Life Detained
Sympathy and Harlem are two lyric poems where frustration is prevalent. Sympathy and Harlem have many similarities and differences. Harlem is a short poem with four stanzas. Harlem was written in 1951, by Langston Hughes, an African American poet. Similarly, Sympathy was written by an African American poet named Paul Dunbar, in 1899. Sympathy is about a caged bird, and its hatred for the bars enclosing it. In Sympathy, Dunbar is relating the bird to his own life, showing how he is like the bird, without freedom. Dunbar speaks to the readers in first person, personalizing the poem. Conversely, Harlem speaks openly, asking questions without offering answers.
Dunbar’s Sympathy is very moving. He provokes sadness through descriptive
Sympathy and Harlem are two lyric poems where frustration is prevalent. Sympathy and Harlem have many similarities and differences. Harlem is a short poem with four stanzas. Harlem was written in 1951, by Langston Hughes, an African American poet. Similarly, Sympathy was written by an African American poet named Paul Dunbar, in 1899. Sympathy is about a caged bird, and its hatred for the bars enclosing it. In Sympathy, Dunbar is relating the bird to his own life, showing how he is like the bird, without freedom. Dunbar speaks to the readers in first person, personalizing the poem. Conversely, Harlem speaks openly, asking questions without offering answers.
Dunbar’s Sympathy is very moving. He provokes sadness through descriptive