An Analysis of Political Issues and Poetic Devices in Tupac’s “Trapped”

An Analysis of Political Issues and Poetic Devices in Tupac’s “Trapped” PDF Author: Sarah Lenhardt
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3346969606
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 18

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Book Description
Seminar paper from the year 2021 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,3, University of Koblenz-Landau (Landau), course: Literature, language: English, abstract: Conventionally, rap music is not associated with poetry at all. Over the years, rap music has received fierce criticism because it usually contains colloquial and vulgar expressions and is therefore negatively connotated. Brent Wood adds that “[the] reasons for this lack of attention include cultural differences between Euro-American and African-American sensibilities, the reluctance of academic poets and critics to embrace popular culture, and the inability of print-based analysis to deal adequately with oral artistry” (129). However, a closer look will reveal that the use of poetic devices and the questioning of political issues makes rap music poetically valuable. The objective of this paper is to show rap music as poetry and not only as popular culture. Tupac Shakur’s song “Trapped” was published in 1991 and deals with the inequality and oppression of black people living in urban areas (see Prier 89). Tupac Shakur is considered one of the most popular and successful rappers in the 1990s. He is famous for the political and social issues in his songs, as in “Changes”, “Keep Your Head Up” and in “Trapped”. In these songs, themes such as racism, police brutality, poverty, the struggle of being a single mother, hopelessness, and the constant fear of getting imprisoned are portrayed. Since my first focus is on poetry, poetic devices will be examined that prove rap music can be poetry. But I am also going to look for political issues represented in the song that are still relevant today. The Black-Lives-Matter movement against the ongoing police brutality and systematic racism against members of the black community has a strong social impact in the United States. The only thing that has changed regarding the US prison system is the drastic increase of prisoners in the last decades. The second focus of this term paper will pursue the question, How are 1990s political issues in the US in the represented in “Trapped”? In order to get a better understanding of what “Trapped” is about, I will do research on police brutality and systematic racism as well as the prison system in the United States.

An Analysis of Political Issues and Poetic Devices in Tupac’s “Trapped”

An Analysis of Political Issues and Poetic Devices in Tupac’s “Trapped” PDF Author: Sarah Lenhardt
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3346969606
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 18

Get Book

Book Description
Seminar paper from the year 2021 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,3, University of Koblenz-Landau (Landau), course: Literature, language: English, abstract: Conventionally, rap music is not associated with poetry at all. Over the years, rap music has received fierce criticism because it usually contains colloquial and vulgar expressions and is therefore negatively connotated. Brent Wood adds that “[the] reasons for this lack of attention include cultural differences between Euro-American and African-American sensibilities, the reluctance of academic poets and critics to embrace popular culture, and the inability of print-based analysis to deal adequately with oral artistry” (129). However, a closer look will reveal that the use of poetic devices and the questioning of political issues makes rap music poetically valuable. The objective of this paper is to show rap music as poetry and not only as popular culture. Tupac Shakur’s song “Trapped” was published in 1991 and deals with the inequality and oppression of black people living in urban areas (see Prier 89). Tupac Shakur is considered one of the most popular and successful rappers in the 1990s. He is famous for the political and social issues in his songs, as in “Changes”, “Keep Your Head Up” and in “Trapped”. In these songs, themes such as racism, police brutality, poverty, the struggle of being a single mother, hopelessness, and the constant fear of getting imprisoned are portrayed. Since my first focus is on poetry, poetic devices will be examined that prove rap music can be poetry. But I am also going to look for political issues represented in the song that are still relevant today. The Black-Lives-Matter movement against the ongoing police brutality and systematic racism against members of the black community has a strong social impact in the United States. The only thing that has changed regarding the US prison system is the drastic increase of prisoners in the last decades. The second focus of this term paper will pursue the question, How are 1990s political issues in the US in the represented in “Trapped”? In order to get a better understanding of what “Trapped” is about, I will do research on police brutality and systematic racism as well as the prison system in the United States.

Handbook of Cultural Politics and Education

Handbook of Cultural Politics and Education PDF Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9460911773
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 588

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Book Description
In academia, the effects of the “cultural turn” have been felt deeply. In everyday life, tenets from cultural politics have influenced how people behave or regard their options for action, such as the reconfiguration of social movements, protests, and praxis in general.

Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie

Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie PDF Author: Maya Angelou
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 0307833275
Category : Poetry
Languages : en
Pages : 60

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Book Description
Another remarkable collection of poetry from one of America's masters of the medium. The first part gathers together poems of love and nostalgic memory, while Part II portrays confrontations inherent in a racist society.

Music and the social environment. "Brenda's Got a Baby" by Tupac Shakur

Music and the social environment. Author: Otivia Headley
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3668352739
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 6

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Book Description
Essay from the year 2013 in the subject Sociology - Media, Art, Music, grade: A, City University of New York Hunter College, course: SSW 712.50, language: English, abstract: When it comes to the topic of music, I would believe my taste to be of an eclectic variety. I’ve always been into many different genres of music such as, but not limited to, rap, hip-hop, R&B, pop, country, alternative, and rock. Like most people I am drawn to the beat of the music but what separates me from most is my love for the lyrics. The lyrics that tell a story and speaks to a specific cause draws me in and allows me to get lost for the 3-minute duration of the song. One song in particular “Brenda’s Got a Baby” written by Tupac Shakur is a great example of a song that explores the all too common misfortunes of individuals in today’s society. Specifically, Tupac discovers and analyzes the intense troubles of an adolescent female from the inner city and how her struggle affects the whole community.

The Hate U Give

The Hate U Give PDF Author: Angie Thomas
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781406387933
Category : Police shootings
Languages : en
Pages : 437

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Book Description
Read the book that inspired the movie! Sixteen-year-old Starr lives in two worlds: the poor neighbourhood where she was born and raised and her posh high school in the suburbs. The uneasy balance between them is shattered when Starr is the only witness to the fatal shooting of her unarmed best friend, Khalil, by a police officer. Now what Starr says could destroy her community. It could also get her killed. Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, this is a powerful and gripping novel about one girl's struggle for justice.

Corpus Linguistics for English Teachers

Corpus Linguistics for English Teachers PDF Author: Eric Friginal
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317302869
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 350

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Book Description
Corpus Linguistics for English Teachers: New Tools, Online Resources, and Classroom Activities describes Corpus Linguistics (CL) and its many relevant, creative, and engaging applications to language teaching and learning for teachers and practitioners in TESOL and ESL/EFL, and graduate students in applied linguistics. English language teachers, both novice and experienced, can benefit from the list of new tools, sample lessons, and resources as well as the introduction of topics and themes that connect CL constructs to established theories in language teaching and second language acquisition. Key topics discussed include: • CL and the teaching of English vocabulary, grammar, and spoken-written academic discourse; • new tools, online resources, and classroom activities; and • focus on the "English teacher as a corpus-based researcher." With ready-to-use teaching vignettes, tips and step-by-step guides, case studies with practitioner interviews, and discussion of corpora and corpus tools, Corpus Linguistics for English Teachers is a thoughtfully designed and skillfully executed resource, bridging theory with practice for anyone looking to understand and apply corpus-based tools dynamically in the language learning classroom.

The Role of Urban Life in the Poetry of Langston Hughes

The Role of Urban Life in the Poetry of Langston Hughes PDF Author: Antje Wulff
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3640293355
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 22

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Book Description
Seminar paper from the year 2003 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 1,0, University of Trier, course: The Poetry and Poetics of Langston Hughes, language: English, abstract: Langston Hughes was an urban person. Originally, he came from the rather rural Midwest of the United States, but he adopted the city as his real home very early in life and remained true to it ever since. In doing so, he acted very much in accordance with the zeitgeist of his period, which was hugely influenced by the sweeping processes of urbanisation started off earlier by the Industrial Revolution and the rise of capitalism. Living in a big city represented a completely new experience in American, and indeed human, history. None of the traditional patterns of life could be applied to it without change. Notably, it has been impossible up to now to find a valid and comprehensive definition of the phenomenon of the modern city, which says a lot about the complexity of the issue. The following essay aims to analyse the way Hughes interpreted the urban phenomenon, for his affinity to the city clearly found expression in his poetry. Although he visited countless cities both at home and abroad, the overwhelming majority of his urban poems deals with life in the Manhattan district of Harlem, which assumed a key role for African Americans at the beginning of the twentieth century and can also be regarded as the centre of Hughes’ own life. Viewing Harlem as a microcosm of black urban life and using it as a blueprint in his poetic work, he managed to draw a diverse and multi-layered image of existence in the city. Since, naturally, racial aspects are of particular significance in this context, the following analysis will try to examine the various roles played by urban life for African Americans. Thus, the essay will focus first on the hopes and expectations they associated with the city as a new environment. It will then examine whether and in what way those hopes were actually reflected in the general attitude towards urban life and in its various forms of expression, and whether there might have been less positive feelings as well. If so, it will then be necessary to deal with the problems and difficulties encountered by blacks in the city as they are presented in Hughes’ poetry. Here, both spiritual and material (that is, economic) concerns must be considered. Finally, since Hughes did not solely concentrate on the racial aspects of urbanity, the wider and more general human implications of modern urban existence laid out in his poems will be looked at to complete the analysis.

Ebony

Ebony PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
EBONY is the flagship magazine of Johnson Publishing. Founded in 1945 by John H. Johnson, it still maintains the highest global circulation of any African American-focused magazine.

Black Girl Civics

Black Girl Civics PDF Author: Ginnie Logan
Publisher: IAP
ISBN: 1648022189
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 233

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Book Description
What does it mean to be a civic actor who is Black + Young + Female in the United States? Do African American girls take up the civic mantle in the same way that their male or non-Black peers do? What media, educational, or social platforms do Black girls leverage to gain access to the political arena, and why? How do Black girls negotiate civic identity within the context of their racialized, gendered, and age specific identities? There are scholars doing powerful work on Black youth and civics; scholars focused on girls and civics; and scholars focused on Black girls in education. But the intersections of African American girlhood and civics have not received adequate attention. This book begins the journey of understanding and communicating the varied forms of civics in the Black Girl experience. Black Girl Civics: Expanding and Navigating the Boundaries of Civic Engagement brings together a range of works that grapple with the question of what it means for African American girls to engage in civic identity development and expression. The chapters collected within this volume openly grapple with, and disclose the ways in which Black girls engage with and navigate the spectrum of civics. This collection of 11 chapters features a range of research from empirical to theoretical and is forwarded by Black Girlhood scholar Dr. Venus Evans-Winters. The intended audience for this volume includes Black girlhood scholars, scholars of race and gender, teachers, civic advocacy organizations, civic engagement researchers, and youth development providers.

Long Way Down

Long Way Down PDF Author: Jason Reynolds
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1481438271
Category : Young Adult Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 319

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Book Description
“An intense snapshot of the chain reaction caused by pulling a trigger.” —Booklist (starred review) “Astonishing.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “A tour de force.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) A Newbery Honor Book A Coretta Scott King Honor Book A Printz Honor Book A Time Best YA Book of All Time (2021) A Los Angeles Times Book Prize Winner for Young Adult Literature Longlisted for the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature Winner of the Walter Dean Myers Award An Edgar Award Winner for Best Young Adult Fiction Parents’ Choice Gold Award Winner An Entertainment Weekly Best YA Book of 2017 A Vulture Best YA Book of 2017 A Buzzfeed Best YA Book of 2017 An ode to Put the Damn Guns Down, this is New York Times bestselling author Jason Reynolds’s electrifying novel that takes place in sixty potent seconds—the time it takes a kid to decide whether or not he’s going to murder the guy who killed his brother. A cannon. A strap. A piece. A biscuit. A burner. A heater. A chopper. A gat. A hammer A tool for RULE Or, you can call it a gun. That’s what fifteen-year-old Will has shoved in the back waistband of his jeans. See, his brother Shawn was just murdered. And Will knows the rules. No crying. No snitching. Revenge. That’s where Will’s now heading, with that gun shoved in the back waistband of his jeans, the gun that was his brother’s gun. He gets on the elevator, seventh floor, stoked. He knows who he’s after. Or does he? As the elevator stops on the sixth floor, on comes Buck. Buck, Will finds out, is who gave Shawn the gun before Will took the gun. Buck tells Will to check that the gun is even loaded. And that’s when Will sees that one bullet is missing. And the only one who could have fired Shawn’s gun was Shawn. Huh. Will didn’t know that Shawn had ever actually USED his gun. Bigger huh. BUCK IS DEAD. But Buck’s in the elevator? Just as Will’s trying to think this through, the door to the next floor opens. A teenage girl gets on, waves away the smoke from Dead Buck’s cigarette. Will doesn’t know her, but she knew him. Knew. When they were eight. And stray bullets had cut through the playground, and Will had tried to cover her, but she was hit anyway, and so what she wants to know, on that fifth floor elevator stop, is, what if Will, Will with the gun shoved in the back waistband of his jeans, MISSES. And so it goes, the whole long way down, as the elevator stops on each floor, and at each stop someone connected to his brother gets on to give Will a piece to a bigger story than the one he thinks he knows. A story that might never know an END…if Will gets off that elevator. Told in short, fierce staccato narrative verse, Long Way Down is a fast and furious, dazzlingly brilliant look at teenage gun violence, as could only be told by Jason Reynolds.