Beware Dont Read This Poem

'Beware: Do Not Read This Poem' was included in one of Reed's near influential collections and is i that best exemplifies his influence on the Black Arts Movement. Information technology was written at the end of 1968 and later on reprinted in 1972. Reed's ability to join allusions to various historical and social moments is seen information technology its best advantage in 'Beware: Do Not Read This Poem.' Readers may find themselves inspired to consider the underlying meaning of the poem in greater detail.

Beware: Do Not Read This Poem by Ishmael Reed

Summary

'Beware: Practise Not Read This Verse form' by Ishmael Reed is a complex poem almost civilization, language, and storytelling.

In the first lines of the verse form, the speaker starts out describing the unfortunate end a vain woman came to. She surrounded herself with mirrors, that is, until the villagers entered her home, and she was forced to disappear into 1. These relatively straightforward details take a clearly fantastical element to them. The speaker describes how the adult female haunted the domicile, making various men and women disappear.

The speaker transitions into speaking about the verse form itself and how, like the mirror, it consumes people. Many are similar "yous." By using 2d-person pronouns, the reader becomes function of the narrative. Hither, the linguistic communication changes again, and readers find themselves engaged with more vernacular speech with misspellings and more.

When the poem concludes, the speaker details some of the statistics around the poem and all the people that have disappeared.

You can read the total poem hither.

Themes

Throughout this poem, the poet engages with themes of isolation and reality. Isolation is seen right from the beginning with the woman who hides away in her home with but her mirrors for visitor. She'southward so desperate to remain on her ain that she jumps into a mirror to stay away from the villagers. At the same time, she takes people into the mirror, a seemingly desperate endeavor to remedy her isolation. Only as the mirror absorbed the adult female, so too can this verse form absorb a reader. No matter how fulfilling it seems, reality tin't be fully explored within the confines of a mirror or poem. At the aforementioned time, the poet is alluding to a deeper theme of cultural dominance and prominence. The poem is a protest against singling out one culture or way of life as better or more worthy than some other.

Construction and Form

'Beware: Do Not Read This Poem' by Ishmael Reed is a twelve-stanza poem that is separated into uneven sets of lines. These lines are written in gratis verse. This means that they do not conform to a specific rhyme scheme or metrical pattern. They vary in length, ranging from one discussion up to eight or more. Despite this, Reed does use a multifariousness of literary devices that assistance give the verse form a feeling of unity and inspire the reader to explore its lines more than than one time.

Literary Devices

Throughout this verse form, Reed makes use of several literary devices. These include but are not limited to:

Alliteration: occurs when the poet uses the same consonant audio at the start of a discussion. For example, "locked" and "life" in stanza three.
Enjambment: This can be seen when the poet cuts off a line earlier its natural stopping indicate. Almost every line in this poem is enjambed.
Caesura: occurs when the poet inserts a pause into the middle of a line of text. For case, "y'all are into this poem. from" and "motility & roll on to this poem."
Allusion: seen when the poet references a piece of information that's not completely described in the text. It may require extra research to understand fully.

Detailed Assay

Stanzas 1-Three

tonite, thriller was

about an old adult female, so vain she

(…)
whole life became the

mirrors

In the first lines of 'Beware: Do Non Read This Poem,' the speaker begins past telling the reader about an one-time adult female. She was "so vain" that she surrounded herself with many mirrors. Because these kickoff lines and the title, it quickly becomes clear that this verse form is a cautionary tale. Readers should expect to learn something or be reminded of something by the stop.

The woman's vanity got and then bad that she confined herself to a room. Her entire life became nigh the mirrors. These lines ready up the background to what feels like a dark fairy tale or piece of sociology.

Stanzas Four and Five

one mean solar day the villagers broke
(…)

and so the young woman'due south husband

In the next two stanzas, the speaker goes on to say that one solar day villagers broke into her home, and she disappeared into a mirror. This element of magic confirms the sociology atmosphere of the poem. She haunted the firm from within her mirror, ensuring that anybody who lived there lost a loved one. They ranged from a petty daughter to a immature woman and then "the immature woman's husband." It's at this indicate that the poem makes its first of two singled-out shifts.

Stanzas Half-dozen and Seven

the hunger of this poem is legendary
it has taken in many victims
(…)
it has drawn in your legs

back off from thias poem
information technology is a greedy mirror
you lot are into this poem. from

The verse form changes in the sixth stanza. Information technology's now directed to the reader, using second-person pronouns like "y'all" and "your." The poet wrote these lines as though the verse form itself was an entity that needed to be watched and monitored. Information technology has "taken many victims," the speaker says, and at present it'south sucking in "your anxiety" and then "your legs." It's important to dorsum away from these words, the poet adds.

For readers, it'south important to consider the nature of the language in these lines. In that location are distinct shifts between more formal and more than colloquial speech in these lines. It is part of the meaning of this poem and how the writer wanted readers to consider language and culture.

Stanzas Viii and Nine

the waist down

nobody can hear you tin can they?

this poem has had you up to hither
belch

(…)
this poem has his fingers
this poem has his fingertips

The language becomes even more relaxed in the next lines equally the speaker uses words like "ain't" and phrases similar "got no manners." This is a common characteristic of Reed's verse. He often wrote from his specific African American perceptive, using language and syntax that's recognizable in his community.

By this indicate in the verse form, the words have taken the reader over. It has "your eyes" and "his head." There doesn't announced to be any manner to stop the progression.

Stanzas X-Twelve

this poem is the reader & the
reader the poem

(…)

a space in the lives of their friends

The poem ends with a striking transition to statistics. The speaker reports that "in 1968 over 100,000 people / disappeared leaving no solid clues." The verse form is responsible, as the mirror was, for consuming people. There was no trace of these men and women, "only / a space in the lives of their friends." Readers should also note the utilize of spaces in these concluding lines, alluding to what's been lost and hopefully inspiring readers to consider what would fill up the metaphorical bare spaces.

FAQs

What is the purpose of 'Beware: Do Non Read This Poem?'

The purpose is to caution readers confronting becoming too obsessed or consumed by one fashion of life or i cultural point of view. Just similar the sometime woman, and like "you" in the 2nd section, it's piece of cake to get sucked in and forget well-nigh everything else.

What is the tone of 'Beware: Do Not Read This Verse form?'

The tone is cautionary and explanatory. The poet'southward speaker addresses the reader, attempting to go far clear that becoming besides attached or consumed by this verse form or any other is a negative..

Why did Reed write 'Beware: Practice Not Read This Poem?'

Reed wrote 'Beware: Do Not Read This Poem' in lodge to explore, in his characteristic style, the nature of civilization and language and how 1 makes the other. He wanted readers to consider how the two come up together and what it means to explore more than i civilization/language.

When was 'Beware: Do Non Read This Poem' published?

'Beware: Exercise Not Read This Poem' was published in Catechism of d neoamerican hoodoo church in 1970. But, it was written ii years earlier, in 1968. The verse form was later republished in a new drove of his verse in 1972.

Why is 'Beware: Do Non Read This Poem' so popular?

This poem is so popular because of the unique style it approaches its subject. The verse form requires readers to understand the underlying meaning behind the folk tale while at the same time analyzing the language the poet uses.

Similar Poetry

Readers who enjoyed 'Beware: Do Not Read This Poem' should as well consider reading other Ishmael Reed poems. For example:

' Untitled ' – is a brusk, precisely worded poem that connects the sale of the Alaskan territory in 1867 to the British plundering of Jamaica.
Other related poems include:
' I, Too, Sing America ' by Langston Hughes – emphasizes a Black homo's feelings of alienation from the rest of American society and his determination to exist counted as equally American.
' The Importance of Elsewhere ' by Philip Larkin – is a poem about Irish gaelic culture. The poet describes himself and his life in Ireland equally an Englishman.

Beware: Do Not Read This Poem by Ishmael Reed