Personal Insights Regarding Julia Alvarez and Harlem Renaissance Poets

Any piece of artwork is supposed to project the artists stand on an issue without using the direct approach. The true principle of art is not to portray but rather to evoke. Therefore, it is safe to say that the success of an artist can be measured through his/her ability to make the audience see things from their point of view. Using this criterion to evaluate the poetry of Julia Alvarez, she sure uses poetry to advocate for gender equality.

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Julia lived in an era where the female gender was far much disregarded. An era where gender equality was almost impossible and the womans place was in the kitchen. Changing the perspective of one person is enough assignment, let alone changing the perspective of an entire generation. She used her poetry skills to put her message across and connect with her audience. She was a great success as far as poetry was concerned. In a world where the male gender is usually favored, feminists are in a better position to relate and adore Julia Alvarez for finding a spot for women through poetry. In her poems, Julia Alvarez raised her voice and person and can be likened to a tower as opposed to many women whose position, as the world sees, is in the kitchen.

For the longest time now, the society has always belittled and underestimated the woman. Besides the fact that she is the giver of life responsible for shaping childrens lives and molding them into what they are currently; she is often left out as soon as they find their spot in the world.

Similarly, Collins views about the contentment of people have a lot of inspiration. The contemporary world is full of selfish and overambitious people who will do just about anything to have their way through without caring whether they are right or wrong. In his poetry, Collins advises us that we should always be grateful for the little things in life.

Concerning the Harlem poets, their pieces followed a rather direct approach and were less mindful whether they were polite or not. Politeness is imperative in everything we do. Harlem Renaissance poets speak on real issues affecting the society; prostitution and domestic violence. These matters are very direct and to the point capable of evoking real emotions from people especially those affected by them. However, in trying times too much of it tends to dilute the message and sugarcoat the situation. Harlem poets know this too well and pass their message across at the expense of appearing polite.

Marissa Follo Poetry Response

From her response, you can tell she is a passionate lover of poetry. She can recognize a good piece of art and appreciate it and the poet. Her perspective of Julia Alvarez is that of a person who mentors her both career wise and socially. She adores her work, her life story and above all, her experiences and feminism.

According to Marissa, the most thrilling thing about Julia Alvarez poems is the fact that she uses symbolism efficiently to expound on the evolving nature of women. Marissa also responds to Collins poetry, and she loves the fact that Collins appreciates the small things in life. We live in a fast-paced world, and everyone seems to be obsessed with success, making it, being the best and even competing with others for no reason whatsoever. They forget to appreciate the little things they have such as being full or even being alive and having good health. At the end of the day, life is not about one big thing but a collection of many small, simple but fulfilling details.

Jackie Meldon Poetry Response

In her response, she starts us off by telling us a little about herself. She says growing up, and she was always taught to treat everyone equally regardless of gender. Equality of people is very critical in a world where people are always trying to outshine each other. In the contemporary world, people have been filled with the spirit of self-importance and self-centeredness. They have this perspective about how great they are as compared to other and want to be treated in a unique manner even when they out rightly dont deserve it.

Jackie views Alvarez and Collins poems to be sort of conservative whereas those writers of Harlem poems to be more free spirited. Alvarez and Collins were careful on their topics of interest in their poems. According to Jackie, they do not want to address broad issues for fear of coming off too strong. Alvarez for instance talks of immigrants and their starting of a new life in America. Similarly, Collin was all about Litany in his poems which are both very superficial and light topics. Such issues are considered playing it safe by Jackie and with good reason. They are not capable of hurting anyone or evoking real emotions from anyone. On the contrary, Jackie appreciates the realness of Renaissance poets and the fact that they were able to see and illustrate the bigger picture in their poems.