Poetry Slam!: "Lift Every Voice and Sing" by James Weldon Johnson

James Weldon Johnson's "Lift Every Voice and Sing" is a poem of remembrance and rejoicing, a commemoration of where we've been and a celebration of where we hope to be one day (etext found here).
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. rejoicing
    the utterance of sounds expressing great joy
    Let our rejoicing rise
    High as the listening skies,
  2. resound
    ring or echo with noise
    Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
    Note how the vowel sounds in this and the previous example sentences reflect the movements described.
  3. stony
    abounding in rocks
    Stony the road we trod,
    Another definition of "stony" is "showing unfeeling resistance to tender feelings"--this could also fit the example sentence because "the road" could be both the physical ground that slaves and their descendants traveled to freedom as well as the emotional ground they had to break to get others to recognize their true worth.
  4. tread
    put down, place, or press the foot
    Stony the road we trod,
    "Trod" is the past tense of "tread"--note how the poem covers the past, present and future to give a sense of history and hope.
  5. bitter
    causing a sharply painful or stinging sensation
    Bitter the chastening rod
    The rod could also be "bitter" because it was used by someone "exhibiting great hostility or animosity," which could make the blows "very difficult to accept or bear," and cause the receiver to be "marked by strong resentment or cynicism."
  6. chasten
    correct by punishment or discipline
    Bitter the chastening rod
  7. steady
    marked by firm determination or resolution; not shakable
    Yet with a steady beat,
    Have not our weary feet
    Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
  8. weary
    physically and mentally fatigued
    Yet with a steady beat,
    Have not our weary feet
    Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
  9. slaughter
    the savage and excessive killing of many people
    We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,
  10. gloomy
    depressingly dark
    Out from the gloomy past,
  11. gleam
    a flash of light
    Till now we stand at last
    Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.
  12. stray
    wander from a direct course or at random
    Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee,
  13. native
    belonging to one by birth
    True to our God,
    True to our native land.
    "Native" has often been used in a negative way to describe people who have been "inhabiting a region from the beginning," which makes their natures seem like they're still in their "elemental form." But the example sentence, coupled with the original intent for it to be sung at a ceremony celebrating the president who had freed the slaves, emphasizes the rights of people born on American soil, no matter where their ancestors might have been from.
Created on Thu Jun 06 21:21:54 EDT 2013 (updated Wed Oct 04 17:21:27 EDT 2017)

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