I have to say that Fauset's poetry has been much more uplifting than anything else we have read so far.
I enjoyed this poem in particular because everyone can relate to its meaning. It doesn't matter what color you are or what part of the world you live in. Everyone has been in and out of love and typically words get you into trouble at some point in any relationship.
I like how Fauset doesn't really use any names in her poetry, because you can put any face, gender, or race on each and everyone. For some reason this quality makes things more real for me and allows me to better relate to what we are reading.
Same as Johnson did in Autobiography. He did not give anyone a name, which allowed for the reader to create their own mental picture of the story.
This poem words also has that underlying irony that we discussed with Fauset's writings. But aren't relationships ironic. Things seem so beautiful and blissful in the beginning, but as time goes on words get in the way or create obstacles to overcome.
In the line "In the power of the tongue are life and death!" This just rings so true. I guess thinking about being a future teacher of a elementary students our words to them are really going to influence some of the paths that they take, yes life and death may be a little dramatic, but good choices and bad choices could fall into that line also.
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I also enjoyed Words! Words! because it doesn’t specifically label people by race. It’s a nice change of pace to be able to actually relate to one of these poems. I feel that because we are reading about African Americans and about their struggles, I can’t truly understand them because I don’t know what it’s like to be in that situation. Yet like you said, most people know what it’s like to be in and out of love and how saying too much can escalate a fight further. I never thought about comparing Fauset to Johnson. I had forgotten that Johnson had nameless characters throughout his book.
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