Lyrics

On the topic of fear in Claudia Rankine’s Citizen: An American Lyric, she explores her relationship with fear, the different types of fear, and the ways people react to fear. The part that spoke to me most was when Rankine clarified the difference between emotions and feelings in terms of fear. She said that emotions have to do with someone’s first unconscious response, their instinctual reaction to something. She then explained that feelings are a bit more complicated. They’re this sort of…

In Claudia Rankine’s Citizen: An American Lyric, she portrays the prejudice and racism against minorities, especially black, that we face and hear about in our everyday lives. Moreover, she ambiguously leaves the reader to visualize whatever we want by flashing incomplete stories that are without cause and effect. By giving us different instances of prejudice and racism that happen in her life and other black people’s lives, she urges us to take a closer look at our everyday lives to understand…

relieving to actually listen to your favorite rap artist in front of your parents without you having to be worried that he may say something vulgar? The solution to that problem is to censor music lyrics. Music is like the medicine to our souls. Everyone loves music to be honest, but sometimes certain lyrics in the song can just make you skip to the next song or even turn it off. Uncensored music is getting out of control now. For example, now you can hear it on the radios and TVs. Music should…

In Claudia Rankine’s “Citizen: An American Lyric”, she expresses present day issues of racism through poetry. In this poem she describes an occasion where the she goes to see a film with her partner and she allows a friend to babysit. She receives a call from the neighbor that there is a threatening man walking near both of homes and the police were contacted. It is explained to the neighbor that a friend is babysitting and reassures the neighbor that she has met this young man. She calls the…

Hegemony Aspects in Rebellion Song Lyric Hegemony is the term that Antonio Gramsci, an Italian who was known as a leading Marxist thinker, used to denote one social party or individual’s predominance over others. This term is not used only for political or economic subject but also any case when the dominant party shows the ability to make the subordinate party sees the view as the dominant party sees it. In the music industry, especially in the contemporary popular music industry, it is…

Keats' Ode to Melancholy focuses on the lyric moment of beautiful sadness. Keats describes finding beauty in the sad and temporary. Keats understands that in order to enjoy positive feelings one must also experience the beauty in the negative as well. Through the poem, Keats balances surrendering to depression with embracing the human range of feeling as a combination of fleeting emotions. In the first stanza, Keats describes multiple poisons to stay away from. He is both reflecting on their…

Throughout my high school education and into my college English literature and compositions courses, I have read numerous pieces that have left a lasting impression on me. However, it is Claudia Rankine’s novel, Citizen: An American Lyric, that has truly inspired and moved me in ways that brought tears to my eyes as I was faced with harsh reality of the racial discrimination in this country. Rankine presents, examines, and criticizes the racial discrimination faced and felt through countless…

I really enjoyed listening to Claudia Rankin’s presentation and her readings from her newest book of poetry, “Citizen: An American Lyric.” I really liked how she incorporated visual art with her poetry, because it means she spent the time analyzing her own work and the painting/picture in order to match them up. I was also really struck by the picture of the two white houses that had the street sign “Jim Crow” in between them. This is a very realistic picture; a lot of developments as far as I…

The novels “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison, “Brown Girl, Brownstones” by Paule Marshall and “Citizen An American Lyric” by Claudia all are different books that tell different stories and written by different people, but one thing all 3 of these book share in common is a very old but important social issue which is Race and Racism. The way these authors use their topics as a subdivision of the theme or a social issue so that their main point becomes more clear and understandable is very…

If you are looking to get personal, honest, and relevant insight on racism in America, Citizen: An American Lyric is the perfect book to read. Citizen: An American Lyric was published in 2014 by poet Claudia Rankine. This book is a compilation of poems, essays, and visual art to give the reader a closer look of what it is like being black in America. The book is written in seven sections which are all similar in style and content. With each section giving different stories, microaggressions,…