M5A1 Assignment: Comparing and Contrasting Poems of Controversy

      M5A1 Comparing and Contrasting Poems Of Controversy: Telephone Conversation by Wole Soyinka and On the Subway by Sharon Olds Name Institution Date               The poems Telephone Conversation by Wole Soyinka and On the Subway by Sharon Olds tackle the theme of racism and prejudice.   In a telephone conversation, a black man identifies himself as  an African while trying to rent an apartment and the conversation becomes awkward as both the landlady and caller are unsure how to deal with the issue. On the subway, focuses on a white lady’s thoughts while while facing black man, and she even assumes he may possibly mug her, but she also reflects on how blacks have been treated. The literal sense, diction, tone, and situations in Telephone Conversation and On the Subway highlight how racism and prejudice affects the ability of blacks and whites to engage in positive interactions. In the literal sense of Telephone Conversation, the speaker is forthright that he is black as he sensed that the white lady would likely be apprehensive “But self-confession.”Madame," I warned,” (line 4). The speaker does not hesitate when beginning the conversations, and in the Poem on the Subway, Olds is also direct, but she expresses her thoughts rather than conversation with the ‘menacing’ young black man who at first seems a threat, but she recognized that the Americans society had hurt black people  “he could take so easily and break across his knee like a stick the way his own back is being broke,” (lines 28-30).  However, Soyinka also uses irony as he had to negotiate with the landlady using words with double edge meanings as he said his complexion was "West African Sepia”             The poems use informal diction when addressing the fears of the white women who encounter or interact with the black men. The white characters in both poems are in an awkward position as circumstances ...