In the first stanza, the speaker notes that "you" (the listener or auditor) does not see her clearly. The speaker stands "boldly" and clearly ("trim") in her particular place in society ("rank") and in a more general way, in space and time. However, the she notes that the listener looks at her as if through a foggy or opaque glass.
In the second stanza, she notes that the listener does admit (here, "own" means to...
In the first stanza, the speaker notes that "you" (the listener or auditor) does not see her clearly. The speaker stands "boldly" and clearly ("trim") in her particular place in society ("rank") and in a more general way, in space and time. However, the she notes that the listener looks at her as if through a foggy or opaque glass.
In the second stanza, she notes that the listener does admit (here, "own" means to admit) to hear her faintly. We have the image of the speaker beating out the rhythms of her message and it never changes. She wants to be heard. She wants to be equal in the mind of the listener. The listener admits to hearing her but ignores the message.
In the fourth stanza, the image is the shadow. The speaker is trying to convince the listener to treat all people equally. This can not happen if the listener refuses to see her, hear her, and acknowledge her as an equal. If she is nothing more than a shadow, the listener will never understand.
In the seventh stanza, the speaker repeats images of the visual and auditory senses.
Take the blinders from your vision,
take the padding from your ears,
and confess you've heard me crying,
and admit you've seen my tears.
These images are all in efforts to convince the listener to open his/her mind. Opening the senses is a way to illustrate this idea. In order to be considered as an equal, other people (the listener) must validate the speaker's existence: to look at her clearly and to hear what she has to say.
No comments:
Post a Comment