"The South" Close Reading Questions American Literature period 4

American Lit. peroid 4 Directions: Be sure to finish these questions. You will have a 4 question quiz on the poem tomorrow. 

 Close Reading Questions

1.       Why do you think, the speaker of the poem, “The South” calls the south: Beast Strong and idiot brained?

2.       What is the connotation of lazy, laughing, South?

3.       What is the blood that is on the South’s mouth?

4.       List as many reasons historically why “those who are Black would love her”.

5.        In the line beginning “beautiful like a woman, seductive as a dark eyed whore…” Hughes uses an extended metaphor to compare the south to a woman. Draw a Venn Diagram to identify, what similarities does a Woman have to the South?

6.       What is syphilitic? Use your device and look up syphilis? What was the Tuskegee experiment?

7.        For what reason might the North be cold?

8.       Why do you think the speaker says the south has him and people like him under a “spell?”