Short Writing Assignment-Part 1 and 2

1. I chose the poem, "Swamp Song" by Kwame Dawes.
2. The text's main point is to show the readers that the grass is not always greener on the other side.
3. I feel like the whole poem is strong and it alone is necessary to understand the whole text. However, lines 11-14 and 19-22 are pretty strong. The lines are as follows: We all have dreams, I suppose, Me, I want me some shoes, nice clothes, a little learning, some sweet love and a promise of glory up above...and when they grow weary straing for that pandy mystery, They'll come home to the warm and damp of this sweet soft Carolina swamp.
4. This poem rhymes and is not difficult to understand at all. I feel as though the author put everything out there for the reader to see. I think the part when the author states, "a little learning, some sweet love and a promise of glory up above" is relating to education, a romance or a lover and to live eternal life in heaven.
5. This poem rhymes and I think it does add to the effect of the poem. I think it shows strength in the point the author is trying to make.
6. I think it contributes to the main point in this poem. First, the poem to me, is about a young girl or lady who is working in a field. Maybe back during slavery times. I think it is describing a white man who is fantasizing about the white women. I think it also describes the fact that the black women are working so hard and the white men never look at them that way. I feel the author has dreams and wants to go places in her life, so as long as the men are not looking at them in that way, they can accomplish their dreams and in the end, the white men will come to them. But whose to say they will want them then? I also thought this paper had a hint of rape in it as well, with lines 19-22.

Thesis
This paper will argue that even though african american women were involved in strenuous work, they were not looked upon as white women. This paper will justify that african american women struggled so hard and because of the dedication and strength of our ancestors, we are able to have dreams and accomplish those dreams.

Part 2-Introduction
Picture a young, black, girl, working what seems like an endless and useless amount of work. As she works hard and long, she overlooks a group of excited white boys staring blankly at a set of white women. She continues to do her work, dreaming of what seems impossible to come true.
As the white boys continue to engage in their erotic fantasies, she realizes that their dreams will grow old and she is what they will come home to. In Swamp Song, Dawes argues that even thougth african american women were involved in strenuous work, they were not looked upon as white women.