Symbolism In Terrance Hayes's 'RSVP'

Superior Essays
Terrance Hayes’ poem RSVP uses symbolism, imagery and metaphors to expose how race affects beauty standards, while also exploring how the “King of Pop,” Michael Jackson views his own blackness. Throughout the poem, the author uses an array of poetic elements to focus on two points: how race affects the standards of beauty, and the importance of the discovery of one’s own racial identity. Some of the elements Hayes uses in the poem include: metaphors, visual imagery, and symbolism. The poem digs deep into how the King of Pop, or “K.O.P.,” views his own racial identity, and how that affects the racial identification that the young black boys who look up to him experience. Hayes’ poem is, for the most part, written from the perspective of a young black boy who writes a series of letters to Michael Jackson. Although the poem’s primary speaker is the young boy, the poem features two additional speakers, both of which are white women. The use of multiple speakers strengthens the chief element Hayes is attempting to display throughout the poem: the importance of racial identity. At first glance, the reader may think of a party or a social gathering when reading the title. Instead, the author intends to use the literal translation of RSVP, “respond if it …show more content…
The writer uses tactile imagery when she states, “the interior [of the glove] reminds me vaguely of fresh wood, or maybe the inside of a cardboard dryer box….” Terrance Hayes begins to reference a poem featured earlier in the book entitled “MJ Fan Letter,” in which he experiences his first brush of love with a white girl. The young girl reminisces to the mid-seventies when she first kissed a black boy “named Clarence or Terrance or Tyrone.” The young girl’s inability to remember the black boy’s name is a good implication that the relationship did not end well, or that the relationship was simply not as significant to her as it was to

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