Ay, Ay, Ay of the Kinky-Haired Negress

I thought this poem was really interesting. I think in some sense Burgos is being a pioneer for rights for blacks because she says the first two lines give a sense of pride for being black. For example, Burgos says that the speaker is "pure black." The use of the word "pure" gives, at least to me, a sense of pride. It's the same as saying "I'm 100% black and proud of it." I don't know, maybe I'm wrong, but that's what I thought. The speaker continues to give a sense of pride in her blackness when she says that "my statue is all black." She doesn't say just black, but all black as if there are no impurities in the speaker's race.

In the couplet, "Ay, ay, ay wash the sins of the white King/in forgiveness black Queen", I immediately thought of chess. Everyone knows that in chess the Queen has the most power, not the King. I thought it was interesting that Burgos says "black Queen," indicating that in some sense that the Black Queen has more power than the white King. This idea seemed the complete different of the previous pieces of literature that we read. In Sab, blacks were viewed negatively because Avellaneda wanted to prove a point. I think Marti said that they races did not exist. But, in this poem, the black race is actually in control of the white race. The white King is asking for forgiveness because of all the sins that had been committed. Burgos continues to give the black race a sense of control in the second to last stanza where it says "or perhaps the white will be shadowed in the black." Although it is just a speculation, it seemed radical at least to me that she would even think to write about white being underneath the blacks. That statement is just way ahead of its time.

I liked this poem the best because of the interesting way race is portrayed in the poem. For the first time, whites are not placed higher than the blacks and someone seems proud to be black.

I'm Going to Sleep-Alfonsina Storni

I thought that this poem was really interesting. The way that Storni transitions from sleeping on an ordinary night to dying was really smooth. I thought is was really interesting that she uses the word "Nurse" in the second stanza. When I read the poem the first time, I saw the Nurse as someone who was taking care of a sick person and was seeing to it that she was going to sleep for the night. It was interesting because I would thought that if Storni would have wanted to show the poem as death in the beginning, she would have used the word Mother or Father. Usually, when someone is about to die, they would have referred to a family member who has died, usually their parents. I don't know whether what I just said makes sense...Anyway, the third stanza is the transitional stanza where Storni starts to talk less about falling asleep and more about a peaceful death. She creates an image of peace by saying "high above" and "celestial foot" and "a bird sings some lullaby notes". These three images create a sense of leaving Earth. Finally, the last stanza is the stanza in which she has left the Earth by saying "tell him/not to ask for me; tell him I have gone".

Cesar Vallejo's Poem-Spain, Take This Cup From Me

In my opinion, Vallejo's two poem Spain, Take This Cup From Me is a very interesting poem. In the first stanza, Vallejo calls Latin America "children of the world," indicating that Latin America is still a young nation. Vallejo continues to states that "if Spain falls--I mean, it's just a thought--if she falls..." I thought it was very ironic that he says that the possibility that Spain falls is just a thought. It's almost as if he states the possibility that Spain falls and then he says, oops! I mean that won't happen but the possibility is just something that popped up in my mind. But then he confirms that possibility by again saying "if Spain falls." The phrase "if Spain falls" is like bookends around the oops! statement of "I mean, it's just a thought." That line with bookends is repeated in the third stanza and the last stanza. When I started reading that the first stanza, I thought that Vallejo was trying to reassure his audience by saying that "--I mean, it's just a thought--." Then, as I kept on reading, I thought that Vallejo seemed to be almost mocking the reader. It seemed to me that Vallejo is like a little kid keeping a secret and giving you a hint to a story, but wants you to keep guessing. In the rest of the poem, I am not really sure whether Vallejo is stating that Latin America cannot survive without Spain or whether Vallejo is trying to rev up Latin America to start a revolt against Spain. For example, "mother Spain is...appears as mother and teacher..." In this quote, Spain is teaching its students, Latin America, how to govern itself and Spain is also a mother at the same time, to nurture Latin America with the tools it needs. But, at the same time, Valeljo tells Latin America to "Lower your voice, for she is/with her rigor which is great, not knowing/what to do, and she has in her hand..." In this quote, it seems as if Vallejo is stating because Spain is clueless, Latin America can revolt against Spain. It could also be that Vallejo just wrote those words because he felt like it, but I highly doubt it.