There is a definite switching of gears in these Fauset poems. The themes are no longer exclusive to all but African Americans, but instead have turned into universal themes of unrequited love, jealousy and heartache.
After the sadness of "Oriflamme," which contains the anecdote from Sojourner Truth, there is a collection of poems based on common issues within everyday relationships. From the fight between lovers in "Words! Words!" and the jealous lover in "Touche'" there is a recurring theme from Fauset that is not based in matters of social unrest in her race, but in common heartaches of all.
One of the most gripping of all the works is "La Vie C'Est la Vie" in which two lovers are in an embrace, but the woman can is not in love with the man she is with and can only think of the only man who can set her "chilly blood afire." She reminds herself that "a woman would give her chance of heaven to take (her) place," but because of her betrayal of her real love and her own heart she ultimately wishes she were dead.
Powerful observations on love and betrayal and all the trials and tribulations that come along with each.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
I do agree with you with what you wrote about La Vie C'Est La Vie. You can't help but feel for the man she is with because he is so inlove with her but she loves another man so he will never truly have her heart and that is a terrible feeling.
Oh well yes there is poetry this week that apply to just about everybody... who doesnt know about relationships? Every race has relationships and love. I feel fausetee was touching and reaching out to a bigger audience, she wanted everybody to know the pain and real feelings that african americans could feel and the emotions they have just like everybody else. Slavery is over but understand that they have similar woes as everbody else. And notice the horrors that they had to go through with their families and relationships being torn apart without even fighting on their own! they could be sold to a new place and never be able to reach to their lovers again. I think its terrible but it must have become commonplace to give up hope and move on, to accept that love can be washed away and restarted in a new realm.
I, too, felt very moved by La Vie C'est La Vie. I wanted to tell the woman that it was okay for her not to love him and to want somebody else, but then I felt such sorrow for the man, as well. I think that Fauset very effectively painted a picture of four people who will never completely understand the love felt for them by another person because they don't have their eyes or hearts open to accepting the love.
All of Fauset’s poems were dramatic as they were full of feelings of love, pain, and sadness. I think it’s intriguing that Fauset doesn’t write about African Americans specifically and that we had to pick apart the poems to determine which race she was referring to (ex: Touche- “blue eyes he had and such waving gold hair”).
Post a Comment