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 Here

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.

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.

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.

Holler If You Hear Me

Holler If You Hear Me PDF Author: Michael Eric Dyson
Publisher: Civitas Books
ISBN: 0786735481
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
Acclaimed for his writings on Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr., as well as his passionate defense of black youth culture, Michael Eric Dyson has emerged as the leading African American intellectual of his generation. Now Dyson turns his attention to one of the most enigmatic figures of the past decade: the slain hip-hop artist Tupac Shakur. Five years after his murder, Tupac remains a widely celebrated, deeply loved, and profoundly controversial icon among black youth. Viewed by many as a "black James Dean," he has attained cult status partly due to the posthumous release of several albums, three movies, and a collection of poetry. But Tupac endures primarily because of the devotion of his loyal followers, who have immortalized him through tributes, letters, songs, and celebrations, many in cyberspace. Dyson helps us to understand why a twenty-five-year-old rapper, activist, poet, actor, and alleged sex offender looms even larger in death than he did in life. With his trademark skills of critical thinking and storytelling, Dyson examines Tupac's hold on black youth, assessing the ways in which different elements of his persona-thug, confused prophet, fatherless child-are both vital and destructive. At once deeply personal and sharply analytical, Dyson's book offers a wholly original way of looking at Tupac Shakur that will thrill those who already love the artist and enlighten those who want to understand him. "In the tradition of jazz saxophonists John Coltrane and Charlie Parker, Dyson riffs with speed, eloquence, bawdy humor, and startling truths that have the effect of hitting you like a Mack truck."-San Francisco Examiner "Such is the genius of Dyson. He flows freely from the profound to the profane, from popular culture to classical literature." -- Washington Postbr Philadelphia Inquirer "Among the young black intellectuals to emerge since the demise of the civil rights movement" -- undoubtedly the most insightful and thought-provoking is Michael Eric Dyson." -- Manning Marable, Director of African American Studies, Columbia University

Go Set a Watchman

Go Set a Watchman PDF Author: Harper Lee
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0062409875
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 204

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Book Description
#1 New York Times Bestseller “Go Set a Watchman is such an important book, perhaps the most important novel on race to come out of the white South in decades." — New York Times A landmark novel by Harper Lee, set two decades after her beloved Pulitzer Prize–winning masterpiece, To Kill a Mockingbird. Twenty-six-year-old Jean Louise Finch—“Scout”—returns home to Maycomb, Alabama from New York City to visit her aging father, Atticus. Set against the backdrop of the civil rights tensions and political turmoil that were transforming the South, Jean Louise’s homecoming turns bittersweet when she learns disturbing truths about her close-knit family, the town, and the people dearest to her. Memories from her childhood flood back, and her values and assumptions are thrown into doubt. Featuring many of the iconic characters from To Kill a Mockingbird, Go Set a Watchman perfectly captures a young woman, and a world, in painful yet necessary transition out of the illusions of the past—a journey that can only be guided by one’s own conscience. Written in the mid-1950s, Go Set a Watchman imparts a fuller, richer understanding and appreciation of the late Harper Lee. Here is an unforgettable novel of wisdom, humanity, passion, humor, and effortless precision—a profoundly affecting work of art that is both wonderfully evocative of another era and relevant to our own times. It not only confirms the enduring brilliance of To Kill a Mockingbird, but also serves as its essential companion, adding depth, context, and new meaning to an American classic.

Long Way Down

Long Way Down PDF Author: Jason Reynolds
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1481438271
Category : Young Adult Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 333

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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.

Dancer from the Dance

Dancer from the Dance PDF Author: Andrew Holleran
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0060937068
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description
One of the most important works of gay literature, this haunting, brilliant novel is a seriocomic remembrance of things past -- and still poignantly present. It depicts the adventures of Malone, a beautiful young man searching for love amid New York's emerging gay scene. From Manhattan's Everard Baths and after-hours discos to Fire Island's deserted parks and lavish orgies, Malone looks high and low for meaningful companionship. The person he finds is Sutherland, a campy quintessential queen -- and one of the most memorable literary creations of contemporary fiction. Hilarious, witty, and ultimately heartbreaking, Dancer from the Dance is truthful, provocative, outrageous fiction told in a voice as close to laughter as to tears.

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 Rose that Grew from Concrete

The Rose that Grew from Concrete PDF Author: Tupac Shakur
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0671028456
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 176

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Book Description
A collection of verse by the late hip-hop star Tupac Shakur includes more than one hundred poems confronting such wide-ranging topics as poverty, motherhood, Van Gogh, and Mandela.

The Education of Kevin Powell

The Education of Kevin Powell PDF Author: Kevin Powell
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1439164215
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
In the spirit of Piri Thomas’s Down These Mean Streets and Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, writer and activist Kevin Powell’s memoir—“illuminating…an education for us all” (USA TODAY)—vividly recounts the horrific poverty of his youth and his struggles to overcome a legacy of anger, violence, and self-hatred. When Kevin Powell was three, he discovered the volatile nature of his world: a place of pain, poverty, violence, fire, rats, roaches, and a fear that would haunt him for years; but also moments of joy, transcendence, and belonging. By the time he graduated from high school, something his single mother and his grandparents did not do, Powell had survived abuse, abandonment by his father, debilitating low self-esteem, a police beating, and years of constant relocation—from school to school, neighborhood to neighborhood. He was left feeling isolated, wondering if his life had any value, and doubting that he would survive to see old age. In this unflinchingly honest autobiography, Kevin Powell reflects on his tumultuous, turbulent passage from child to man. He revisits the path that led him to become a successful writer, public speaker, activist, and cast member on the influential first season of MTV’s The Real World. He also recalls the terrible lows he endured of depression, thoughts of suicide, alcoholism, bankruptcy, doomed relationships, failed political campaigns, and the soul-shattering murder of Tupac Shakur. Time and again, Powell harks back to lessons his mother taught him as a little boy: never stop learning, never stop telling the truth, always strive to be a better man, do what is right. Written with urgency and insight by one of the most gifted voices of our times, The Education of Kevin Powell is a powerful chronicle of healing and growth, survival and redemption. Ultimately, Kevin Powell’s journey is our journey, too.