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Analysis and comments on A Black Man Talks of Reaping by Arna Bontemps

Comment 8 of 8, added on May 7th, 2008 at 9:28 AM.

Coming from a Japanese philosopher, I beleive this man is jeolous of his
children. He plants the trees that take long to grow and then his children
reap the fruit.

Whan Ku Ping from Japan
Comment 7 of 8, added on March 14th, 2008 at 1:29 PM.

i love the way he uses words that explains us african americans i am 14
years old reading this poem encoraged me. i read arna bontems biography and
he had problems with his dad, but in the end his dad was right and he
became a famous man who wrote poems, plays and books just to say this is my
favorate poem written by arna bontemps. i will never forget this poem. the
poem of encouragment that will follow me through all my years.

princess auna aka robbiauna from United States
Comment 6 of 8, added on January 17th, 2008 at 7:04 PM.

so i read this poem over and over but i still didnt get it. i was going
through sites to help me find out what it means...it didnt help. i came
across this site and i helped sooooooooo much!!! thanks :)

alexis from United States
Comment 5 of 8, added on February 26th, 2007 at 9:11 AM.

I had to read this poem for my english III honors class and do a critical
analysis for it. I also had to teach my class about the meaning of this
poem. I believe that Botemps is referring to the fact that he as a slave
puts so much labor into the fields yet in return doesnt get anything. When
he refers to the "bitter fruit" I believe that he is talking about how he
plants these fruits with bitterness to the white man and that would be how
the whites could metaphorically taste that bitterness.

Erica from United States
Comment 4 of 8, added on February 23rd, 2006 at 7:37 AM.

Brilliant metaphor of losses and failure; maybe, people will learn how to
help out and care for each other.

Jakima Davis from United States
Comment 3 of 8, added on June 15th, 2005 at 1:06 PM.

cathryn your ideas are really good. they helped me understand the poems a
lot better. Thanks for your insight

Linda from United States
Comment 2 of 8, added on March 14th, 2005 at 10:32 AM.

i was confused on the poem to i am writing a poem about it and i have to
break it down and understand it i want to thank cathryn for your insight
view on the poems and i agree and i think that is a good moral from the
poem.

chante from United States
Comment 1 of 8, added on March 9th, 2005 at 8:34 PM.

i was really confused when i first read this poem, i actually had to read
it twice. It to me is a poem about a black man who has given up hope on a
brighter future. he feels that because he works so hard and gets so little
in return that it is pointless to have dreams. He says that even the fact
that he has planted enough to spread from mexico to canada doesn't give him
enough faith or hope to believe that he, as a black man will ever recieve
the "pay" he deserves. In the last stanza i think that he is trying to say
that the bitter fruit is the dreams of the younger black children who
haven't experienced lfe like him yet therefore they still have dreams but
they are soon to all go down the drain. This poem was true up until the
ninties and even partially true even then, because we as blacks have gotten
little for all the work we do.

Cathryn Brooks from United States



Information about A Black Man Talks of Reaping

Poet: Arna Bontemps
Poem: A Black Man Talks of Reaping
Added: Jan 31 2004
Viewed: 15425 times
Poem of the Day: Aug 23 2000


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