This essay will analyze three poems and explain the power of the words and images to involve the reader in the poem. The three poems of interest are: THEME FOR ENGLISH B by Langston Hughes, WE WEAR THE MASK by Paul Laurence Dunbar, and WOMAN by Nikki Giovanni. All of these poems create a mini movie in your head. Their words paint pictures and leave your mind heavy with thoughts. Nikki Giovanni's poem WOMAN is about a woman who is trying to grow and develop as a woman and who has a man who is not supporting her. When she needs him to be there for her he does not want to. "But he stood straight/ declining to be her corner" (12-13). There are some men in the world who are intimidated by a strong woman especially a strong black woman. As a woman we can not let the lacking support of our spouse stop us from being the successful woman that we can be. Sometimes no matter how hard you love a man you can't make him the man that he needs to be and woman should just learn to accept that. Nikki Giovanni paints a clear picture of this:
             As a read this poem I could see any woman longing for her man to be a man and join her as she enters womanhood. Paul Laurence Dunbar is the author of WE WEAR THE MASK. This is a poem that everyone can relate to. Some days you are just having a bad day and you do not want anyone to know. There times when you have to deal with people you don't like. In these times and others we all wear masks. They protect us from letting others know how we really feel. "We wear the mask that grins and lies/ It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes" (1-2). When Paul Laurence Dunbar says in his poem: "We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries" (1) it reminded me of a time when someone hurt my feelings and I refused to let them see me cry.
             THEME FOR ENGLISH B, by Langston
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