Question

Which two characteristics of this excerpt from James Weldon Johnson's poem "Lift Every Voice and Sing" help to classify it as a lyric poem?

Stony the road we trod,
Bitter the chastening rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat,
Have not our weary feet Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,
We have come,
treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,
Out from the gloomy past,
Till now we stand at last Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.

A. The poem contains imagery that communicates the speakers' emotions.
B. The poem is written in Sapphic stanzas with lines of alternating meter.
C. The poem captures the mood of a specific historical event.
D. The poem has a simple rhyme and doesn’t narrate a sequence of events.
E. The poem is entirely about past events narrated from an eyewitness's point of
view.

Answer 1

The correct answers are:

A. The poem contains imagery that communicates the speakers' emotions.

B. The poem is written in Sapphic stanzas with lines of alternating meter.

There are different characteristics of a lyric poem: it is expressive, written from a first person's perspective, it reveals the feelings of the speaker, and because it is normally short, it tends to use imagery and strenght of language.

The correct answers are: A for in the poem "Lift Every Voice and Sing" it is possible to see some of the characteristics of a lyric poem, such imagery, first person speaker, and emotions, and B for in lyrical poems it is possible to see sapphic stanzas (three lines of 11 syllables and the last one made up of 5), however, in the poem "Lift Every Voice and Sing" there is a variation of meter.

Answer 2

Answer:

What elements of structure and text in "Lift Every Voice and Sing" make it a lyric poem?

1. It is deeply emotional and expresses the thoughts and feelings of the poet.

2. It is a short poem, three stanzas long.

3. None of its stanzas have more than 12 lines.

4. It doesn’t have a plot or tell a complete story.

5. It uses present tense.

6. Each of its stanzas has a distinct and simple rhyme scheme.

7. It was written to be set to music.

Explanation: