Comparing and Contrasting Poems of Controversy

Comparing and contrasting poems of controversy
Name
Institutional Affiliation
Racism is the central theme of these poems between whites and blacks observed in the last five decades. The two poems are similar in that they show how the white characters quickly jump into conclusion in stereotyping and judging black people (Jones, 2011).
In the “Telephone Conversation poem “the conversation between the man and the landlady starts on a positive note where he says that he loves the house. However, when he decides to confess his skin color, he utilizes words such as, “self-confession” and “warned,” to preempt the likely reaction by the landlady. She begins asking him how dark he is, and continuously push this stereotype by repeating the question and eventually slamming the phone down on him (Soyinka, 1998, pp. 60). “On the Subway” the poem brings out racism from the perspective of a white woman who stereotypes a black boy seated across from her in a subway. The woman is upfront with her racism tendencies when she out lightly states, “he is black, and I am white.” She considers him a robber, because, “He has the casual cold look of a mugger (Olds, 1985, pp. 284).” His wearing of black sneakers with white laces in a pattern makes her feel, as the boy could inflict scars on her and expose her blood.
The two poems deal with racism from different perspectives. In the “Telephone conversation,” the racist tendencies present the views of an African man, informed by a landlady’s notion of black people based on society’s outlook of them. In “On the Subway,” however, a white woman in a subway utilizes her views of black people to form an opin...