"Jacob"

Poem Review # 102152

Communication > Language and Speech
Language
Literature > Poetry

"Jacob"

An analysis of Maria Campbell's poem "Jacob".

869 words () | 3 sources | MLA | 2008 United States

Paper Summary:

The paper looks at Maria Campbell's "Jacob" and explores how her work captures the rhythms and echoes of non-elite speech. The paper discusses Campbell's utilization of the oral family history, a mode of communication popular among native cultures, that was intended to resist the conventions and paradigms established by the dominant western society. The paper describes the poem as poignant and transgressive snf devoted to breaking free of the literary "mold" put into place by those who effaced the cultures which preceded them in North America.

From the Paper:

"Maria Campbell's elegant poem, "Jacob", captures the rhythms and echoes of speech in a way that more conventional and "esoteric" poetry does not. First of all, the poetry uses the vernacular of one who is little-schooled in the art of speaking formal, "white man's" language. Examples of this abound: there are frequent substitutions of "dat" for "that" (Campbell, lines 3, 6, 10, 11 and 15) and "dah" for the article "the" (Campbell, lines 22-24 and 28). Going further, the article invariably uses the term, "dey" in place of the English pronoun, "they" (Campbell, lines 19, 26, 32 and 34). Why Campbell would resort to this is a question that does not yield any definitive answers - but a number of possibilities."

Sample of Sources Used:

Campbell, Maria. "Jacob".
Means, Richard. Aeschylus: the Father of Greek Tragedy." Aeschylus 1 Jan. 2006: 3.
"Unrhymed verse: Blank verse." Studies in Philology, 86.4 (1989): 112-124.