In-depth analysis of the poem You laughed and laughed and laughed. This document consists of 4 resources compiled into one. All the important notes are labeled to make the summary as short as possible for easy learning.
Title: You laughed and laughed and laughed
Summary: The way 2 people, holding different cultural beliefs and world views, interpret the same experiences
through their own view.
Analysis:
Stanza 1:
The song of the Black man the White man hears, sounds to him like a misfiring car (loud / harsh), he does not value
African culture, instead they laugh.
1 In your ears my song Your: White coloniser
My: black people’s
2 is motor car misfiring Metaphor: The song of the Africans is compared to a misfiring
car engine.
Effectiveness: He hears their words, not as a song, but as
harsh and unpleasant sounds.
M-Alliteration: Sounds like the car is misfiring
3 stopping with a choking cough; Personification: Car sounds like a person with a bad cough.
Onomatopoeia + alliteration of ch/c: Sounds mimicking the
sound of the cough.
Meaning: The car/song is shut down by the laughter and turned
unpleasant.
Semi-colon: Separates speaker’s voice from white man’s
reaction.
4 and you laughed and laughed and laughed. Repetition: Emphasise the racial discrimination that black
people experience.
Stanza 2:
The White man mocks the way the Black man walks. He thinks that he has an understanding of their culture and
has a superior/exclusive attitude. This eats at the identity of the black man.
5 In your eyes my ante- Ante natal walk: The speaker is mocked for the way he walks.
(Animal like / inhuman)
Ante/natal: Separated to emphasise brokenness
6 natal walk was inhuman, passing - Many white people believed black people are subhuman.
Passing = bypassing
7 your ‘omnivorous understanding’ Omnivorous understanding:
- He doens’t use all of his understanding
- Colonist attitude that Europeans are exclusive/superior to all
other races.
- Greedy understanding that eats at the identity /
intellengence / culture of the black man.
8 and you laughed and laughed and laughed. Repetition: Emphasise the racial discrimination that black
people experience.
Stanza 3:
Brutal summary of the first 2 stanzas that emphasize the way white people mock Africans for their song and walk.
9 You laughed at my song, Summary of stanza 1
10 you laughed at my walk. Summary of stanza 2
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