Question

What is the event (what is happening) of the poem "EQUALITY"?
Answer







two people talk about drums beating








people live a painful history








one person speaks to another about the need to move forward

Answer 1

You declare you see me dimly
through a glass which will not shine,
though I stand before you boldly,
trim in rank and making time.

You do own to hear me faintly 5
as a whisper out of range,
while my drums beat out the message
and the rhythms never change.

Equality, and I will be free.
Equality, and I will be free. 10

We have lived a painful history,
we know the shameful past,
but I keep on marching forward,
and you keep on coming last.


Equality, and I will be free. 15
Equality, and I will be free.

Take the blinders from your vision,
take the padding from your ears,
and confess you've heard me crying,
and admit you've seen my tears. 20

Hear the tempo so compelling,
hear the blood throb through my veins.
Yes, my drums are beating nightly,
and the rhythms never change.

Equality, and I will be free. 25
Equality, and I will be free.

Answer 2

This is a tough question. Poetry interpretation is highly subjective. We can definitely say it's not "two people talk about drums beating" because drums are not being used in a literal sense. They are being used as a metaphor. I will tell you what I think that metaphor is in a minute.

So that leaves us with; "people live a painful history" or "one person speaks to another about the need to move forward". It might be helpful to know that Maya Angelou was a black civil rights activist and that many of her poems describe these struggles. Knowing this we can surmise that

We have lived a painful history,
we know the shameful past,

is speaking of slavery and in fact the repeated "Equality, and I will be free" throughout the poem connotes this idea. So those two lines seem to be pointing in the direction of the answer "people live a painful history". However, the next two lines;

but I keep on marching forward,
and you keep on coming last.

seem to be pointing to our other option; "one person speaks to another about the need to move forward". So which is it?

Now this is where the metaphor comes into play. If the drums are not literal drums what are they? The drums are very intergal to this poem and they are also very symbolic in both the allegorical sense and the metaphorical sense. Allegorically the drums represent the African people. For many tribes drums were used for everything for entertainment, to spiritual worship; even more important drums were used as a rally cry or a way to charge up the men before a hunt; a way to bolster courage and strength. So, allegorically the drums are representing the strength of the African-American people during the Civil Rights Movement. But does this allegory point to the answer? No. So the answer must lie in the metaphor.

I believe the drums are a metaphor for the attitude, beliefs, and the message of the Civil Rights Movement. In fact, this is alluded to more than once in the poem;

You do own to hear me faintly 5
as a whisper out of range,
while my drums beat out the message
and the rhythms never change.

AND

Hear the tempo so compelling,
hear the blood throb through my veins.
Yes, my drums are beating nightly,
and the rhythms never change.

Both of these stanzas mention the drums. The first points to them specifically representing the "message", while the second speaks of the beat of the drums as being compelling, and both tells that the beat is ceaseless. These clues lead me to believe the answer is "one person speaks to another about the need to move forward".

You do own to hear me faintly (one person speaking to another)
AND
Hear the tempo so compelling,
...
Yes, my drums are beating nightly,
and the rhythms never change. (unable to stop, moving on night after night, moving forward)

So in a nutshell what Angelou is saying in this poem is that the only way to alleviate the pain of the past (slavery) is to "keep on marching forward" (with the movement) until "you (we the people of the United States of America) [stop] coming last" (fall in-line with beliefs held by the movement).

That's my interpretation. What do you think?

Answer 3

wow thats alot and good XO

Answer 4

Well just posting:

one person speaks to another about the need to move forward

is pointless. It is just giving you a subjective answer that may or may not be right. At least by including my explanation you are able to decide for yourself whether or not you agree with my interpretation..

Answer 5

Zowie, I learned something!