Résumé
Résumé de Le Congo et autres poèmes
À qui s’adresse-t-il ?
Readers who love poetry that moves, who enjoy reading aloud, who like American folk song, ragtime rhythm and fairy tales, and who collect the voices of the early twentieth century.
De quoi parle ce livre ?
What if a poem were a drumbeat you could stand up and perform? You will hear what these poems ask a reader to do, starting with the title poem.
Dans ce résumé
- 1These poems are scores for the voiceFree
- 2The Congo moves in three movements
- 3Cars, bells and fire become music
- 4Chants for children and public causes
- 5Faith and the city in the Incense section
- 6Light verse, toys and tributes
- 7The moon as a mirror in twenty poems
- 8War poems and the epilogue of rest
Point clé 1 sur 8
These poems are scores for the voice
It carries directions such as heavy bass, shrill and high, whispered, faster, or with great deliberation.
Take The Firemen's Ball, where clanging syllables stand in for bells and engines, and the voice grows louder, then sinks to a hush. The Santa Fe Trail asks the reader to speed up with the racing cars and slow down as dusk comes on. In both, the sound is as much the meaning as the words are.
A good way to meet this book is to stand up and read a page to the room. Let your hands beat the rhythm on a table. The notes work like a conductor, and they tell you where to push, where to pause and where to let the line fade away.
That’s 1 of 8 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Questions about Le Congo et autres poèmes
What is The Congo and Other Poems about?
It is a collection of poems by Vachel Lindsay meant to be chanted or sung. Subjects include the Congo River, Kansas roads, a firemen's ball, children's dances, the moon, love and marriage, faith in the city, and protest against the war of 1914.
What are the moon poems in The Congo and Other Poems?
The fourth section gathers twenty poems in which the moon stands for something different each time. It is the north wind's cooky, a griffin's egg, a gong for fairy ears, and a water keg to a miner. The single image shifts from comic to tender.
Who is Mumbo-Jumbo in The Congo?
Mumbo-Jumbo is the god of the Congo in the poem, a figure whose threat of a hoo-doo curse returns as a refrain in each part. The poem treats him as a power that fades and then whispers again.
How should you read Lindsay's poems?
Read them aloud. The margins carry directions for voice and speed, such as heavy bass, whispered, shrill and high, or faster. Beating time with your hand helps, since the rhythm and refrains carry much of the meaning.
What is the Rachel-Jane in The Santa Fe Trail?
The Rachel-Jane is a bird the speaker hears sing sweetly. An old Black man gives it that name and says it has no other. Its quiet song of love and life stands against the noise of the passing cars.