mind of the listener during her song Strange Fruit. Strange fruit was written as a poem by a school teacher, Abel Meeropol, and was recorded by Billie Holiday in 1939. During the song strong imagery effectively appealing to the listener’s emotions and their ethics as a person. Billie Holiday effectively paints a vivid picture of a lynched African American surrounded by a setting that was relatively pleasant through her use of pathos and appeals to ethos. Strange fruit is a Grammy Hall of Fame…
Pastoral scene of the gallant south The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh Then the sudden smell of burning flesh. (Abel Meeropol 1903-1986) In The Strange Fruit, Abel Meeropol graphically describes bodies hanging like festering fruit on trees. He strips away the veneer of the beautiful South to expose the horrors that black people suffered. This poem chills me and frustrates me, since racist murderers walked free just because others turned a…
Which 1980s New Romantic pop group released a song entitled, "Fade to Grey"? Having started out hosting club nights at Billy's nightclub in Soho, founding members Steve Strange and Rusty Egan wanted to tap into the growing New Wave culture of syntho-pop, forming Visage in the late 1970s. Recruiting amongst others, Midge Ure and Billy Curry - whom also performed with Ultravox - the band's first single was a cover of Zager and Evans "In the Year 2525". This record though proved to be a…
Strange Fruit is a poem by Abel Meeropol written in 1939 was written to inform people about racism in an obvious fashion that explains the racism at the lynching in Marion killing two boys and harming another. The two boys were Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith were both African Americans who were lynched by a mob full of generally peaceful citizens who had been induced into mob mentality. Strange Fruit tells how cruel people could be when they are convinced that racism is the way to purge the land…
When I first heard Billie Holiday sing Strange Fruit, I was immediately saddened by her tone. It instantly gripped my attention because she started the song off referring to a “strange fruit.” This reference automatically made me listen closely to see what “fruit” she was speaking of. The next line talked about blood on the trees’ leaves and roots which instantly stirred up feeling of sadness. This song describes the lynching of African Americans in the South. I asked myself, what could a man…
“Black bodies swingin’ in the Southern breeze / Strange fruit hangin’ from the poplar trees” (3-4). The poem “Strange Fruit” by Abel Meeropol was published in 1937. It sets a deep tone on how racism occurred back in the 1930s. Meeropol was an ordinary high school teacher who went on to teach English for seventeen years. He was also a poet and social activist. Meeropol was troubled at the racism going on in America. He was inspired to write this poem after seeing a photograph of two teenagers;…
back to West’s plot line. The integration of Nina Simone’s rendition of Strange Fruit throughout the song brings the reader back to the fragility and vulnerability of the track. The first 47 seconds of the song is probably the most important part, as it is where we are introduced to Nina Simone singing Strange Fruit, a song that addressed lynching in the early 1940’s in America, and a soft piano riff. The selection of Strange Fruit is an important sign towards the goal of the song as a whole.…
“Strange Fruit” Poetry Analysis Essay “Blood on the leaves and blood on the root / Black bodies swingin’ in the Southern breeze” (Meeropol 2-3). The poem “Strange Fruit” was published in the 1930s by Abel Meeropol. Meeropol was an English teacher in Dewitt Clinton High School, a photograph of lynching motivated Meeropol for writing the poem, “Strange Fruit”. Meeropol didn’t like that racism was still persistent in America. The photograph of the lynching was a terrible and disturbing picture of…
The song Strange Fruit was first sang by Billie Holiday, who was a new performer on stage at Cafe Society, a new and popular cabaret club. The song was written in 1937 by a man named Abel Meeropol to criticize the racial discrimination in American South. Abel Meeropol, who was a Jewish-American school teacher from New York City, wrote Strange Fruit after seeing a shocking photograph of a lynching in a magazine. This song became very popular in 1939, the year where racial tension was at its…
I appointed the song “Whatever It Takes” by Imagine Dragons. Not only did I choose this song because it is one of my favored songs, but I chose it because it has poetic merit. I believe that my song has poetic merit because of three poetic elements: symbolism, biblical things, and imagery. My song has numerous of different varieties of imagery. One line of imagery is, “‘Cause I love the adrenaline in my veins.” This is a case of imagery because it utilizes your sight. In addition, another form…