Most works of art is created by inspiration; our experiences in life or that little bit a self-genius that makes us create a work for the ages. In the case of these two poems, “My Arkansas” and “Strange fruit” by Maya Angelou and Abel Meeropol respectively, the authors had a triple effect on them. Both authors are geniuses; they were inspired by the events that occurred in the environment and time that they lived in and at the same time have loads of life experiences, which taught them a lot, and shaped them into the people they were.
Born marguerite Johnson in St. Louis Missouri in 1928, Maya was left practically orphaned when her parents divorced, Maya then experienced the effects the would later make up what type of person she would become…show more content… Maya later achieved national prominence at the request of Bill Clinton to read “On the pulse of the Morning.” A poem she wrote, at his presidential inauguration. This and in many other ways only few have reached the heights attained by Maya Angelou, being a spokes person emphasizing the importance of African culture in America. (Adericky)
Meeropol who was Jewish and also a member of the communist party in America was scared and the hate he would get from his writing, so he used an alias “Lewis Allan” and this were the first names of his born children. What inspired Meeropol to write his infamous poem “Strange fruit” was a picture the lynching of 2 young black adults, which he recalls as having haunted him for days, the lynching alone was horrifying and disgusting; Meeropol really hated the injustice and unfairness of the lynching. Abel Meeropol was born into a Jewish family on 10th February 1903. Abel who later became a teacher in New York City had students who included James Baldwin, Neil Simon and Paddy Chayefsky.…show more content… The song paints a picture of black American being lynched from a tree and their resemblance to a fruit hanging from a tree. In the third line “black bodies swinging in the southern breeze,” this was done so because bodies, after they are hung were left to rot and decay. The second stanza paints a sweet picture of the place, but also gives a vivid illustration of the faces of those being lynched. This just shows how the whites discriminated against blacks. White was seen as beauty, while black was seen and dirt and something born of a monster. In the last stanza, the author show and this disgusting act of racism was treated like any other fruit fallen from a tree.
Unlike the song strange fruit written by Abel Meeropol, Maya Angelou’s Arkansas was sort of going down memory lane. Writing about her time when she lived in Arkansas at a time where racial tensions were high. The first 2 lines set the tone for the poem, a tone of racism. Lines 3-7 tell us how bloody and dangerous the past was for her, with all the lynching’s going on from the infamous poplar tree also pointed out in Meeropol’s strange fruit. In the last stanza, Maya put so much emotion into it. As