Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note

 

Amiri Baraka

 

Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note

 

 

Exploration of the Text

 

 

1- Speaker's mode

 

    Pessimistic due to the line 4 " Things have come to that"  shows how speaker cynically mocking the whole events. Besides, depressed mode have been injected to this poem, line 11 "Nobody sing anymore." Here you can get the essence of mundane and lost the meaning  of speaker's life.

 

2- " Her own clasped hands"

 

       For me, its the contrasts action with the father action in poem. Father's cynical persona or action contrasted with the daughter's gesture of peeking into her own clasped hand. Here's,the daughter gesture almost like praying to God showed how she still believe in hope and faith. When you about to commit suicide, there no hope and faith or meaning in life anymore. So the fathers who is feeling mundane and depressed in life action and reaction contrasted by his daughter's clasped hand.

 

3- Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note

 

       For me the title is quite straight-forward. Why would I say that,during my first glancing at the title of the poem by Amiri Baraka its more like suicide note or diary. "Preface" who are always at the beginning of the book usually, showed the continuing notes regarding suicide. Maybe this just only the beginning to the many, many more to suicide action and confession.

 

4-  Three short lines

 

      For me, why Baraka have three short line separated as stanzas is to act as conclusion to each preceding four and five lines stanza. So, that they convey the message of the poem.

 

5- "Lately, "And now" and "And then"

 

       The first 2 words shows how the speaker felt recently and what he does in the period of time where he had lost hope. the last word shows showed different feeling where the speaker just did something which eventually changed his feeling of losing hope to having hope again.

 

6-   Speaker and the daughter

 

      The contrast between his action and perspective or point of view especially with daughter action really makes him really absurd. This due to his mundane  perspective on life comparing his daughter who stills have hope and faith in life. Speaker look at his daughter who is in pride and a sense of comfort absent from the outside world and he himself.