beware+do+not+read+this+poem

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"Beware: Do Not Read This Poem" Tareyn Powell B1 English 332 05/03/10

When one reads the poem, "Beware: Do Not Read This Poem", he/she cannot deny and eerie feeling to its repetitive, almost sinister words and phrases. Ishmael Reed is one of America’s most controversial, preeminent African-American writers (Davidson). His free verse poem "Beware: Do Not Read This Poem" does not only represent Reed’s individual style, but also the style of Modernism in general.

The poem’s irony as its major theme is what makes the poem fit both Modernism and Reed’s style. First of all, the title is ironic. . ."Beware: Do Not Read This Poem". Reed is clearly aware that by giving the poem such a title it will no-doubtedly draw the reader further into the poem. Starting out as if telling a story, Reed almost tricks the reader into following along with the ‘story’ he is about to tell; making them comfortable at first (Reed).

With this method, Reed reels in the audience and captures its attention for the remainder of the poem. With lines such as “it got so bad that finally she locked herself indoors & her whole life became the mirrors” and “each tenant who bought the house after that, lost a loved one to the old woman in the mirror” modernism oozes out of this poem (Reed). The sense of alienation that comes from the woman secluding herself to inside of her house only looking at a mirror is just one example (Characteristics). The quote about losing a loved one also represents modernism because of the loss that the family members go through when they lose a loved one to the woman in the mirror (Characteristics). These are just a few of the quotes from the poem that can best represent modernism.

Reed’s life clearly impacted his writing. Reed had a hard start to life, he had to drop out of college before obtaining his degree because of financial issues, then he co-hosted a radio show that got canceled, and he moved around many times before he could finally get his works published (About). The hard times that Reed had to go through shaped his writing style, fitting it perfectly into the modernism category.

In one of Reed’s other poems called "Jacket Notes", his frustration is prevalent. “Being a colored poet is like going over Niagara Falls in a barrel,” is the opening stanza (Ishmael). Right off the bat the reader is introduced into Ishmael Reed’s feelings about being a black author and how frustrating it is to have all of the struggles he has had yet still be an honorable poet. His frustrations come a lot of his other works as well, almost tying together some of his works.

Altogether, Reed is a great representation of Modernism, not only in his poem "Beware: Do Not Read This Poem", but in many of his other pieces of work. His distress is obvious in many poems, suggesting that his hard life has shaped his literature. "Beware: Do Not Read This Poem" is a good representation of modernism because of its sense of loss and alienation. Overall this poem gave a good insight into the characteristics of modernism.

Comment: The essay clearly defines and brings evidence to the claim that "Beware: Do Not Read This Poem" is a Modernism work. Examples from the text support classifying statements and allow the reader to follow the author's thought process and agree that indeed, this poem belongs in the Modernism era. I had never heard of Ishmael Reed and was pleased to learn about his struggles growing up under racist eyes and how he overcame and illustrated them in his poetry.

__Works Cited__ Davidson, Lynn. "Beware: Do Not Read This Poem (Criticism): Information from Answers.com." //Answers.com: Wiki Q&A Combined with Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus, and Encyclopedias//. Web. 02 May 2010. __[]__.

Reed, Ishmael. "Beware: Do Not Read This Poem by Reed." //The Nellen Family Jewels//. Web. 02 May 2010. __[]__.

"Characteristics of Modernism." //SOCRATES//. Web. 02 May 2010. __[|http://socrates.troy.edu/~lworthington/eng2206/mod.htm]__. "About Ishmael Reed's Life and Work." //Welcome to English « Department of English, __College__ of LAS, __University__ of Illinois//. Web. 03 May 2010. __[]__.

"Ishmael Reed Poetry." //Mathematics Department//. Web. 02 May 2010. __ http://www.math.buffalo.edu/~sww/reed/reed_ishmael_poetry.html. __

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Ishmael Reed was known for noting and standing up for the social problems of the time. He grew up in a decent home, but was still a little affected by racism since he was still an African American. He went through many hardships in his life, but still managed to succeed in life through writing (Brucker). The Modernism time period fit his writing perfectly, since it was a time of mind games experimenting and creativity. It seems like Reed does have more illusions in his writing than any others I have read, but that is what makes Reed’s writings so fun to read.
 * __Beware: Do Not Read This Poem essay by Veronica Tellez__**

Ishmael Reed started his college years as just struggling to get through along with financial issues. During this time, Reed experienced urban poverty and dependency (Brucker). Luckily, an amazing English professor recognized his talent and encouraged Reed’s calling to write. He made it through and actually ended up finding a very successful “underground” newspaper, the __East Village Other__ (Brucker). Most of his works promote black power and civil rights (Brucker), but this is not seen in “Beware: Do Not Read This Poem.” Other of his works are just creative experimentations that usually have a meaning deep inside from experiences or other social problems.

“Beware: Do Not Read This Poem” seems to just address the problem of overall missing people and their families who miss them and have no closure (Reed). Social problems were big topics for the Modernism period as well as experimentation in Modernism works (Langley). Ishmael Reed did a lot of experimentation and illusions, which is shown through “Beware: Do Not Read This Poem” (Reed). The title is enticing enough, playing a mind game on its audience to get them to read it. Then in the actual poem, Reed starts with a simple mysterious story of a self absorbed woman who disappeared into her mirror (Reed). Then one by one she draws others into her mirror with her (Reed), which is his creativity and story telling. After that, Reed switches the story and makes it sound like it is the poem that is drawing in people to a place of no return (Reed), which is the illusion part. In the end, Reed ends it with a statistic about missing people (Reed). This clearly shows Reed’s purpose. I felt as though I could now understand the feeling kidnapped people and their families were going through after that little illusion. Reed also includes some African American folk dialect in this poem, like many of his other works. For example, he says “this poem aint got no manners” (Reed). Ishmael Reed gave his own touch to Modernism, in this poem and many others.

Other Modernism works like “Anyone Lived in a Pretty How Town” and “The Magic Barrel” are similar to “Beware: Do Not Read This Poem” and show how it does resemble Modernism. Both “Anyone Lived in a Pretty How Town” and “Beware: Do Not Read This Poem” show how writers during this time used mind tricks and psychology on their readers (Cummings). “The Magic Barrel” and “Beware: Do Not Read This Poem” show how social problems were addressed during Modernism too (Malamud).

In Conclusion, Reed experiences, influences, and talent helped him to succeed, along with helping others realize many issues in society in a very creative way. Like in “Beware: Do Not Read This Poem,” he drew his readers into the poem, meanwhile, unconsciously getting them to relate to the feelings of the people going through the issue in society. He did an amazing job at making a great creative and exciting story with a deep meaningful meaning in it. He still used many themes and characteristics commonly found in Modernism, but added a little something extra, which is what made him so known and influential himself.

Malamud, Bernard. "The Magic Barrel." American and British Studies at New Bulgarian University, Sofia. Web. 04 May 2010. .

Langley, John. "Introduction to Modernism (Mr. Langley's Digital Classroom)."// Google Sites//. Web. 03 May 2010. <[]>.

Reed, Ishmael. "Beware: Do Not Read This Poem by Ishmael Reed."// The Nellen Family Jewels//. Web. 04 May 2010. <[]>.

Cummings, E. E. "Anyone Lived in a Pretty How Town."// PoemHunter.Com//. 03 May 2010. Web. 03 May 2010. <[]>.

Brucker, Carl. "Ishmael Reed's Long Fiction."// Arkansas Tech University//. Arkansas Tech University, 2008. Web. 05 May 2010. .