sorrows are gods, how can they hear her one plea, when so many others are begging for the same thing?

1 my grandfather’s lullaby

2 pretty little nappy baby

3 rockin in that chair

4 theys a world outside

5 the window

6 and somebody in it hates you

7 let me hold you baby

8 and love you all i can

9 better to hear it from papa

10 than learn it all alone

Clifton’s “my grandfather’s lullaby,” is not at all what one would expect a lullaby to be. Lullabies are generally employed to put little children to sleep. This one seems to be designed to wake one up. Her grandfather’s lullaby issues a warning, “there are people in the world outside the window that hate you.” It is, however, reassuring: the first lines affirm the beauty of the child, lend a hint of comfort. “Pretty little nappy baby,” the words ring with assonance. The word “nappy”, usually with a negative connotation, is made neutral by the positive words around it. In a paradoxical way, this lullaby is soothing and comforting in that it issues a warning. It allows the listener to be prepared for the world outside the window. It offers the safety of the world behind the window. The lullaby does not let a child go out into the world unaware, to get hurt by the hateful mobs alone.  It is interesting to note that the word “nappy,” will most likely be used by those “somebody’s” who will hate the child. The lullaby almost takes the sting out of the word by introducing it to the young child as a positive word, one to be proud of, not ashamed to bear. “Nappy,” the first stanza breathes, “is good, cute, and pretty.”  Her last line holds a hint of alliteration, “than learn it all alone,” (Clifton 22). Clifton’s lullaby is both cautionary, and comforting in that it issues a warning while building up self-esteem and pride in natural beauty.

Author :           Stephen Baxter

Publisher:        Gollancz

                        Orion Publishing Group

                        Orion House, 5 Upper St Martin’s Lane

                        London, UK WC2H 9EA

ISBN:              978-0-575-08056

Flood, like many of Stephen Baxter’s starts to his trilogies is a little bit tough to get into but ends with a promise of going into the universe which most his reader’s love, thereby making the next in the series, Ark, a must read. In the middle you have a premise that the Earth’s mantle will spring leaks that flood the planet with tons of water. There’s enough science behind the one meter rise provided by global warming and the example of watery planets in the universe that readers fall into the tale. In essence, Mr. Baxter is raising the question of how planets evolve while touching on similar questions about the human species.

The story starts out compellingly told by hostage Lily and stays with her most the time, although there are forays into the minds of her fellow hostages and their journeys. The young mother of the Saudi princess, Helen, dies quickly but the others make a journey along with Lily into what happens around the planet as the waters rise. The reader cares most about Lily, although her relationship with Piers seems unexplainable and detached.  She often acts to help many of the other characters in the story even though most are defeated by society except for the gifts of the magnanimous Lathan Lammockson, head of Axyscorp and the prime architect of the future survival of Lily and her friends.

Flood also tells the step by step breakdown of society when the population has to contend with increasingly short supplies of resources. The reader has to wonder “is this our future” even though some of the lecturing about global warming gets tedious.

The story Flood slowly travels inland from where the waters breakdown and destroy cities up to the mountain tops where the last elite get to make their homes. The sad tale of those that don’t fit into the “must be saved” scenarios is rather sad. The good news is Mr. Baxter believes that governments will continue to do their jobs in some places. In the end, the reader begins to get a sense that humans are changing to meet the altered planet, showing the one way leg up that humans have over other species, ie. our ability to adapt.

            In “Sympathy,” imagery is the frame from which the poem hangs. Dunbar wastes no time in jumping into his imagery detail. His first stanza opens with scenes of freedom and life.

                        I know what the caged bird feels, alas!

                        When the sun is bright on the upland slopes;

                        When the wind stirs soft through the springing grass

                        And the river flows like a stream of glass;

                        When the first bird sings and the first bud opes

                        And the faint perfume from its chalice steals–(Dunbar 1).

            Dunbar’s descriptions of the bright sun and upland slopes paint a pleasant carefree picture of what the caged bird is restrained from enjoying. Dunbar builds longing for these images by portraying the soft wind stirring the springing grass and the glassy river flowing serenely. By the last stanza the reader undoubtedly wishes to sample the “faint perfume” from the first opened bud. Consequently, Dunbar’s imagery is effective in translating the feelings of the caged bird to the reader; likewise, his imagery is effective in translating Dunbar’s feelings to the reader as well. Dunbar continues to use imagery in his next stanza, appealing to the readers senses of sight and touch.

                        I know why the caged bird beats his wing

                        Till its blood is red on the cruel bars;

                        For he must fly back to his perch and cling…

                        And a pain still throbs in the old, old scars…

I know why he beats his wing! (Dunbar 1).

            Here, the images of red blood and a bird beating his wing against cold cruel bars not only appeals to the readers’ sense of sight, but pity. Dunbar guides the poem a little further by next appealing to the readers’ sense of touch. His lines, “and a pain still throbs in the old, old scars…” are reminiscent of old battle wounds that hurt every once and awhile, long after the war. The line also alludes to the fact that the bird has been beating his wing against the bars for a time longer than that shown in the poem. By appealing to the senses through imagery, Dunbar effectively drives his meaning home.

            Imagery is not, however, the only tool Dunbar uses to shape his poem and relate its message to his readers; rhyme also is important. In this poem Dunbar uses an ABAABCC, DEDDEDD, FGFFGDD scheme throughout his poem. The rhyme, instead of lending the poem a nursery-rhyme feel adds a wistful lilt to the verse.

                        I know what the caged bird feels, alas!

                        When the sun is bright on the upland slopes;

                        When the wind stirs soft through the springing grass,

                        And the river flows like a stream of glass… (Dunbar 1).

            The soft, easy flowing rhyme serves to induce a feeling of longing in the reader that matches both the bird and Dunbar’s own personal sentiments. Dunbar tightens his rhyme in his first stanza in lines two-six by regulating each line to ten syllables. In line seven he breaks the pattern with seven syllables. By introducing a specific syllable length for his lines, Dunbar creates unity and a continuum of occurrences that the caged bird misses. The rhythm of the lines is also tighter because of this syllable structure paired expertly with the rhyme. By employing this tool, Dunbar effectively implies that the small bird is missing a host of events and occurrences.

            Finally, Dunbar also shapes his poem through repetition. Dunbar’s repetition of “I know,” “When” and “but” in his poem not only add an element of rhythm, but make insistent statements about Dunbar’s message. “I know what the caged bird feels…I know what…I know why…I know why…I know why…I know why,” (Dunbar 1) the poet writes. The repetition firmly states that the poet truly, intimately knows why the caged bird acts the way it does. Next Dunbar repeats a series of “when’s:”

                        When the sun is bright…

                        When the wind stirs soft…

                        When the first bird sings…

                        When he fain would be…

                        When his wing is bruised

                        When he beats his wing… (Dunbar 1).

            This repetition, while adding an element of rhythm to the poem, adds a feel of melancholy longing as well. The sheer number of “when” statements add to the importance of what the bird has missed. Dunbar also uses repetition in his final stanza, “It is not a carol of joy or glee,//But a prayer that he sends from his heart’s deep core,//But a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings–,”(Dunbar 1). Here the repetition reinforces what Dunbar has already stated. The little bird’s song is not a joyful carol, he insists, but a sorrowful prayer. By using repetition throughout his poem, Dunbar adamantly states his message.

            In conclusion, imagery, rhyme, and repetition are the three shaping factors that effectively deliver Dunbar’s message to his readers. By using imagery, Dunbar induces a feeling of longing in his readers. Implementing rhyme, Dunbar heightens this wistful feeling. Finally, by introducing repetition throughout his poem, Dunbar drives his message home. “Sympathy” is undoubtedly, a remarkable poem that will be cherished appreciated for years to come.

            Though not always employed, rhyme is a powerful element of poetry when present. Dunbar knows this and uses it to effectively propel his poem. His opening stanza:

                        We wear the mask that grins and lies,

                        It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,–

                        This debt we pay to human guile;

                        With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,

                        And mouth with myriad subtleties (Dunbar 1),

shows Dunbar’s end rhyme; the scheme he employs: aabbc, aabd, aabbad. End rhyme, in this poem, serves to effectively pull the reader through to the end of the poem. By pairing it with lines restricted to eight syllables, Dunbar creates an almost nursery-rhyme like rhythm. In his third stanza however, his last line, cutting short of eight syllables, stands with an emphatic four syllables. Again, in his last stanza, Dunbar utilizes the same technique for the last line of the poem. Dunbar’s awareness of rhyme and syllable structure provides the perfect bone structure for his poem’s rhythm.

            Rhythm, however is not the only driving force in “We Wear the Mask;” repetition also has its influence in the poem. From the start, Dunbar introduces the repetition of his statements of “we:”  “We wear…we smile…we wear…we smile…we sing…we wear,” (Dunbar 1). These statements create a type of solidarity in the poem. Not only does Dunbar introduce harmony in his lines through repetition, but he also creates a tone of grim determination. “We wear,” is by nature more emphatic than, “we might wear,” or “we should wear,” or “we have worn.” By stating that “we wear the mask,” Dunbar forces the statement home, drilling it relentlessly. This insistence is linked to the determination to keep the mask on. The repetition of this statement is almost like a call to arms; “wear the mask,” do not let it down. Dunbar’s last line is almost a triumphant declaration: “We wear the mask!” (Dunbar 1). Dunbar also favors “w” sounds in his poem, employing alliteration: “We wear the mask…why should the world be overwise…while we wear the mask…world dream otherwise, we wear the mask!” (Dunbar 1). This form of repetition and rhyme also pushes the poem forward.

            Dunbar’s use of repetition, rhyme and syllable structure all combine to shape his extended metaphor.  The poet’s most repeated line, “we wear the mask,” also serves as Dunbar’s metaphor. The mask Dunbar speaks of most likely is the “black face” mask: the mask “that grins and lies// hides…cheeks and shades…eyes.”  Dunbar’s poem speaks of the masquerade of black people in America, who may not wear a literal mask, but do wear a figurative one. Dunbar is comparing black Americans in general to black performers on stage who, “sing,” and wear the “black face” while silently their “cries…from tortured souls arise,” (Dunbar 1). His poem speaks to the black masses who wear a mask, hiding their true selves behind grins and lies, a theme his readers undoubtedly understood.

            In conclusion, Paul Laurence Dunbar’s poem, “We Wear the Mask,” effectively draws the reader through the poem by implementing end rhyme paired closely with a set number of syllables, repetition, and a powerful extended metaphor. Dunbar’s poem will forever live on as a classic for what it offers and represents. The echoes of rhythm, the insistence of repetition, and the clarity of the metaphor will continue to touch readers for centuries, as it has in the past. Paul Laurence Dunbar’s portrayal of the black community in his time is priceless. America will continue to learn from what his eyes and pen reveal in verse.

Author:            Margaret Atwood

Publisher:        Anchor Books

                        www.anchorbooks.com

ISBN:              0-385-72167-6

Margaret Atwood’s apocalyptic novel is a dystopia about a poor man Jimmie, otherwise known as Snowman, whose one best friend in life, Crake, is a utopian genetic-engineering genius that decides to create a new race of people, Crakers.

The charm of the novel is in Margaret Atwood’s tongue-in-cheek and amusing enhancements to the world, all products of genetic engineering. The plot plods along following Jimmie sitting in his sheet telling about Crake, his father, mother, and his lover Oryx. We learn a lot about life in this new world, one that isn’t as remote as one might wish, through Jimmie’s tales. The actual apocalypse when it comes evokes no emotion from either Jimmie or the reader because by this time, humanity has been so dehumanized that we don’t care.

It is a chilling tale and like all dystopias has some utopian aspects. Crake eliminates most of the people in the world to make way for a perfected people, all beautiful, in all shades of color. They are freed from sexual politics because desire for women is satisfied by multiple lovers and a body able to sport for long enough to get pregnant. Men are likewise freed from sexual politics because they only desire long enough to get chosen or not. As people, they need no foods because they prefer vegetable matter and recycle their own body waste endlessly. They also grow up quickly, but appear to be less intelligent than Crake, i.e. haven’t learned enough to create a utopian world.

The sad part about Jimmie is he has no redeeming value. The reader is likely to feel disgusted by him, almost as if he is a Neanderthal, some primitive being that came before the Crakers, a much evolved species. His one redeeming skill seems to be the art of creating the mythology about how the Crakers came into being. Jimmie tries to be careful in what he tells the Crakers but he makes mistakes.

Jimmie eventual has to get supplies and something happens in the story, but the reader never worries about him, he serves no function except as story teller. We don’t even wonder about Crake’s motives, which we eventually learn. We do learn about Oryx but she is more figment of imagination, part lover, part mother, part love, and when she becomes the future mother figure in Jimmie’s creation mythology for the Crakers she is the most real despite a past the looks like Geisha.

Like most apocalyptic novels, this one serves as a warning about dehumanizing humans and the scary potential to create that comes with genetic engineering. I enjoyed the the author’s sense of humor; and felt it carries the reader through to the end.

The poem dates back to the days when Rome was still ruled by kings, particularly one Tarquin the Proud, who is the villain. Having established his position, Tarquin seeks to enjoy his position and, when he hears one of his soldiers (Collatine) boasting about the virtues and beauty of his wife Lucrece, he resolves to find out whether she is the equal of this praise. The reader, hearing Collatine’s praise, will surely be mentally urging him to shut up since it is well-known that pride (of which boasting is a form) comes before a fall and, bearing in mind the title of the poem, it seems clear who is going to suffer most. And this, of course, is exactly how the plot plays itself out: Tarquin insinuates himself into Collatine’s house and begins his appraisal of the unfortunate eponymous heroine. After interaction and observation, he accepts that Collatine if anything did not go far enough in praising her. He also resolves to have sexual intimacy with her whether she will or not. That night he enters her bedchamber and forces himself upon her. Lucrece is destroyed mentally (we can ignore the pre-modern spiritual element) and, eventually, reveals the truth to her husband while stabbing herself. Collatine in turn resolves to root out the evil of Tarquin and his brood by putting together what might be considered a posse and rounding up the king and his supporters and running them out of Rome. Henceforth, the city will be governed as a republic – which was a complex conclusion to reach during the reign of Elizabeth I (the poem was written by 1594 when the queen was ageing but still deadly). It is possible to consider deeper, political and indeed historical meanings in the narrative and Shakespeare’s language and allusions inspire all manners of other consideration.

The form of the poem is a revenger’s tragedy, since it ends with bodies strewn across the page as a result of the fault of one of the protagonists (Collatine’s boasting) combined with the propensity to evil of the villain, against whom vengeance is finally wrought. Acts of violence under the pretext of revenge remain one of the central tropes of art up to the twenty-first century.

More voyages and events occur (somewhat reminiscent of what Henry Ford is supposed to have said about history that it was just ‘one damned thing after another’). Finally, more reversals enable Pericles to be reunited with his daughter and eventually his wife, who had taken up employment as a Priestess of Diana for lack of other opportunities. Consequently, the resolution is the reunion of the family which must be accorded a happy ending, even though audience members might wonder to themselves what kind of domestic bliss such a family might be expected to enjoy.

The play itself is thought to have been written sometime between 1603-8, since a published version from 1609 appears to be a garbled version relying on someone’s memory of a performance (although this is largely speculation). The fairly chaotic way in which the play has been put together has encouraged some people to believe that a collaborator may have been involved – then again, there are some people who are very willing to sense upon any excuse to argue that Shakespeare was not the author of almost any of his works.

The play was probably written shortly before its performance in 1611, although it may have been written sometime previously. By this time, James I had been ruling England, Wales and Scotland for some eight years and the country, newly united, was overcoming the trauma, rebellion and plague that marked the end of the Elizabethan era. Times were still interesting but had come to be a little more settled. Cymbeline himself was believed to have been one of the earliest kings of England, or at least a part of it, and was active during the Roman conquest and occupation. That he ends up reconciling his country with the Roman Empire and both resolve to live in peace together thereafter is perhaps a comment on the political settlement of the Stuart court.

The action centres on the character of Imogen, who is the daughter of Cymbeline and a deceased queen. A new step-mother queen has taken the place of Imogen’s mother and seems intent on sowing seeds of discord. However, Cymbeline does not need much encouragement in doing the same thing and determines that Imogen must marry the oafish Cloten, a son of the new queen. When Imogen reveals that she is already married to the virtuous but comparatively poor Posthumus Leonatus, the course of the action is set. Posthumus is banished and leaves his colleague Pisanio at the English court to represent his interests. Meanwhile, the devilish Roman soldier Iachimo wagers that he can seduce Imogen and contrives to have himself hidden in a chest in her bedchamber, from which he emerges to examine her sleeping form and steal a bracelet. With this as evidence, he attempts to have Imogen put to death by her husband. The faithful Pisanio intervenes and Imogen’s death is faked and she goes off to live under an assumed identity. Various kinds of sub-plots and adventures fill the stage before the ultimate resolution which resembles (prefigures, more accurately) an Agatha Christie story with Hercule Poirot gathering all the characters together in a circle and each one contributes her or his own little piece of knowledge to the conclusion. As discussed above, peace breaks out after all the bad guys conveniently die or repent or just shuffle off stage.

These features are common in the Romances: a semi-happy ending after a series of adventures and misadventures featuring numerous changes of scene and ups and downs. Numerous meanings may be found in the course of the play and there is, as the saying goes, something for everyone here.

Meet Kron Darkbow. He dresses in black, carries a big sword and sometimes a bow. But he’s just as deadly with his fists. And throwing darts and knives and grenados. Yes, grenados. Little clay balls that go boom. Kron has arrived in the city of Bond seeking revenge for the deaths of two loved ones. The man in black quickly finds himself entwined in the workings of an underworld crime boss, Belgad the Liar. During his struggles, Kron crosses paths with a local healer, Randall Tendbones. Which isn’t good news for Randall. Randall has a secret. A big secret. And hanging out with the likes of Kron Darkbow and Belgad the Liar isn’t likely to help him keep that secret in a city of rogues.

Road to Wrath: Book II of the Kobalos Trilogy

Kron’s troubles have only begun. Fleeing the city of Bond, Kron and Randall are heading north and east to the land of Kobalos. Why? So Randall can confront Lord Verkain, king of Kobalos, the man who wants Randall dead, dead, dead. But before the travelers can get to Kobalos they have to pass through East Ursia and the deadly Prisonlands. Peril lies at every step along Kron’s road. Enemies in front of him. Enemies behind him. Only Randall and fencing student Adara Corvus can help Kron on the road to wrath.

Dark King of the North: Book III of the Kobalos Trilogy

Finally arriving in Kobalos, Kron and his traveling companions soon find their situation is far worse than expected. Lord Verkain is preparing his army for war, perhaps the last war. Ever. The mad king has decided he is a figure out of prophecy, a figure of evil who will dominate the world. Could it be true? Only Kron Darkbow stands between Verkain showing the world he has become the Dark King of the North.

How to read these novels online

If you would like to read up to 50 percent of each of these novels for free, or you would like to purchase them, they are available online for reading and/or download from Smashwords at these links:

City of Rogues: Book I of the Kobalos Trilogy

Road to Wrath: Book II of the Kobalos Trilogy

Dark King of the North: Book III of the Kobalos Trilogy

For the Kindle

If you are a fortunate owner of an Amazon Kindle, you can read excerpts and purchase these books at the following links:

City of Rogues: Book I of the Kobalos Trilogy

Road to Wrath: Book II of the Kobalos Trilogy

Dark King of the North: Book III of the Kobalos Trilogy

For more: To learn about author Ty Johnston and to read some of his short fiction, check out his blog, Logical Misanthropy.