The civil unjust in the streets of America lives in the poems of Tracy K. Smith, a Pulitzer Prizewinning author of the book Life on Mars. Witnessing the death of her people at the hands of police officers, Smith feels troubled about bringing a new life into a prejudice world. In poems such as: “Unrest in Baton Rouge” and “They May Love All That He Has Chosen and Hate All That He Has Rejected,” Smith feels compelled to concentrate her writing around the absence of humanity through police brutality in the streets of America.
Tracy K. Smith’s poem “Unrest in Baton Rouge” portrays the true events that occurred at the scene of Alton Sterling’s death. The video of Alton’s death went viral across America and pushed many locals into rage and protests. …show more content…
Smith, “Unrest in Baton Rouge” and “They May Love All That He Has Chosen and Hate All That He Has Rejected”, they both have the same resolution and theme. Tracy K. Smith uses this tactic to defeat hatred and to get rid of this absence of humanity. If one can notice, the letters of “They May Love All That He Has Chosen and Hate All That He Has Rejected”, gives the reader a humbling and forgiving tone. Also, “Unrest in Baton Rouge” has a mellow and absent feel. Tracy K. Smith also ends both pieces with a love segment to tie both pieces together. During the Tracy K. Smith Common Read at Southeastern University, Smith mentioned,
“I’ve been consoling myself overtime grieving for my dad by saying he’s gone but maybe he can still see me. Maybe he’s still here somehow, and if he’s here then knows what a mess I am. Then he’ll see everything that I kept from him. But I realized he’s not human but in that way he probably understands. So he probably has a compassionate view of me as a real person.”
Smith is illustrating the absence and sense of understanding from her deceased father. Smith’s definition of understanding can be seen as compassion or love. Since her father is no longer here in human form, he now has taken on an omnipresence. This means he is everywhere around her but does not see the world as Smith does. Smith’s father is now more compassionate and more loving because of his new form. Smith also infers that this might be the same way for anyone else’s deceased relatives or
Tracy K. Smith’s poem “Unrest in Baton Rouge” portrays the true events that occurred at the scene of Alton Sterling’s death. The video of Alton’s death went viral across America and pushed many locals into rage and protests. …show more content…
Smith, “Unrest in Baton Rouge” and “They May Love All That He Has Chosen and Hate All That He Has Rejected”, they both have the same resolution and theme. Tracy K. Smith uses this tactic to defeat hatred and to get rid of this absence of humanity. If one can notice, the letters of “They May Love All That He Has Chosen and Hate All That He Has Rejected”, gives the reader a humbling and forgiving tone. Also, “Unrest in Baton Rouge” has a mellow and absent feel. Tracy K. Smith also ends both pieces with a love segment to tie both pieces together. During the Tracy K. Smith Common Read at Southeastern University, Smith mentioned,
“I’ve been consoling myself overtime grieving for my dad by saying he’s gone but maybe he can still see me. Maybe he’s still here somehow, and if he’s here then knows what a mess I am. Then he’ll see everything that I kept from him. But I realized he’s not human but in that way he probably understands. So he probably has a compassionate view of me as a real person.”
Smith is illustrating the absence and sense of understanding from her deceased father. Smith’s definition of understanding can be seen as compassion or love. Since her father is no longer here in human form, he now has taken on an omnipresence. This means he is everywhere around her but does not see the world as Smith does. Smith’s father is now more compassionate and more loving because of his new form. Smith also infers that this might be the same way for anyone else’s deceased relatives or