poetry essay telephone conversation

Telephone Conversation Summary & Analysis by Wole Soyinka

Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis
Poetic Devices
Vocabulary & References
Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme
Line-by-Line Explanations

"Telephone Conversation" is a 1963 poem by the Nigerian writer Wole Soyinka that satires racism. The poem describes a phone call between a landlady and the speaker, who is black, about renting an apartment. The landlady is pleasant until she learns that the speaker is "African," at which point she demands to know how "light" or "dark" the speaker's skin is. In response, the speaker cleverly mocks the landlady’s ignorance and prejudice, demonstrating that characterizing people by their skin color diminishes their humanity.

Read the full text of “Telephone Conversation”

The Full Text of “Telephone Conversation”

“telephone conversation” summary, “telephone conversation” themes.

Racism and the Complexity of Identity

Line-by-line explanation & analysis of “telephone conversation”.

The price seemed ... ... journey--I am African."

Silence. Silenced transmission ... ... Cigarette-holder pipped.

Caught I was ... ... B, Button A.

Lines 11-14

Stench ... ... real!

Lines 14-18

Shamed ... ... OR VERY LIGHT?"

Lines 18-23

Revelation came. ... ... in my passport."

Lines 23-26

Silence for spectroscopic ... ... WHAT THAT IS."

Lines 26-30

"Like brunette." ... ... a peroxide blond.

Lines 30-35

Friction, caused-- ... ... See for yourself?"

“Telephone Conversation” Symbols

Cigarette-holder

Line 9: “Cigarette-holder”

Peroxide Blond
Line 30: “peroxide blond”

Raven black

Line 32: “raven black”

“Telephone Conversation” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

End-stopped line.

Line 4: “warned,”
Line 5: “African."”
Line 7: “came,”
Line 9: “foully.”
Line 12: “hide-and-speak.”
Line 16: “simplification.”
Line 17: “ emphasis--”
Line 18: “came.”
Line 19: “chocolate?"”
Line 21: “adjusted,”
Line 22: “afterthought,”
Line 26: “brunette."”
Line 27: “altogether.”
Line 30: “caused--”
Line 35: “yourself?"”
Lines 1-2: “location / Indifferent.”
Lines 2-3: “lived / Off”
Lines 3-4: “remained / But”
Lines 6-7: “of / Pressurized”
Lines 8-9: “gold-rolled / Cigarette-holder”
Lines 10-11: “LIGHT / OR”
Lines 11-12: “Stench / Of”
Lines 13-14: “tiered / Omnibus”
Lines 14-15: “Shamed / By”
Lines 15-16: “surrender / Pushed”
Lines 20-21: “light / Impersonality.”
Lines 23-24: “spectroscopic / Flight”
Lines 24-25: “accent / Hard”
Lines 25-26: “conceding / "DON'T”
Lines 28-29: “see / The”
Lines 29-30: “feet / Are”
Lines 31-32: “turned / My”
Lines 32-33: “sensing / Her”
Lines 33-34: “thunderclap / About”
Lines 34-35: “rather / See”
Line 1: “reasonable, location”
Line 2: “Indifferent. The”
Line 3: “premises. Nothing”
Line 4: “self-confession. "Madam," I”
Line 5: “journey--I”
Line 6: “Silence. Silenced”
Line 7: “good-breeding. Voice, when”
Line 8: “coated, long”
Line 9: “pipped. Caught”
Line 10: “DARK?" . . . I had not misheard . . . "ARE”
Line 11: “DARK?" Button B, Button A. Stench”
Line 13: “booth. Red,” “box. Red”
Line 14: “tar. It,” “real! Shamed”
Line 15: “silence, surrender”
Line 17: “was, varying”
Line 18: “DARK? OR,” “LIGHT?" Revelation”
Line 19: “mean--like”
Line 20: “clinical, crushing”
Line 21: “Impersonality. Rapidly, wave-length”
Line 22: “chose. "West,” “sepia"--and”
Line 23: “passport." Silence”
Line 24: “fancy, till”
Line 25: “mouthpiece. "WHAT'S THAT?" conceding”
Line 26: “IS." "Like”
Line 27: “DARK, ISN'T IT?" "Not”
Line 28: “Facially, I,” “brunette, but, madam, you”
Line 29: “me. Palm,” “hand, soles”
Line 30: “blond. Friction, caused”
Line 31: “Foolishly, madam--by,” “down, has”
Line 32: “black--One moment, madam!"--sensing”
Line 34: “ears--"Madam," I pleaded, "wouldn't”

Alliteration

Line 1: “l”
Line 2: “l,” “s,” “l”
Line 4: “w”
Line 5: “w”
Line 6: “S,” “S”
Line 7: “c”
Line 8: “L,” “c,” “l”
Line 11: “B,” “B,” “B”
Line 12: “r,” “b”
Line 13: “R,” “b,” “R,” “b,” “R”
Line 15: “s,” “s”
Line 16: “s”
Line 20: “c,” “l,” “c,” “l”
Line 21: “l,” “a”
Line 22: “A,” “a,” “a,” “a”
Line 23: “S,” “s”
Line 24: “F,” “f,” “t,” “t”
Line 28: “b,” “b”
Line 29: “m,” “m,” “m”
Line 30: “F”
Line 31: “F”
Line 32: “M,” “b,” “b,” “m,” “m”
Line 33: “r,” “r”
Line 1: “ee,” “e”
Line 2: “I,” “i”
Line 5: “a,” “a,” “a,” “a”
Line 6: “i,” “e,” “i,” “e,” “io,” “o”
Line 7: “i”
Line 8: “i,” “i,” “oa,” “o,” “o”
Line 9: “i,” “o,” “i,” “ou”
Line 10: “O”
Line 11: “u,” “o,” “u,” “o”
Line 13: “e,” “e,” “e”
Line 14: “e”
Line 15: “e,” “e,” “e,” “e”
Line 16: “e,” “e,” “i,” “i,” “i”
Line 18: “a,” “a”
Line 19: “ai”
Line 20: “i,” “i,” “i,” “i”
Line 21: “I,” “i,” “y,” “i,” “y,” “a,” “u”
Line 22: “A,” “a,” “a,” “a,” “a,” “a”
Line 23: “y,” “i,” “o,” “o”
Line 24: “i”
Line 25: “ie,” “e”
Line 26: “O,” “O”
Line 27: “I,” “I”
Line 28: “a,” “a,” “y,” “a,” “a,” “a,” “ee”
Line 29: “e,” “ee”
Line 30: “o,” “o,” “au”
Line 31: “a,” “a,” “a”
Line 32: “a,” “a”
Line 33: “ei,” “ea”
Line 34: “ea,” “ea”
Line 35: “ee”
Line 1: “n,” “l,” “l,” “n”
Line 2: “d,” “n,” “l,” “d,” “l,” “d,” “s,” “l,” “d”
Line 3: “m,” “N,” “r,” “m,” “n”
Line 4: “f,” “f,” “d,” “w,” “d”
Line 5: “t,” “w,” “t”
Line 6: “S,” “l,” “nc,” “S,” “l,” “nc,” “s,” “ss”
Line 7: “r,” “ss,” “r,” “d,” “d,” “r,” “c,” “c”
Line 8: “L,” “ck,” “c,” “d,” “l,” “g,” “ld,” “ll,” “d”
Line 9: “C,” “g,” “r,” “tt,” “ld,” “r,” “p,” “pp,” “d,” “C,” “t,” “ou,” “ll”
Line 10: “H,” “W,” “D,” “R,” “h,” “h,” “r,” “d,” “R”
Line 11: “R,” “R,” “B,” “tt,” “n,” “B,” “B,” “tt,” “n,” “S,” “t,” “n”
Line 12: “r,” “nc,” “b,” “r,” “p,” “b,” “c,” “s,” “p,” “k”
Line 13: “R,” “b,” “R,” “ll,” “r,” “b,” “R,” “d,” “b,” “l,” “r,” “d”
Line 14: “b,” “s,” “s,” “r,” “r”
Line 15: “ll,” “nn,” “r,” “s,” “l,” “c,” “s,” “rr,” “n,” “d,” “r”
Line 16: “d,” “d,” “m,” “f,” “d,” “d,” “s,” “m,” “f”
Line 18: “R,” “R,” “R,” “R,” “m”
Line 19: “m,” “l,” “k,” “l,” “m,” “k,” “c,” “l”
Line 20: “ss,” “nt,” “c,” “l,” “n,” “c,” “l,” “c,” “l”
Line 21: “p,” “r,” “l,” “R,” “p,” “d,” “l,” “l,” “d,” “d”
Line 22: “fr,” “s,” “f,” “r”
Line 23: “p,” “ss,” “p,” “rt,” “S,” “c,” “s,” “p,” “c,” “t,” “sc,” “p,” “c”
Line 24: “F,” “l,” “t,” “f,” “n,” “c,” “t,” “ll,” “t,” “f,” “l,” “n,” “c,” “l,” “cc,” “nt”
Line 25: “n,” “c,” “c,” “n,” “c,” “d”
Line 26: “D,” “N,” “T,” “KN,” “T,” “r,” “n,” “tt”
Line 27: “T,” “T,” “T,” “t,” “t”
Line 28: “ll,” “m,” “b,” “tt,” “b,” “t,” “m,” “d,” “m,” “ld,” “s”
Line 29: “s,” “t,” “m,” “P,” “l,” “m,” “m,” “s,” “l,” “s,” “m,” “t”
Line 30: “r,” “p,” “r,” “d,” “d,” “F,” “r”
Line 31: “F,” “l,” “l,” “m,” “d,” “m,” “tt,” “d,” “t,” “d”
Line 32: “M,” “b,” “tt,” “m,” “n,” “b,” “m,” “nt,” “m,” “d,” “m,” “s,” “n,” “s”
Line 33: “r,” “r,” “r,” “r,” “r,” “r”
Line 34: “r,” “M,” “m,” “r,” “r”
Line 35: “S,” “s”
Line 12: “hide-and-speak”
Lines 1-2: “The price seemed reasonable, location / Indifferent.”
Lines 2-3: “ The landlady swore she lived / Off premises.”
Line 5: “I hate a wasted journey--I am African”
Lines 6-9: “Silence. Silenced transmission of / Pressurized good-breeding. Voice, when it came, / Lipstick coated, long gold-rolled / Cigarette-holder pipped. Caught I was foully.”
Lines 11-14: “Button B, Button A. Stench / Of rancid breath of public hide-and-speak. / Red booth. Red pillar box. Red double-tiered / Omnibus squelching tar. ”
Lines 14-14: “It / was / real! ”
Lines 14-16: “Shamed / By ill-mannered silence, surrender / Pushed dumbfounded to beg simplification.”
Lines 29-32: “Palm of my hand, soles of my feet / Are a peroxide blond. Friction, caused-- / Foolishly, madam--by sitting down, has turned / My bottom raven black--”
Line 10: “"HOW DARK?"”
Lines 10-11: “"ARE YOU LIGHT / OR VERY DARK?" ”
Line 11: “Button B, Button A. ”
Line 13: “Red booth. Red pillar box. Red double-tiered”
Line 14: “Omnibus squelching tar. ”
Line 18: “"ARE YOU DARK? OR VERY LIGHT?"”
Line 26: “brunette”
Line 27: “"THAT'S DARK, ISN'T IT?" ”
Line 28: “brunette,” “madam”
Line 31: “madam”
Line 32: “madam”
Line 34: “Madam”
Lines 7-9: “V / oice, when it came, / Lipstick coated, long gold-rolled / Cigarette-holder pipped”
Lines 11-12: “Button B, Button A. Stench / Of rancid breath of public hide-and-speak.”
Line 21: “wave-length adjusted”
Line 22: “West African sepia”
Lines 29-30: “Palm of my hand, soles of my feet / Are a peroxide blond”
Line 32: “My bottom raven black”
Line 33: “thunderclap”
Line 19: “like plain or milk chocolate”
Line 26: “Like brunette”

“Telephone Conversation” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

Indifferent
Self-confession
Transmission
Pressurized
Gold-rolled Cigarette Holder
Button B, Button A:
Hide-and-Speak
Double-Tiered Omnibus
Dumbfounded
Impersonality
Wave-length
Spectroscopic
Raven Black
Thunderclap
(Location in poem: Line 2: “Indifferent”)

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Telephone Conversation”

Rhyme scheme, “telephone conversation” speaker, “telephone conversation” setting, literary and historical context of “telephone conversation”, more “telephone conversation” resources, external resources.

‘There’s One Humanity or There Isn’t’: A Conversation — A conversation between scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. and the poet from the New York Review of Books.

Wole Soyinka's Biography — A biography of Wole Soyinka from the Nobel Foundation.

Out of Africa: A Conversation with Wole Soyinka — Alessandra Di Maio interviews Wole Soyinka.

Post-Colonial Literature — An introduction to post-colonial literature from Oxford Bibliographies.

Wole Soyinka Reads "Telephone Conversation" — Listen to poet read his poem aloud.

Ask LitCharts AI: The answer to your questions

“Telephone Conversation” by Nobel Essay

Introduction, humour as a sympathetic tool, works cited.

The poem “Telephone conversation” is written by Nobel laureate winner professor Wole Soyinka. In this poem, the writer describes the conversation that ensued between him and a racist British landlady when he tried to rent her apartment. Poetry usually seeks to teach or reveal to us the beauties and ugliness of life and the world entirely. In the poem “telephone conversation”, the writer uses humour to deflate as well as to intensify the pain he endures as a result of racial prejudices. (Mahone, 152)

This poetic essay will analyze the entire poem and discuss the function or role of humour as a sympathetic tool in the poem “telephone conversation”. Furthermore, the writer’s ingenious sense of humour which enabled him to deflate the pain he experienced as an African in Britain will be constructively analyzed. Lastly, the uncivil attitude of judging people based on their color will also be discussed.

“Telephone conversation” is about the writer’s experience with a racist landlady in Britain. The writer as an African wishes to rent an apartment which he finds comfortable to him. He describes the apartment’s price as reasonable but feels indifferent about its location. (Charles, 267) Been contented with the price and location of the property, the writer decides to call the landlady to discuss amenities, price and other issues relevant to the apartment. However, the writer is aware of the racial prejudices against Africans and decides to boldly face the issue and probably get it out of the way permanently. This prompts him to confess his race instead of explaining it. Africans were usually treated as if their race or color was a crime or their fault. The landlady proved this fact beyond reasonable doubt as she immediately reacted by been silent after listening to his confession. When she eventually spoke, she bluntly asked “HOW DARK?” (Wole, 344) The use of capital letters by the writer clearly shows the writers pain to her demeaning and cold attitude when she learnt he was African. Here, the writer uses humour as a sympathetic tool to console himself as he mockingly describes the landlady in the context of a civilized, wealthy and well bred woman with good morals and values. Although in reality, she lacked every sound moral attitude to qualify her as a well bred woman. Her voice after the awkward silence is described as lipstick coated, cigarette holder pipped and long gold rolled. (Charles, 285) This description fits a lady of substance in all ramifications but the landlady was by no means a woman with sound attitude judging by the way she enquired about his race. (Mahone, 143)

Dumbfounded by the landlady’s arrogant reply, the writer is silent and she pushes on about her inquiry by rephrasing her question and asking again. “ARE YOU LIGHT OR VERY DARK?” (Wole, 312) The writer again humorously uses sarcasm to express how he feels as he says, “Shamed by ill mannered silence”. (Wole, 354) At a first glance without comprehending the poem, a reader might believe the writer is shamed by his own silence as a result of his inability to answer the landlady’s question. However, this is only a way of mocking the landlady’s attitude. The writer’s true intent is to show the reader that the landlady was shameless from the way she kept pushing about the issue of race completely ignoring every other detail. The writer had no reason to be ashamed when it was very obvious that the landlady was the ill mannered of the two. (Charles, 123)

It is very glaring that the landlady has no sense of decency and she proves this as she continually pressed the writer to describe his skin color. The theme of the entire poem is to prove that, been a better person does not count on been African or British. The landlady who is of British origin tries to treat the writer who is of African roots as a lower being yet he outwits her. (Charles, 321) When the landlady again presses about the writer’s color, the writer decides to use higher vocabulary to describe himself. He told the landlady that he was “west African Sepia” (Wole, 376) knowing that the landlady was oblivious to such grammatical expression. This gets the British landlady confused as she had expected a simple black or white answer from him. But the writer instead of been the savage the landlady had expected him to be due to his race, he sarcastically continues to describe himself in a simple and sophisticated manner which leaves the landlady completely lost and dumbfounded. The writer’s answer and ability to confuse the landlady creates a humorous irony. The British landlady addressed the African caller as a lower being by bluntly asking him how dark he was. But the highly intelligent African writer not only proved her wrong by outwitting her but he also leaves a question on the mind of the readers. The ability of an African man to outwit a British woman and make her seem foolish using English language which is her native language, questions the irony of judging people based on their race or color. The writer describes his face as been brunette, his palm and sole of his feet as peroxide blond. His bottom he says is raven black from the friction of sitting down. At this point the landlady was completely lost and she hung up before he could describe the color of his ears. Wouldn’t you rather see for yourself? He asked the into the empty telephone line. (Wole, 213)

The poem “telephone conversation” serves as a deterrent to anybody who deliberately intends to ridicule other people simply for the sake of their skin color or race. Situations like this have the potential tendency to explode the conversation into a full verbal war. But the writer is highly intelligent and well cultured so, he resorts the use of humor to ridicule the supposedly superior British landlady and deflate his own pain. The theme of the whole poem focuses on the negativity in judging people based on race. If race was a criterion for intelligence, the British landlady would have outwitted the African caller who intended to rent her apartment. (Mahone, 405) “Telephone conversation”, is a short comic poem. This can be seen right from the first verse of the poem when the African caller humorously described the British landlady as having good breeding regardless of her single mindedness and awkward silence when she learnt he was African. The most significant aspect of the poem is the writer’s ability to use humour as a sympathetic tool to console himself from the pain he experienced as a result of his skin color. Furthermore, the writer is highly intelligent and shows this in the manner which he uses wit to reply the landlady. (Mahone, 397) At the end of the poem, any reader that understands the poem will see that the discrepancy about what really is and what appears to be is constructively dealt with. The writer concludes the poem with an appeal to the reader’s conscience and a plea to the landlady’s sense of decency by asking, “wouldn’t you rather see for yourself?” (Wole, 143)

Charles, Wayne. Works and biography of Nobel laureate winners: A critical analysis. Boston: Houghton, 2002. Print.

Mahone, Bradley. Myth, Literature, and the African World: The Writer in a Modern African State. New York: Blackwell, 2005. Print.

Wole, Soyinka. “Telephone conversation”: Reading and writing from literature. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. 2001. Print.

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IvyPanda. (2022, January 7). "Telephone Conversation" by Nobel. https://ivypanda.com/essays/telephone-conversation-by-nobel/

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1. IvyPanda . ""Telephone Conversation" by Nobel." January 7, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/telephone-conversation-by-nobel/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . ""Telephone Conversation" by Nobel." January 7, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/telephone-conversation-by-nobel/.

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Home › Literature › Analysis of Wole Soyinka’s Telephone Conversation

Analysis of Wole Soyinka’s Telephone Conversation

By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on February 21, 2021 • ( 0 )

Paradoxically apologetic and bitingly sarcastic, Soyinka’s Telephone Conversation is a 35-line poem dealing with bigotry and the absurdity of racist hierarchies. Written in free verse, the poem portrays an African’s attempt to rent an apartment in London. Describing a conversation with a prospective landlady conducted from a public phone, the poem’s speaker recounts the experience of negotiating suitable lodgings. “The price seemed reasonable, location / Indifferent. The landlady swore she lived / Off premises.” Before making an appointment to view the flat, the apartment seeker nevertheless feels compelled to reveal his ethnicity: “Nothing remained / But self-confession. ‘Madam,’ I warned / I hate a wasted journey—I am African.’ ” The word confession wryly implies culpability, and the speaker’s suggestion of self-incrimination is reinforced by the landlady’s stony silence and underlined by the narrator’s rueful “Caught I was, foully.” The narrator is trapped indeed, “Shamed / By ill-mannered silence” broken only by sudden explosions of authoritative anxiety: “HOW DARK?” and again, “ARE YOU LIGHT / OR VERY DARK?” The capital letters suggest not so much the volume of the woman’s voice as the insult of her questions.

For a few lines the speaker disconnects from the conversation and focuses on his surroundings, perhaps to detach himself from the woman’s racism. In so doing, however, he perceives his backdrop and situates the story in London, describing the “Red booth. Red pillar box. Red double-tiered / Omnibus squelching tar.” He suggests through the repeated use of r ed both an allusion to the color of the British Empire on its maps and his own indignation at being so interrogated. Moreover, the red bus seems to be an uncanny (if psychologically significant) metaphor for England itself, “squelching” the “tar”-hued subjects of its former colonies.

As a retort, to answer the woman’s questions, the narrator states that he is “West African sepia,” dryly referring to the British colonial system’s practice of officially classifying subjects according to skin tone. The next passage marks a distinct shift in tone. Astounded by the indignity to which he is being subjected, the narrator embarks on a monologue at once witty and sarcastic. Describing his various bodily parts, he claims to be “DARK” (“brunette”) only on his face and explains that “the rest” (palms and soles) are light, “peroxide blond,” an oblique reference to how he pictures the woman at the other end of the line and a sassy and contemptuous way of describing the lighter skin on those parts of his own body. In a final protest the speaker mentions his “bottom,” saying that friction, caused “Foolishly, Madam—by sitting down, has turned” it “raven black.” He tries to keep the woman from hanging up by challenging her, “Madam . . . wouldn’t you rather / See for yourself?” Several levels of meaning enter into play in these final lines of Soyinka’s picture of the banality of evil. While some of him may be viewed as “peroxide blond,” colored by contact with the racist British colonial system, he is obviously black, if not “raven black,” and an African to the bottom of his heart, identity, and soul. The phrase “Foolishly . . . sitting down” refers to a former taboo in West Africa against allowing the “natives” to sit in the presence of European colonials. The phrase suggests—with ironic subtlety— that the speaker frequently has dared, by sitting, to proclaim his black identity and his fundamental rights. In cheekily asking, “wouldn’t you rather / See [my bottom] for yourself?” the speaker tempts the woman to subject herself to another international sign of insolence.

Critical analysis of Wole Soyinka’s Telephone Conversation

Telephone Conversation is a poetic satire against the widespread racism still prevalent in the modern western society. As the title suggests, the poem depicts a telephone conversation between a west African man and a British land-lady who shockingly changes her attitude towards the man soon after he reveals his racial identity. The motif of a microcosmic telephone conversation is employed by the poet to apply to a much broader macrocosmic level where racial bigotry is ridiculed in the contest of human intelligence, also portraying the poet’s witticism and his ingenious sense of humour.

The poem begins on a peaceful note, befitting the narrator’s satisfaction for having found the right house the price seemed reasonable, location in different. The land lady also emphatically mentioned that she lived ‘off premises’, thereby ensuring that tenant would enjoy absolute privacy and freedom. The conversation however drifted to an unpleasant turn of events, soon after the man surprisingly decided to make a self-confession to reveal his nationality- “Madam,” I warned, “I hate a wasted journey-I am African.”

A sudden unexpected silence followed and the awkward pause in the conversation is strengthened by a caesura, trying to emphasize the impact of the African’s race being revealed to the land lady. An uneasy atmosphere is created and the word ‘silenced’ reiterates the sudden change in the land lady’s attitude as well as the man’s intuitive sensitivity towards the unfriendliness on the other end of the phone. ‘Silence. Silenced transmission of Pressurized good-breeding.’

It seemed as if the narrator was caught in a foul act and the expression ‘Pressurized good-breeding’ is only an ironical manifestation of the polite manners the land-lady was supposed to have for the job of renting premises. After considerable period of silence when the land-lady spoke again, her words seemed to come from between lipstick coated lips that held between them a long gold-rolled cigaretteholder and the impression she gave off was that as if her status in the society was all of a sudden upgraded. Undoubtedly, the poet’s power of imagination enables him to visualize an affluent and sophisticated British land-lady belonging to the so-called progressive and urban world on the other side. Tension rises with the explicit racial discrimination conveyed through the question-“How Dark?” The land lady’s effort in seeking clarification in something quite irrelevant that is, his skin colour, in the course of the conversation is emphasized. She repeated her question, reinforcing the racist overtone in the English society. The lady’s pushy, unequivocal stance in pursuing the answer rendered the man speechless. He suddenly seemed confounded. ‘Button B, Button A. The automation imagery shows the man’s temporary conclusion and implies the rampant racial discrimination taken for granted in the western society. Shock changes to disbelief that transforms itself quickly into sheer disgust and utter indignation. ‘Red booth. Red pillar box. Red double-tiered Omnibus squelching tar.’

The narrator is jolted back into reality from his trance like state and he makes a frantic attempt to ascertain the situation. The revelation comes with the repetition of the question by the land lady with varying emphasis. ‘ARE YOU DARK? OR VERY LIGHT? You mean-like plain or milk chocolate? ‘It was soul shattering to the narrator that the land lady could be so insensitive to his feelings. Fuming with anger, the man decided to inflict similar humiliation on the racist woman choosing a superior vocabulary and replying in an acutely sarcastic tone. “West African sepia-and as afterthought, ‘Down in my passport. He quickly forces her into submission and exposes the ignorance of the lady clearly illustrating that beneath the lady’s glossy and lavish exterior, she was just a shallow judgmental racist. Paying no attention to the land lady’s disrespect for him, he took a firm control over the conversation defending the dignity and integrity of his ethnic identity from the ruthless onslaught of the land-lady. He goes on to describe the various colours one could see on him; ‘Facially, I am brunette, but, madam, you should see the rest of me. Unabashed he goes on to state that the palm of his hand and the soles of his feet are peroxide blonde and that friction by sitting down had turned his bottom –raven black. With a slow but furious realization the lady began to set the receiver down. ‘Sensing….’ the man rushed to ask sarcastically:“Madam”, I pleaded, “wouldn’t you rather see for yourself? “The quasi politeness of the tone of the poet can hardly conceive the ultimate insult inflicted on the land lady and shows how indignant the man was, also ending the poem with a tremendous sense of humour, apart from the obvious sarcasm. ‘Telephone conversation’ is a favourite, both for its excellent use of rich language and the timeless message it conveys, that is to avoid silent resignations to such policies of the racist society and also that Intellectual superiority is not determined by racial colour.

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Telephone Conversation – Wole Soyinka: Poem Analysis

Telephone Conversation – Wole Soyinka:…

Theme : Prejudice/discrimination & How people learn hard lessons

Type : Blank verse

Written by Wole Soyinka – first African to win the Nobel Prize for literature
The poem is about a man trying to rent a flat from an English landlady
Her attitudes towards him change when she hears he is African
She is clearly racist, and the absurd conversation shows her inferior intelligence
The theme of the poem is prejudice/discrimination based on the color of skin
Sensory language is used to evoke a picture of the woman and her character
Irony is used countless times – the woman making assumptions about the caller on basis of appearance, not personality
Diction reveals the man’s superior intelligence
Pun – in “hide and speak” can be interpreted that the woman is speaking but hiding her real feelings and that they are both hidden from each other as it is over the telephone
The fact she feels the need to simplify the question for him it is ironic that she is revealed to be the unintelligent one
Repetition – “Madam” – emphasizes the poet is well-bred and refined contrasting to her rudeness
Alliteration is also used – “Flight of fancy”
Colour imaging – reflecting the theme of prejudice based on skin color
Free verse appropriate given it is a conversation

Hide and Seek – Vernon Scannell: Poem Analysis
Sonnet 116 – William Shakespeare: Poem Analysis
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Author: William Anderson (Schoolworkhelper Editorial Team)

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Sahyadri english literature, poem & analysis of 'telephone conversation' by wole soyinka.

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Wole Soyinka | Telephone Conversation | An Analytical Study

‘Telephone Conversation’ is a poem by Wole Soyinka on the theme of racism and prejudice. The poem depicts a course of a conversation between two persons: one is a white English landlady and the other is a black African.

The black African (maybe the poet himself) is in search of a house for rent in the city of London and he has had a talk with a landlady over the telephone. The house to rent out is situated in an area of the city not affected by racial prejudice. The landlady lives outside the premises of the house. So the tenant would enjoy full privacy in the house. The black American (here the poet) thinks it to be his ideal rental house. But the black man has some previous experience that he, being black-skinned, could not get a house for rent in the past. So he frankly confesses to the lady that he is a black African. He does not like to waste his time going there if the landlady refuses after seeing him.

After this, the black man found the lady to be silent on the other side of the telephone. It makes him think that maybe the landlady is reluctant to let out the house to a black man. Then the poet thought that the lady is sensitive to racial discrimination. She might be proud of her good breeding. Again he imagined the lady to be painted with lipstick and perhaps she smokes a cigarette.

At that moment the lady breaks the silence and asks the poet from the other end of the telephone:

‘How dark?

……………………

Are you light?

Or very dark?’

The question asked by the lady seemed that she is not oversensitive to racism and she wants to help the man by giving the house to him. The man then understands and says if she would like him to compare with chocolate dark or light-dark. The black man’s thought changes and describes himself as a West African Sepia as written in his passport. The lady remains quiet for a while and asks what that is. He replies that it is similar to a brunette. It clarifies that he is dark.

He disregards all constraints of formality and mocks her outright, saying that he isn’t all black. The soles of his feet and the palms of his hands are completely white. But as he senses that she is about to slam the receiver on him, he pleads one last time to see for herself.

The tone of the poem is satiric as the poet goes on to describe himself as a black African invoking such phrases that seem to be exaggerated. It is also bantering when the poet says that the soles of his feet and the palms of his hands are completely white.

The theme of the poem is a simple one but the representation is something obscure and compact. The poet has employed some phrases and images which are not easy to interpret in the context of the average reader. Some of such phrases are ‘Pressurized good-breeding, ‘Stench of rancid breath of public hide and seek’, ‘Red double-tiered Omnibus squelching tar’ etc. 0 0 0 .

Read More: E De Sauza’s Poem ‘Marriages are Made’: An Analytical Study

N. B. This article entitled ‘ Wole Soyinka | Telephone Conversation | An Analytical Study’ originally belongs to the book ‘ World Poetry Criticism ‘ by Menonim Menonimus. Wole Soyinka | Telephone Conversation | An Analytical Study

Books of Literary Criticism by M. Menonimus:

World Short Story Criticism
World Poetry Criticism
World Drama Criticism
World Novel Criticism
World Essay Criticism
Indian English Poetry Criticism
Indian English Poets and Poetry Chief Features
Emily Dickinson’s Poetry-A Thematic Study
Walt Whitman’s Poetry-A Thematic Study
Critical Essays on English Poetry
Tawfiq al-Hakim’s Novel: Return of the Spirit-An Analytical Study
Tawfiq al-Hakim’s Novel: ‘Yawmiyyat Naib Fil Arayaf’-An Analytical Study
Analytical Studies of Some Arabic Short Stories
A Brief History of Arabic Literature: Pre-Islamic Period …

The Telephone Conversation by Wole Soyinka: Summary and Analysis

"The Telephone Conversation by Wole Soyinka" is a satirical poem penned in 1963, that addresses the issue of racism. It unfolds the narrative of a telephone call between the speaker, a black individual, and a landlady negotiating an apartment rental. Initially amiable, the landlady's demeanour takes a sharp turn when she discovers the speaker's African identity, prompting intrusive inquiries about the shade of the speaker's skin. In a witty rejoinder, the speaker adeptly ridicules the landlady's ignorance and bias, skillfully highlighting the dehumanizing nature of categorising individuals based on their skin colour. Thus, "The Telephone Conversation by Wole Soyinka" serves as a poignant exploration of societal prejudices.

The telephone conversation by wole soyinka.

The price seemed reasonable, location

Indifferent. The landlady swore she lived

Off premises. Nothing remained

But self-confession. "Madam," I warned,

"I hate a wasted journey--I am African."

Silence. Silenced transmission of

Pressurized good-breeding. Voice, when it came,

Lipstick coated, long gold-rolled

Cigarette-holder pipped. Caught I was foully.

"HOW DARK?" . . . I had not misheard . . . "ARE YOU LIGHT

OR VERY DARK?" Button B, Button A. * Stench

Of rancid breath of public hide-and-speak.

Red booth. Red pillar box. Red double-tiered

Omnibus squelching tar. It was real! Shamed

By ill-mannered silence, surrender

Pushed dumbfounded to beg simplification.

Considerate she was, varying the emphasis--

"ARE YOU DARK? OR VERY LIGHT?" Revelation came.

"You mean--like plain or milk chocolate?"

Her assent was clinical, crushing in its light

Impersonality. Rapidly, wave-length adjusted,

I chose. "West African sepia"--and as afterthought,

"Down in my passport." Silence for spectroscopic

Flight of fancy, till truthfulness clanged her accent

Hard on the mouthpiece. "WHAT'S THAT?" conceding

"DON'T KNOW WHAT THAT IS." "Like brunette."

"THAT'S DARK, ISN'T IT?" "Not altogether.

Facially, I am brunette, but, madam, you should see

The rest of me. Palm of my hand, soles of my feet

Are a peroxide blond. Friction, caused--

Foolishly, madam--by sitting down, has turned

My bottom raven black--One moment, madam!"--sensing

Her receiver rearing on the thunderclap

About my ears--"Madam," I pleaded, "wouldn't you rather

See for yourself?"

The apartment seemed like a good deal, and the location was okay. The landlady assured me that she didn't live in the building. The only thing left was to share something important about myself. So, I told her, "Ma'am, I don't want to waste a trip. Just so you know, I'm black."

There was silence on the phone. In that silence, I could feel the tension between the landlady's prejudices and her manners. When she finally spoke, she sounded like someone who might wear a lot of lipstick and have a long, gold cigarette holder. Now, I was in an awkward spot. "How dark are you?" she asked bluntly. It took a moment to realize I hadn't misheard her. She repeated, "Are you light-skinned or very dark-skinned?" It was like choosing between Button A and Button B on a phone booth: to make a call or get a refund. I could smell her bad breath hidden behind her polite words.

Taking in my surroundings – a red phone booth, a red mailbox, a red double-decker bus – I realized this kind of thing actually happens! Feeling embarrassed by my silence, I reluctantly asked for clarification, utterly confused and shocked. She kindly rephrased the question: "Are you dark-skinned or very light?" Finally, it made sense. I replied, "Are you asking if my skin is the colour of regular chocolate or milk chocolate?" Her confirmation was cold and formal, devastating in how thoughtless and impersonal she sounded. Changing my approach, I quickly chose an answer: "My skin colour is West African sepia." Then, as an afterthought, I added, "at least it is in my passport." Silence followed as she imagined the possible colours I might be referring to. But her true feelings emerged, and she spoke harshly into the phone.

"What is that?" she asked, admitting, "I don’t know what that is." "It's a brunette color," I told her. "That's pretty dark, isn't it?" she asked. "Not entirely," I replied. "My face is brunette, but you should see the rest of my body, ma'am. My palms and the soles of my feet are the color of bleached blond hair. Unfortunately, ma'am, all the friction from sitting down has made my butt as black as a raven. Wait, hang on for a moment ma'am!" I said, sensing she was about to hang up. "Ma'am," I pleaded, "don't you want to see for yourself?"

This analysis will help you remember the complexity of human identity, the absurdity of racial categorization, and the ongoing fight for equality.

Analysis of The Telephone Conversation by Wole Soyinka

Beyond "Dark" or "Light"

Wole Soyinka's "Telephone Conversation" isn't a casual chat; it's a satirical scalpel, dissecting the ugly abscess of racism through a seemingly mundane phone call. The conversation, ostensibly about renting an apartment, quickly devolves into a stark display of prejudice, exposing its insidious nature through a powerful dialogue of quotes.

The Insidious Creep of Bias

The poem opens with hopeful inquiries about "a flat to let," suggesting a sense of normalcy. But when the speaker declares, "I am African," the tone shifts. The landlady's casual "nice" masks a sudden tension, as her reply, "Which part?" reeks of thinly veiled prejudice. She seeks to categorize, to fit the speaker into a preconceived box before considering him as an individual.

Colour-Coded Humanity

The crux of the conversation revolves around a grotesque obsession with skin colour. The landlady's repeated, insistent "Are you dark? Or very light?" betrays her warped worldview, where a person's worth is reduced to melanin levels. The speaker's retort, "Madam, I hate a wasted journey—I am African," is both dignified and defiant, refusing to play into her discriminatory game.

Beyond the Binary

The landlady's simplistic binary of "dark" and "light" is shattered by the speaker's nuanced response: "Like brunette, that got us sunburnt." He subverts her expectations, revealing the absurdity of racial categorization in the face of human complexity. His identity cannot be contained in such simplistic terms.

Humour as Resistance

Despite the ugliness of the situation, Soyinka employs wit as a weapon. The speaker's dry commentary on "public hide-and-speak," referring to the hidden nature of prejudice, stings with truth. His witty comparison of himself to a leopard, "But not those with fangs and claws," disarms the landlady with its unexpected humour, while subtly pointing out the absurdity of her fear.

A Conversation Across the Divide

Ultimately, the poem leaves us with a chilling question: is true communication even possible across such a vast chasm of prejudice? The speaker's final, resigned acceptance, "Never mind," speaks volumes. He recognizes the futility of the conversation, the impossibility of bridging the gap with words alone.

💡 "Telephone Conversation" is more than just a poem about a rental inquiry; it's a powerful indictment of racism and its insidious effects. Through the stark contrast between characters and their biting quotes, Soyinka forces us to confront the ugliness of prejudice and the enduring struggle for true human connection across racial divides. It's a call to action, not just to dismantle discriminatory policies, but to dismantle the discriminatory thinking that fuels them.

Literary Devices Used

Free Verse: The poem's lack of formal structure mirrors the chaotic and unpredictable nature of the conversation. It allows for sudden shifts in tone and emphasis, reflecting the speaker's frustration and the landlady's bigotry.
Irony: The landlady's questions about the speaker's suitability for the apartment become increasingly absurd, highlighting the irony of her prejudice. The humour, however, is dark and tinged with anger.
Repetition: The landlady's obsessive repetition of "dark" underscores the poem's central theme. It becomes a mantra of exclusion, a stark reminder of the barriers faced by people of colour.

About the Author

Wole Soyinka, a towering figure in African literature, is a Nigerian playwright and poet renowned for his impactful contributions to the literary world. Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1986, Soyinka's work delves into complex themes such as oppression, tyranny, and the struggle for independence in Nigeria.

With an impressive repertoire comprising 29 plays, two novels, and a diverse collection of memoirs, essays, and poetry, Soyinka's literary prowess reflects his deep engagement with socio-political issues. His writing, often characterized by a keen sense of social criticism, extends beyond the boundaries of the literary realm, addressing the broader challenges faced by society.

Soyinka's enduring influence is marked not only by his distinguished body of work but also by his commitment to using literature as a powerful tool for social commentary and change.

While "Telephone Conversation" ends on a muted note, it lingers in the mind, a persistent hum that refuses to be ignored. The Telephone Conversation by Wole Soyinka doesn't offer easy answers, but it compels us to listen, to confront the uncomfortable truths it holds, and to strive for a world where skin colour isn't the first line of dialogue, but one line among many that paint the beautiful, intricate tapestry of our shared humanity.

As a content writer, Prince has a talent for capturing the essence of a topic and presenting it in a way that is easy to understand. His writing is clear, concise, and engaging, drawing readers in and keeping them interested from start to finish. He is constantly looking for ways to improve his writing and takes feedback and constructive criticism as an opportunity to grow and develop his skills.

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Poetry Comparison - 'Telephone Conversation' by Wole Soyinka and 'Ballad of the Landlord' by Langston Hughes.

Poetry Comparison

The two poems ‘Telephone Conversation’ by Wole Soyinka and ‘Ballad of the Landlord’ by Langston Hughes both focus on the issue of racism. Thus the poems have a similar theme but present the theme in a variety of different ways.

The backgrounds of the poets tell us a lot about their intentions. Soyinka is a Nigerian who was raised as a Christian. He is also highly educated and went to two universities, one a Nigerian university the other an English university. His background shows he mingled into western society but he was never treated as an equal. Soyinka wrote political literature and was arrested for seizing radio stations and making a political broadcast about the fairness of the Nigerian elections. He was politically oppressed and his whole life has been a struggle. He often voiced his opinions on the Nigerian government and the racism he has experienced. His intentions are quite clearly shown in ‘Telephone Conversation’ where he illustrates a typical example of racism, possibly autobiographical, through the absurd reaction of the landlady. If he had gone to see the flat, the landlady would have lied and told him it was already taken so it would have been directly racist. But when he rings on the phone, she tells him the flat is free before being told by the character, who is anxious not to make a wasted journey, that he is black. The landlady asks how dark he is as if his depth of colour makes a difference. Langston Hughes has a different background, having been born and raised in America. His parents divorced when he was young so he went to live with his grandmother. After graduating he went to Columbia University. He travelled widely to Africa and Europe experiencing a host of jobs, which had influences on his poetry. He won the Harmon gold medal for literature for his first novel in 1930. He was greatly influenced by Jazz and other notable black poets of the time. Hughes’ work was known for its perceptive, vibrant portrayals of black life and he refused to set apart his personal experiences and the common experiences of the black America. His intention in this poem is that what happens to the character in his poem happens to thousands of black people all around America. Both poets want the reader to feel the evil of racism but Hughes was writing this poem in the 1930’s where racism was rife and was more tolerated than in the 1960’s when Soyinka was writing ‘Telephone Conversation’ and human rights’ movements were beginning to be recognised.

The major subject explored in both poems is racism. The racism is unlike what we hear about nowadays of racist attacks, the racism is not blatant, but more psychological although still damaging.

This psychological racism is shown in Soyinka’s poem:

“HOW DARK?”…I had not misheard… “ARE YOU LIGHT

OR VERY DARK?”

This is a preview of the whole essay

The landlady tries to phrase her question so it does not sound too rude but it just shows her ignorance and stupidity. The capitals are used to show the landlady patronising the man by stressing on the words. Both Soyinka and Hughes show the more subtle aspects of racism like how hard getting decent housing is for a black person, which is a basic human right, especially in a western society. The difference is that they use different scenarios. In Hughes’ poem the character is confronting the landlord in the 1930’s about a problem while Soyinka’s character is having a dialogue in a telephone box trying to get a flat but both make the reader see and feel both characters’ emotion after such comments. E.g. In Soyinka’s poem

‘ By ill-mannered silence, surrender

Pushed dumbfounded to beg simplification.’

The character is confused and taken aback by the earlier question and can’t believe what he is hearing. Soyinka uses this to show the effect of racism upon the character and as a whole to anyone who has heard a racist comment directed at him or her. Also by using alliteration or sibilance as shown in the quote, Soyinka displays the words so they stand out and to create a more sensory description . The sound the words give sounds like the hissing of a telephone and help create a more descriptive and sensory scene. There is a difference between the two poets though; Hughes shows how harshly blacks were treated for such little crimes

‘ MAN THREATENS LANDLORD

TENANT HELD NO BAIL

JUDGE GIVES NEGRO 90 DAYS IN COUNTY JAIL’

And all the character was doing was protecting his home. Soyinka shows how ignorant people can be because any normal landlord would take any offer because you are wasting money with a flat with no tenant to pay rent but the landlady would not accept the offer because he was black. Both poets have different scenarios used but the subject of subtle racism is clearly shown in both poems and so are the characters’ emotions.

The two poets use their own style of language to create a certain effect on the reader. In 'Telephone Conversation', Soyinka uses formal, highly descriptive language written in Standard English. This shows that Soyinka is a clever, educated man and that the character in the poem is smarter than the landlady. E.g.

‘…Silence for spectroscopic

Flight of fancy…’

Not only is the vocabulary complex but the tone adopted by the narrator is also mocking the white woman's ignorance. Spectroscopic refers to the key idea that the woman is not just concerned that the man is not white but exactly how black he is. Langston Hughes, on the other hand, does not use complex vocabulary but uses repetition of words like ‘gonna’ and writes in colloquial language ‘’member’ and ‘gonna’. The use of these words gives the poem more depth and individuality, which can fit nicely into the tempo of the poem.

Both poets use many different poetic devices and their own style of writing in their poems. Soyinka uses enjambments often: “Silenced transmission of

Pressurized good-breathing”

This makes the poem flow and adds depth to the description by lengthening the line. Which is the same reason, Hughes uses enjambments in his poem: “When you come up yourself

It’s a wonder you don’t fall down.”

But Hughes uses a forced structure of enjambment of appearing on the second line of every stanza, which makes the poem more rhythmic and jazzy. Hughes use a jazzy, musical style in his poem thus it is called ‘Ballad of the Landlord’. By using structure enjambments and a rhyming pattern in the second and fourth lines of each stanza:

“Landlord, landlord,

My roof has sprung a leak.

Don’t you ’member I told you about it

Way last week?

He makes the poem flow like music and gives it a beat and tempo. Hughes makes good use of the musical style by creating tension in the fist six stanzas like many musical pieces and then like music; the poem speeds up giving a dramatic effect “Copper’s whistle!

Patrol bell!

Arrest.

Precinct Station.

Iron cell.”

This is short, snappy and has a rhyming beat and it demonstrates how fast and quick they dealt with blacks in society. Hughes uses repetition often, using colloquial language ‘gonna’ and nouns like ‘Landlord’, ‘Police’ and ‘Ten Bucks’ laying stress on the importance of them. Not only doe Hughes repeat words but he is continually asking questions:

‘Ten Bucks you say I owe you?

Ten Bucks you say is due?’

The continual repetition of questions not only shows how lazy and ignorant the landlord is but how long it takes for the landlord to sort the problem out while in just the last verse the police deal with the black man quickly.

Soyinka uses figurative phrases to make the reader think and understand the true meaning of the line or phrase:

‘…. Rapidly, wave-length adjusted’

Soyinka uses this metaphor and double-entendre on ‘wave-length’ to show how hard it is for a black person to get on with a white person. The use of metaphors help build up tension until the end of the poem because the reader is indulging into the emotions of the black man. The climax is when the character uses his wit to get his own back on the landlady. Hughes uses no metaphors and to keep his poem simplistic and so it does not lose its rhythm.

Soyinka writing is descriptive and to add to the scene’s description Soyinka use onomatopoeia e.g.

‘clanged’, ‘squelching’, ‘pipped’. By using onomatopoeia the reader gets a more vivid picture of the sounds and a better picture of the scenario as if you were there.

Again, Hughes uses no onomatopoeia because he does not need to because the poem is simplistic but also it would sound out of place in the structured rhythmic stanzas.

The two poets use different types of poetic devices to create their own specific effects on the reader.

Hughes uses rhyming and enjambment to make the poem ballad like and to make the poem flow. By doing this the reader can understand what is happening easily and the message of how unjust the racist world is on all those persecuted for their race or beliefs. Soyinka uses many poetic devices to create either a highly descriptive picture or phrases that the reader has to read the poem again to truly understand. By reading a poem through more than once the reader is forced to engage with a topic in more detail and with greater intimacy. Both poems give their desired effects on the reader and the poetic devices used help generate these effects.

The tone used in the two different poems creates certain effects on the reader. Soyinka’s tone is very dry and sarcastic to show the ignorance of the landlady,

“You mean- - like plain or milk chocolate?”

By using a dry tone, Soyinka slowly builds up the racism felt until the climax where he gets his own back on the landlady. Soyinka’s character seems to have a calm, naive tone but also witty,

‘I chose “West African sepia” – and as an afterthought

“Down in my passport” ’

Because he seems calm but is also showing he is smarter than the woman because you do not have your colour stated in your passport. And again these remarks help build up the climax at the end where the character mocks the landlady. Dissimilar to Soyinka’s slowly revealing tone, Hughes uses a fast upbeat tone to make the poem jazz-like and to make it flow,

“Landlord, landlord,

Don’t you ’member I told u about it

Way last week?”

Hughes uses this rhythmic tone in five more consecutive stanzas then, like music, Hughes changes the pace and tone to show how quickly the white police dealt with the black man and how hysterical the white people saw it using the big bold headlines.

“Copper’s whistle!

All these effects used make Hughes’ poem sound like a ballad. The two different poets use different tones effectively. Soyinka’s use of tone is very subtle and the reader may not even notice the climax being built up until the end while Hughes tone is vibrant and original which is almost a contrast to what is happening to Hughes’s character in the poem but the rhythmic tone makes the reader read on till the end where they can think about racism and its effects on humans.

Both poems show you racism and its effects on people and Hughes and Soyinka aren’t just writing about their personal experiences but also showing you that these things happened to many black people. The two poets write their poems in different ways, using different techniques, which give the poems their originality and identity. Soyinka uses humour to illustrate the ignorance of the landlady and shows how stupid she is when she does not pick up on the sarcasm until the end:

‘ “Foolishly, madam – by sitting down, has turned

My bottom raven black….” ’

This humour makes the poem more interesting and indulging. Hughes uses the element of music to make his poem fast, upbeat and enjoyable to read. The musical beat compliments the stanzas in which the character is facing a hard ordeal with his landlord. The hardship shown by the poets made me think how unjust and prejudice our forefathers were to blacks from slavery to not letting them get adequate housing in the western world. Hughes summed it up with the way the police treated his character with such efficiency and how harsh the jail sentence is for being a little assertive. The two poets illustrate the everyday hardships which black people faced and still do is some parts of the world and that may make us a bit more assertive with our actions and their effects on people.

Poetry Comparison - 'Telephone Conversation' by Wole Soyinka and 'Ballad of the Landlord' by Langston Hughes.

Document Details

Word Count 2161
Page Count 4
Subject English

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A Moment That You Couldn’t Tell: Riding the Gradient of the Lyric Essay

In his poem “Because You Asked About the Line Between Prose and Poetry,” Howard Nemerov writes:

Sparrows were feeding in a freezing drizzle That while you watched turned to pieces of snow Riding a gradient invisible From silver aslant to random, white, and slow. There came a moment that you couldn’t tell. And then they clearly flew instead of fell.

Nemerov’s short poem suggests a gradient where poetry could be described as snow, and prose as rain—a fair comparison, I think. In poetry, an individual word asks for more attention than a single word in prose, the way snow greets skin in discrete bursts of sensation, flake by flake. Snow, like poetry, is structured in a delicate lattice, rather than a cohesive body. Snow, like poetry, carries less momentum than rain or prose, offering, instead, a moment of stalled time and levitation. and not unlike the six stanzas of a villanelle (one of my favorite poetic forms), each of a snowflake’s six points orbit a center of gravity that travels less than its extremities.

Rain, on the other hand, builds momentum and falls with satisfying weight, akin to the quick pace of prose. Raindrops combine and disappear into a larger body bound by a threshold of surface tension, like the words that form an essay. And although rain may not demand much attention drop by drop, it soaks you through, getting you wet beneath your clothes.

This rain-to-snow metaphor suggests a gradient across the metric of cold, and the way dropping degrees can alter structure, motion, and reflectivity. Perhaps I should resist this, but I like the idea that a poem is colder than an essay—lonely, stark in its relief, a line dropping off and picking back up like a broken phone connection. A poem lets you sit in your loneliness, lets writer and reader share solitude over an impossible distance. An essay betrays you into thinking, for a while, that someone sits beside you.

But I like lyric essays, poem-essay hybrids, pieces best categorized as sleet if essays are rain and poems snow. Nemerov hints at a kind of beauty in that liminal form, that moment between, “silver aslant” and “random, white and slow”; in my estimation, however, being in sleet is a miserable experience, encompassing the problems of both rain and snow (freezing and wet, heavy and sharp with crystals), and the delights of neither.

“Here, of course, we come to the point where my illustration […] breaks down.” —C. S. Lewis

Perhaps I’m taking this metaphor business too seriously. Likely, metaphors are best employed as flexible, atmospheric, irreducible, like an optical illusion you can only see when you don’t focus too hard. Treating metaphors to a stringent rule has the danger of taking out their charm, of limiting their boundless, contradictory span. After all, in the Bible, rain is both a reliever of drought and a destroyer by flood; snow, too, is a double entendre, evoking in one moment the purity of the Messiah’s garment, in another, the contamination of leprous skin.

So let me try again. When I said that I liked the idea of a gradient across temperatures as a metaphor for poetry and prose, I knew I was treading on thin ice, so to speak. A gradient or a sliding scale implies that the closer you get to essay, the farther you get from poetry, and vice versa. Not true, of course. Or at least, even if prose and poetry are on opposite ends of a spectrum, essay and poetry are not. On the contrary, essays invite poetic treatment, at times demand it, and vice versa.

Poems, for example, tend to have essayistic motives, whether by suggesting the importance of a red wheelbarrow and thus finding the eternal in the transient, or by offering idiosyncratic, subversive life creeds. Many lyric essays have the potential for being labeled poetry or prose poems just as easily as being labeled essays. Gregory Pardlo describes the essays he writes as flexible in scope like poetry, affording “The same thrills of transgressing against the form—and I know there are people very close to me who are going to say, ‘That’s not an essay, that’s way too lyrical, and you’ve gone off the rails!’” As one of my creative writing students asked of “Unspoken Hunger” by Terry Tempest Williams, “Is this not a poem?”

I resonate with Lia Purpura’s suggestion that the term “lyric essay” is perhaps best employed as a conversation starter; it can act as a starting point or a gathering place, where writers and readers come for communion and conversation and challenge (Purpura, 338).

Of course, I come to the lyric essay conversation with my own preferences and biases, so let me suggest my idea of what a lyric essay might involve.

The lyric essay I want is like any other essay in that it thinks on the page and asserts a person (a living author, or at least an author who lived), and takes an interest (if a slanted and skeptical one) in truth and actuality. But the lyric essay I want also leans into the vast glossary of poetic terms like rhyme, alliteration, hyperbole, and repetition to create form, or what Seneca Review calls “density and shapeliness.” If the essay is the master chess player and poetry is the principal dancer, perhaps lyric essays are the dance of pieces on the board; call it chess or the essay, call it dance or poetry, because it is.

For me, then, lyric essays―whether heavy like wet snow, or light like tiny drops of crystalizing rain―get cozy with the physicality of fine arts as well as the momentum and coverage of “the free mind at play” (Ozick). Lyric essays rely on the medium (its shape and sound and heft) as much as the message. A big part of the “lyric,” as I see it, comes down to sensory markers like musical language and the relationship between text and white space. Ira Sukrungruang says, “I loved how lyric essays looked on the page. […] A poem, before we even make sense of it, is a visual seduction.” Poems rely on white spice and stanzas and the measurement of a line, drawing the eye to a cliff here or a wall of text there. Poems also rely on sound, on lazy vowels or hard stop consonants, on the breathy hushes and plosive glottals embedded within words. Lyric essays bring the poetic body into the meandering walk of the essay.

I recognize, however, that it’s impossible to have an essay, or any text, without body and shape and structure. We read with our eyes, ears, or fingers; the text is necessarily physical. Just as a raindrop is as physical and structured as a snowflake, essays are as corporeal as poems. We write and speak with our body, dragging a pen, clacking keys with our hands, flexing our vocal chords or carving out space with the motion of our hands. Spoken or written words are abstractions and concepts, but they are also embodied; such is evident when our fingers are too stiff to travel across a keyboard, our vocal chords too inflamed to bear vibration.

I often lose my voice and feel fatigued, and my hands frequently hurt or prickle with irritation. In this state, the body of an essay or a poem can make the difference between whether or not I read or write at all. If an essay is written with lengthy paragraphs and little white space, my eyes struggle to focus and I may not be able to follow what I am reading on a given day. While writing, if I am in a revising mood and I want to read what I have written to my husband, I can get through a poem easily, whereas reading just a few paragraphs of an essay taxes my voice and can steer me out of a creative headspace altogether.

Beyond issues of comfort, when I am feeling a little unwell, my senses are heightened. My brain may feel less sharp, but sound makes more sense than ever. Consonants become percussive strokes and closed vibrations, vowels become sighs and vibrato. A sentence becomes a meter, a paragraph a verse. When I don’t feel well, words, spoken and written, become more overwhelming, more exacting, and because of that I want fewer of them, or want to string them along in a rolling rhythm. Lyric essays let me give my mind a rest and, at the same time, let me tap into the chaos and movement of my overfiring neurons.

Just as all essays and poems have some level of “body,” all essays and poems have some level of mind and thought and abstraction. But not all poems—or even all essays—have a committed interest in the narrative factuality that defines creative nonfiction, creating some tension about what counts as “true enough” for the lyric essay.

Roxane Gay suggests that lyric essays, in their presumptive “nonfiction” state, honor their contract with the reader by holding to real-life material even when stretching or hyperfocusing to fantastical heights. She explains, “The way we are being told these truths are masked in some sort of artifice [of] what words repeat themselves, the speed of the language varying, phrases meant to express the intangible in a tangible way.” By this measure, truth in the lyric essay sometimes becomes distorted by the fuzziness of hyperbole or hypotheticals, but ultimately extrapolates its dream-like form from real events or dynamics.

If lyrical forms can push the boundaries of truth, however, they can also gain access to truths that might slip under the radar in a more straightforward form. For example, if hyperbole or hypotheticals can distort an image or story, other poetic elements like sensory focus and structural restraints can cut through situational distractions in a story, getting right into the heart of the matter.

Gregory Pardlo says,

“I’m always writing through sound, and if I’m writing through a received form it’s a kind of way of backing into an emotional danger zone, right? I always tell my students we have denial for a very good reason—to keep us sane, to keep us safe, so that we can move through our day with some measure of sanity. But my job when I sit down to write is to circumvent that wall.”

For Pardlo, structure and constraints eliminate the easiest expressions, taking away our most used coping mechanisms and requiring us to enter a territory without our well-used defenses.

Beyond modes of expression, for some, scruples about what counts and doesn’t count as “true” or “nonfiction” may not matter very much; after all, a poem carries little if any presumption of real world accuracy, and for some the gradient between poem and essay is more one of style than of content. For me, though, all essays—including lyric essays—gain meaning as real manifestations of a writer and actual stories. Like Scott Russell Sanders, “I take seriously the prefix ‘non-’ in nonfiction,” and I count myself in the company of those who “believe they are inscribing themselves in some fundamental way” (Lazar, “Introduction).

As a simple example of the charms afforded by facts, aphorisms occupy a space between essays and poetry but often rely on a degree of basic truth telling. When Mary Capello writes, “Mood: cloud cover. / Mood: a room with no walls,” she pairs it with simple and accurate but artful observations, such as “You put on your coat in winter. You pull on your coat in autumn. Each act of self-cloaking determined by the season’s mood.” If Capello had made such an observation without accurately reflecting linguistic patterns, at least for a given population, then the aphorism would lose its power as a social and artful revelation.

Mostly, I write in prose. I type sentences or paragraphs, rough hewn thoughts full of redundancies and repetitions, and not at all devoid of throat clearing (ahem). Some days, though, when my fingers ache, I try to write in short, spare verse instead, simply to avoid the pain. These are days when typing amplifies rather than relieves the soreness and aches I feel throughout my body, when everything hurts and my skin feels raw and itchy and trying to get a few paragraphs of an essay feels beyond my stamina.

These days, I rely on the traffic between poetry and essays in a physical capacity. So maybe I’m trying to pawn off a very practical tactic (i.e. writing fewer words) as a more artistically motivated one (i.e. writing for musicality of sound). Even more generally, though, I have almost always had a preference for shorter works. I have a strong aversion to reading long pieces at anything other than a leisurely pace, and even then, I willingly seek out only gentle, accessible texts.

My point is, my literary ideal is so shaped by preferences and pain and limitations that I can’t think clearly about these genres. But then, the point is also that all of us are shaped by preferences, pains and predilections that are imposed on us by temperaments and conditions we didn’t choose. None of us live deep philosophical lives independent of our bodies. If anyone in this world is not a “pain” writer (or a nature writer or food writer), it is only because much of their personal experience is withheld (either carefully or subconsciously) from their writerly persona.

Put another way, I write what is physically and temperamentally easy for me to write, and am inclined to read the same. In that sense, lyric essays are, more than anything else, an accommodation—and for that alone, I am forever grateful to them.

Years ago, a departmental form asked me how I wanted to “contribute to the field of creative writing”—a question I like to think would make any writer queasy for its weight and expectation. The best answer I could think of was personal; reading and writing for a couple of hours (or minutes) a day gives me joy, and that joy helps me attend my family with more peace and eagerness and feel a little more sane in the world. A sidestep of an answer, if you will, but it was all I felt comfortable writing down, and no one called me out on it.

Mostly, my answer hasn’t changed. As valuable as essays are for influencing political persuasion and cultivating empathy in a divided world, my motivations for reading and writing tend to be much more impulsive and palliative than revolutionary. Often, I feel like Eduardo Galeano , who said, “I write only when I feel the need to write, not because my conscience dictates it. It doesn’t just come from my indignation at injustice; it is a celebration of life, which is so beautifully horrible and horribly beautiful.” I like lyric essays for their celebration of life, their wide range of communicative measures, their transformation of pleasure and pain—and by “lyric essays” I mean essays and poetry and everything in between.

Essays, and poems, are thrilling. After writing a section of this essay, I told my husband that I was so excited I might pee my pants (an admittedly unremarkable proposition for someone who wrote most of while pregnant or postpartum). There is a natural high that comes from moments of flow or hardwon revisions or sharing what I have written with another person. Or, on other days, when I am less prone to delight and more to gloom, reading and writing offers solace. As Mark Strand says, “Pain is filtered in a poem so that it becomes finally, in the end, pleasure.” I’m here for the pain-filtered-to-pleasure of writing, for the respite of lying on the couch with a blanket at my feet, the sound of tapping keys like rain against my window.

Works Cited

Capello, Mary. “Mood Modulations.” Life Breaks In (a mood almanac) . The University of Chicago Press, 2016, 27-45.

Lazar, David. “Introduction.” Essaying the Essay , edited by David Lazar. Welcome Table Press, 2014, 1-12.

Lewis, C.S. “Making and Begetting.” Mere Christianity.

Purpura, Lia. “What is a Lyric Essay? Some Provisional Responses.” Essaying the Essay , edited by David Lazar. Welcome Table Press, 2014, 336-340.

Sanders, Scott Russel. “Interview with Scott Russel Sanders.” Interview by Patrick Madden. River Teeth: A Journal of Nonfiction Narrative . Vol. 9 Iss. 1, 2007, 87-98.

Alizabeth Worley lives near Utah Lake with her husband, Michael, and their two kids. Her work has been published or is forthcoming in Post Road Magazine , Guernica , Tar River Poetry , and elsewhere. You can find her writing and artwork at alizabeth.worley.com .

“letter from tehran: beyond the brink” by christopher thornton.

“Where Did Our Love Go? Contemplating the Life and Death of Motown and the Motor City,” by Suzanne E. Smith

“the brawl and the tango,” by michael reid busk.

Center for Literary Publishing

Colorado review, a college of liberal arts center, a conversation with lisa ampleman.

Erin Peters: Many of your poems, including “Point of Departure,” which was published in the Spring 2023 issue of Colorado Review , seem to be grounded in images of everyday experiences and observations. For example, watching a car drive on a bridge, visiting the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History, or sitting in the waiting room of a fertility clinic. I’m interested in your process of moving from experience to poetry. Does the inspiration for a poem hit you the moment you see an event happen, or does it arrive later?

Lisa Ampleman: A lot of the time, especially with the ones you’ve described, I felt something in the moment—some kind of like humming in the universal thread of our existence where I was like, oh, something is happening.

For me, sometimes working on poetry overlaps with elements of spirituality and things like that. And so, it just seemed otherworldly. For example, watching this three-year old kid play around in a fertility-clinic waiting room and, you know, all of us were there just enjoying it, but I was also like, okay, the hairs on my arms are standing up a little bit. At the same time, sometimes it takes a while for that thing to become written about.

With that poem, for example, I wrote a draft of it, but that was like ten years ago and I’ve revised it heavily since. Sometimes I need that kind of reflection and other life experience to be able to do it. With “Point of Departure,” seeing the image of a car’s hood just fly up into the air was so strange that I wrote it down. But it wasn’t until I was driving a lot on that same route after the experience of having a miscarriage where the things became linked together. And for a long time, that was something that only lived in my notebook. It took a while for me to feel like it was something that I could share more widely.

EP: I’m curious, because you’ve mentioned a notebook, do you often write by hand? Do you start your drafts on a computer? What does that process look like for you?

LA: My preferred method for most of my life has been to write by hand and I have this great series of notebooks that I bought a dozen of when I was in college because I loved them so much. In the past couple of years, I’ve developed arthritis, and it affects my hand, so I’ve been teaching myself to be able to draft on the computer directly. But I definitely still need to be able to take notes, so I use my phone for that. Lately, I’ve been thinking I’d rather have a small notebook in my purse or something like that. There’s something about the physicality of it. I know there are studies that students in classes, for example, who are taking notes by hand versus typing, process information differently and remember more. And for a long time, when I had to start writing on the computer, I had to change my focus because, before, when I would move to the computer it was always a stage of revision. It was like, okay, I’m going to see what this looks like on the screen. And so, I’ve had to take a step back and be like, no, this is “point zero” for the poem, and it’s okay for it to start here.

EP: Talking about technology has made me curious about your research process for Mom in Space. Your recently published collection uses the lens of spaceflight to explore subjects ranging from the personal to the political, from fertility tests and parenting to climate change and civil rights. So, it seems that many of the poems in this new collection intertwine scientific and historical knowledge with more personal considerations of motherhood and womanhood. What inspired this theme of spaceflight? And what was the research process like for this new collection?

LA: I have to say that this was some of the most fun I’ve had writing poetry in my experience as a poet. It started almost, but not exactly, by accident. You mentioned the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History—they held an exhibit based on the Apollo 11 capsule, which was touring around while the Smithsonian Museum was closed for renovations. And they had—which I talked about in a poem, and I think in an essay in the book—a huge exhibit around it, including some things from Neil Armstrong that just kind of fascinated me, like a speech he had given at the museum talking about climate change. Knowing that he was from the area and seeing the objects up close just stuck with me in a different way.

When I went through the gift shop, I noted what books were there. I was headed to a residency a couple weeks after that, and I wanted a big book to bring to take up some time in between writing and revising. And so, I got a book called A Man on The Moon by Andrew Chaikin, which is about the Apollo program. As I read it, I remembered that my grandfather was involved in some way in the space program in the fifties and sixties, and I wanted to reach out to him and find out more. I read that whole book. I was fascinated. It read like a narrative and there’s just so much I didn’t know. Obviously, a lot of us know about Apollo 11, but to see what came before and what came after, that opened my eyes, and then I wanted to know what happened next. I wanted to read more narratives about the space program, so I got a book about the space lab program, about the shuttle program, and about Mir. And then it was March 2020, and we were all going into lockdown for COVID. And so, I was able to feed this new interest but also escape mentally from where I was and what was happening.

I just kept reading and I would come up with questions. I would see something and be like what? For example, I learned that Nichelle Nichols, who played Lieutenant Uhura on the original Star Trek, was involved in recruitment for the Space Shuttle program. And I was like, what? So, I went and found her biography and read that and so it was like this led to that led to that.

For the most part, it was that kind of reading, but I also had specific questions sometimes. There’s a program called the Mercury 13 that was composed of women who underwent the same tests as the pilots who ended up in the Mercury Program and I was like, okay, so what exactly did they have to do? So, I did some web research, and I did some kind of probably too-specific scientific-paper reading sometimes. But the thing that I found most fascinating was the astronauts’ accounts of the bodily experience of going to space, being in space, and coming back. Scott Kelly’s book Endurance , for example, which is about spending a year in space, was something I read during the pandemic while we were all at home in that early part. It just hit me in a different way than perhaps it would have if I’d become interested in space earlier, so things aligned together in that way.

EP: It sounds like there were a lot of connections between your personal circumstances during the pandemic and the research you were doing at the time. The poem you wrote about Neil Armstrong’s speech, “The future isn’t what it once was,” was one of the first poems that I read from Mom in Space. While reading, I was interested in what led you to write about Armstrong’s speech. It seems like the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History, of course, was a point of inspiration. Cincinnati itself feels important to this collection as it shows up quite a few times, so I’m curious to know more about your connection to the place that you’re writing from.

LA: I moved here in 2009 for the doctoral program at the University of Cincinnati, and I had a hard time doing that because I had been living in Saint Louis, where I had grown up, and I had a good amount of my family and friends still there. But I met my husband about six weeks after I moved here, and as time went on, circumstances just kept falling into place, and we’ve stayed.

When I first moved here, I was surprised by the geography of it, which is something else that comes up in the book. I’m becoming more and more fascinated with the geology of our current spaces and what they mean about the past. I don’t know if that’ll be something I write about in the future or not. But I’m noticing things like even the fact that it’s hilly, whereas Saint Louis, which is a similar city otherwise, is not very hilly. Also, the fact that it is so much of a border city. It’s right by Kentucky, and the Ohio River was one of the borders between the North and the South. So, some of it was that and some of it was just living life in Cincinnati and having those experiences be the triggers for what happens next. It’s a really interesting question. I definitely have thought about that, but not as deeply as some of the other kinds of things we’ve been talking about, so thank you.

EP: Of course. It sounds like place has been an important influence on your work. I’m interested in what else might have impacted your writing for this new collection and maybe the current writing that you’re doing. As the managing editor of The Cincinnati Review and the Poetry Series editor at Acre Books, I imagine you spend quite a bit of time reading a wide range of writers across different genres. How does that reading impact your own writing practices?

LA: I’ll back up and say that right before I went to that exhibit, which was in late 2019, we were putting together and getting ready to publish Elizabeth Lindsey Rogers’ book, The Tilt Torn Away from the Seasons, and the cover of that one is a topographical map of part of Mars. And one of the things that I found really fascinating in the moon exhibit were similar sorts of maps using similar colors, but how much plainer they were in a way. I think if I hadn’t been working on Elizabeth’s book, I might have been interested but not lingered as long in that exhibit. So, content-wise, that that was definitely one of the catalysts that got me in the door for space in the first place. But her work is very different. It’s focused on Mars and climate change, but it’s about the speculative experience of a group of women who go to Mars and try to terraform it and are thinking back at the same time about experiences on Earth.

I also read a range of styles. Some of our writers for The Cincinnati Review and for Acre work very closely and carefully in form. I did more of that in my second book, but there’s “Tenuous Blueprint,” which is a sonnet in Mom in Space . There’s a ghazal in here, which is the first time I’ve written one. And I’ve also seen, in my personal reading and in my editorial roles, people blending the tools and content of poetry and nonfiction, usually in book-length projects, but not always. Jessica Johnson, for example, has a book called Metabolics that came out a little over a year ago. It includes poetic prose narratives with a speaker whose identity elements align with who Jessica is. I was really fascinated by the way she was doing that. I had already started writing some things that ended up being prosier in Mom in Space , but it was definitely something that made me think about the style even more.

It’s interesting to watch in our field—and I’m I definitely keeping my eye on—the books that are coming out and what’s being read. Dear Memory by Victoria Chang and A Thousand Times You Lose Your Treasure by Hoa Nguyen were ones I was reading right before and thinking about this.

EP: Being able to keep your finger on the pulse of what’s happening in poetry right now and in publishing is exciting. And it’s so interesting to hear that even the content of Mom in Space was partially inspired by another writer who helped you linger on an idea that you might not otherwise have. I’m curious which artists’ work you’ve been spending the most time with recently, either in your editing roles or just in your personal time. Have any poets, or artists in general, been inspiring your current writing?

LA: I’ve been working with Acre’s poetry series for five years or so. Because of how the cycles go, I’ll be thinking about probably four different writers in the next few months. Jose Hernandez Diaz’s book just came out and I was working with our videographer on a video trailer for the book, which is going to come out later this week, so I’m spending time again with Jose’s poems. And I just spent time this week copyediting Carolyn Oliver’s second book. Last month, I was also talking to CD Eskilson. Their book, Scream/Queen , is coming out in fall 2025. And so, you know, they wanted to know the timeline for blurbs, and I gave them some suggestions for that. And then our most recently accepted book is by M. Cynthia Cheung, and she’s doing some revisions right now, so that’s something we were both thinking about together.

It’s pretty amazing to be able to do that. I also get excited for my own work, obviously. I’m really excited to have Mom in Space out after working on it kind of alone for so long. But my work as an editor feels even more rewarding somehow.

I’m also still reading a decent amount about science-y things. I don’t have a focused project right now, but I read The Exceptions by Kate Zernike. It was about the experience of women scientists at MIT from the 1960s and 70s until now.

I’m also reading a lot of books by my peers who have poetry books coming out right now. Sometimes things happen where you and people you know have the same season. So, I’m rooting for and reading my friends Danielle Cadena Deulen, Cynthia M. Hoffman, Corey Van Landingham, and Emily Tuszynska.

And for fun, if I’m not reading a light science book at the end of the night, I’m reading a mystery. I got addicted to those through Louise Penny, also in 2020. I’m reading one by Tana French right now.

EP: You mentioned that you’re still reading some light science. Do you feel like you still want to explore more of the themes of spaceflight in future work? Have you still been writing about it? Or do you feel like that chapter is sort of closed for you and you’re on to the next research project or just the next project in general?

LA: Yeah, I’m going to be interested to see what happens, because I’m still obsessed with space. Like, I was watching this Starship launch today and got super excited when it actually reached orbit. But, at the same time, I want to be careful not to just write Mom in Space over and over and over again. One of the last poems added to the book, “Solitary Rocky Celestial Body,” was one that I’d written after I’d already turned it in to the press. I had workshopped it with my online workshop group, and they were like, “Are you just going to keep writing about space?” and I was like, “I don’t know.” So, I was able to put that one in, but at some point, you know, that won’t work.

There are areas of science that I don’t know much about, and I think I might be able to find the same type of awe that is part of what draws me to space stories. You know, I read a book about the deep ocean in the last couple of months. I mentioned geology earlier. And then more concretely, I’ve been working on a sequence about salt, the song “Clementine,” and nuclear power. That one feels a bit unwieldy and wild right now even though it’s kind of tamed itself a little bit.

Yeah, I think it’s just a way of being curious about something. I’ve been thinking about T. S. Eliot’s “Tradition and the Individual Talent” and he talks about how, if you have oxygen and sulfur dioxide together, and you put a little bit of platinum in, then they’ll work together and form sulfurous acid—but only if the platinum is present. So, he uses that to say the mind of the poet is platinum, and the elements are feelings and emotions. I have some critiques of, you know, the overall kind of thing that he’s looking at, especially calling the poet “he” all the time. But the catalyst of the poet living a life is something that resonates. Sometimes, when I read a really good submission that isn’t there yet, I just know that the writer just needs to live more. I mean, that sounds like a weird thing to say, but they need to have another experience that helps them look back at what they’re doing and refine it even more. So, living is part of it, and then the mental and emotional life is another part of it.

And it’s just more fun to be curious about something.

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Letter of Recommendation

What I’ve Learned From My Students’ College Essays

The genre is often maligned for being formulaic and melodramatic, but it’s more important than you think.

An illustration of a high school student with blue hair, dreaming of what to write in their college essay.

By Nell Freudenberger

Most high school seniors approach the college essay with dread. Either their upbringing hasn’t supplied them with several hundred words of adversity, or worse, they’re afraid that packaging the genuine trauma they’ve experienced is the only way to secure their future. The college counselor at the Brooklyn high school where I’m a writing tutor advises against trauma porn. “Keep it brief , ” she says, “and show how you rose above it.”

I started volunteering in New York City schools in my 20s, before I had kids of my own. At the time, I liked hanging out with teenagers, whom I sometimes had more interesting conversations with than I did my peers. Often I worked with students who spoke English as a second language or who used slang in their writing, and at first I was hung up on grammar. Should I correct any deviation from “standard English” to appeal to some Wizard of Oz behind the curtains of a college admissions office? Or should I encourage students to write the way they speak, in pursuit of an authentic voice, that most elusive of literary qualities?

In fact, I was missing the point. One of many lessons the students have taught me is to let the story dictate the voice of the essay. A few years ago, I worked with a boy who claimed to have nothing to write about. His life had been ordinary, he said; nothing had happened to him. I asked if he wanted to try writing about a family member, his favorite school subject, a summer job? He glanced at his phone, his posture and expression suggesting that he’d rather be anywhere but in front of a computer with me. “Hobbies?” I suggested, without much hope. He gave me a shy glance. “I like to box,” he said.

I’ve had this experience with reluctant writers again and again — when a topic clicks with a student, an essay can unfurl spontaneously. Of course the primary goal of a college essay is to help its author get an education that leads to a career. Changes in testing policies and financial aid have made applying to college more confusing than ever, but essays have remained basically the same. I would argue that they’re much more than an onerous task or rote exercise, and that unlike standardized tests they are infinitely variable and sometimes beautiful. College essays also provide an opportunity to learn precision, clarity and the process of working toward the truth through multiple revisions.

When a topic clicks with a student, an essay can unfurl spontaneously.

Even if writing doesn’t end up being fundamental to their future professions, students learn to choose language carefully and to be suspicious of the first words that come to mind. Especially now, as college students shoulder so much of the country’s ethical responsibility for war with their protest movement, essay writing teaches prospective students an increasingly urgent lesson: that choosing their own words over ready-made phrases is the only reliable way to ensure they’re thinking for themselves.

Teenagers are ideal writers for several reasons. They’re usually free of preconceptions about writing, and they tend not to use self-consciously ‘‘literary’’ language. They’re allergic to hypocrisy and are generally unfiltered: They overshare, ask personal questions and call you out for microaggressions as well as less egregious (but still mortifying) verbal errors, such as referring to weed as ‘‘pot.’’ Most important, they have yet to put down their best stories in a finished form.

I can imagine an essay taking a risk and distinguishing itself formally — a poem or a one-act play — but most kids use a more straightforward model: a hook followed by a narrative built around “small moments” that lead to a concluding lesson or aspiration for the future. I never get tired of working with students on these essays because each one is different, and the short, rigid form sometimes makes an emotional story even more powerful. Before I read Javier Zamora’s wrenching “Solito,” I worked with a student who had been transported by a coyote into the U.S. and was reunited with his mother in the parking lot of a big-box store. I don’t remember whether this essay focused on specific skills or coping mechanisms that he gained from his ordeal. I remember only the bliss of the parent-and-child reunion in that uninspiring setting. If I were making a case to an admissions officer, I would suggest that simply being able to convey that experience demonstrates the kind of resilience that any college should admire.

The essays that have stayed with me over the years don’t follow a pattern. There are some narratives on very predictable topics — living up to the expectations of immigrant parents, or suffering from depression in 2020 — that are moving because of the attention with which the student describes the experience. One girl determined to become an engineer while watching her father build furniture from scraps after work; a boy, grieving for his mother during lockdown, began taking pictures of the sky.

If, as Lorrie Moore said, “a short story is a love affair; a novel is a marriage,” what is a college essay? Every once in a while I sit down next to a student and start reading, and I have to suppress my excitement, because there on the Google Doc in front of me is a real writer’s voice. One of the first students I ever worked with wrote about falling in love with another girl in dance class, the absolute magic of watching her move and the terror in the conflict between her feelings and the instruction of her religious middle school. She made me think that college essays are less like love than limerence: one-sided, obsessive, idiosyncratic but profound, the first draft of the most personal story their writers will ever tell.

Nell Freudenberger’s novel “The Limits” was published by Knopf last month. She volunteers through the PEN America Writers in the Schools program.

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Telephone Conversation by Wole Soyinka (Poem 4)
Telephone Conversation
Compare and Contrast the Following Poems: Telephone Conversation by
Telephone conversation’ and ‘Nothing Said’ Essay Example
Telephone Conversation by Wole Soyinka
“Telephone Conversation” Wole Soyinka The price seemed

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Telephone Conversation
How poetry speaks
Mobile Phone Essay/Essay writing/professor TANVEER/part 1
10 класс. Английский язык. Косвенная речь. Вопросительные предложения
Telephone Interview with Farah N Huq . September 2023
How writing poetry can expand you!

COMMENTS

Telephone Conversation (Poem + Analysis)
Wole Soyinka's 'Telephone Conversation' is a lyric poem written in free verse. The poem is a dialogue involving a black man and a white woman. The two are indulged in a phone call throughout the poem. The poem, to a considerable extent, follows the question and answer pattern. That is, the white landlady fires away one question after ...
Telephone Conversation Poem Summary and Analysis
Learn More. "Telephone Conversation" is a 1963 poem by the Nigerian writer Wole Soyinka that satires racism. The poem describes a phone call between a landlady and the speaker, who is black, about renting an apartment. The landlady is pleasant until she learns that the speaker is "African," at which point she demands to know how "light" or ...
"Telephone Conversation" by Nobel
Introduction. The poem "Telephone conversation" is written by Nobel laureate winner professor Wole Soyinka. In this poem, the writer describes the conversation that ensued between him and a racist British landlady when he tried to rent her apartment. Poetry usually seeks to teach or reveal to us the beauties and ugliness of life and the ...
Analysis of Wole Soyinka's Telephone Conversation
Paradoxically apologetic and bitingly sarcastic, Soyinka's Telephone Conversation is a 35-line poem dealing with bigotry and the absurdity of racist hierarchies. Written in free verse, the poem portrays an African's attempt to rent an apartment in London. Describing a conversation with a prospective landlady conducted from a public phone, the poem's speaker recounts the experience of…
Poem Analysis: 'Telephone Conversation' by Wole Soyinka
Wole Soyinka's poem takes the shape of a dialogue between two people on the telephone, an African man and a white British landlady. The man is looking for somewhere to rent and needs a room, apartment or flat. But for the landlady, there is an obstacle: he's black. He knows that this fact could potentially ruin his chances of gaining ...
Telephone Conversation
Telephone Conversation Wole Soyinka The price seemed reasonable, location Indifferent. The landlady swore she lived Off premises. Nothing remained But self-confession. "Madam," I warned, 5 "I hate a wasted journey—I am African." Silence. Silenced transmission of Pressurized good-breeding. Voice, when it came,
What is the critical overview of Wole Soyinka's "Telephone Conversation
"Telephone Conversation" is actually a biting satire against the racist attitudes of whites in the 20th century. Overtly, the poem deals with a black, educated man who is ringing up a white ...
Telephone Conversation
Source: Klay Dyer, Critical Essay on "Telephone Conversation," in Poetry for Students, Gale, 2008. Thomson Gale. In the following essay, the critic gives a critical analysis of Soyinka's work. Many critics consider Wole Soyinka Africa's finest writer. The Nigerian playwright's unique style blends traditional Yoruban folk-drama with European ...
Telephone Conversation By Wole Soyinka
Share Cite. The poem "Telephone Conversation" by Wole Soyinka describes a tense exchange between a potential landlord and tenant. Narrated from the prospective tenant's point of view, this ...
A Study Guide for Wole Soyinka's "Telephone Conversation"
A Study Guide for Wole Soyinka's "Telephone Conversation," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Poetry for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Poetry for Students for all of your research needs.
Critical analysis of Wole Soyinka's Telephone Conversation
Telephone Conversation is a poetic satire against the widespread racism still prevalent. in the modern western society. As the title suggests, the poem depicts a telephone. conversation between a west African man and a British land-lady who shockingly changes her attitude towards the man soon after he reveals his racial identity.
Theme and message of Telephone Conversation
The main theme explored by the poet in "Telephone Conversation" is that of racism and xenophobia. Through the poem, Wole Soyinka tries to raise awareness of the fact that skin colour should not matter in an open-minded and educated society. Issues like "light" or "dark" skin should not impede a person to carry on with daily life and ...
Telephone Conversation
Type: Blank verse. Background. Written by Wole Soyinka - first African to win the Nobel Prize for literature. The poem is about a man trying to rent a flat from an English landlady. Her attitudes towards him change when she hears he is African. She is clearly racist, and the absurd conversation shows her inferior intelligence.
Essay about The Telephone Conversation by Wole Soyinka
Open Document. The Telephone Conversation by Wole Soyinka The "Telephone Conversation" by Wole Soyinka is a poem that's title is very casual and straight forward. The poem's title shows the reader that what they are meant to read is realistic and free flowing. Like most poems there is a general theme that is carried on from start to end.
Telephone Conversation by Wole Soyinka
How the society makes life harder to people with darker skin. Troosh - This poem is very unique and special. A conversation between a racist woman and a black man made into a poem, with a humorous approach to this grim subject, something that is needed with serious subjects such as this one.
Poem & Analysis of 'Telephone Conversation' by Wole Soyinka
The poem Telephone Conversation is written by Wole Soyinka. The poem is in first person narrative. It tries to grapple with the issue of racism that lurks within the minds of countless individuals. The poet has placed before his audience a telephonic conversation between a white landlady and an African man, with the latter looking for a place ...
Wole Soyinka
The poem depicts a course of a conversation between two persons: one is a white English landlady and the other is a black African. The black African (maybe the poet himself) is in search of a house for rent in the city of London and he has had a talk with a landlady over the telephone.
A critical discourse analysis of Wole Soyinka's 'Telephone conversation'
The study investigates the Critical Discourse Analysis of Wole Soyinka's Telephone. Conversation to expatiate on the hidden meaning and the poet's intention of writing the poem. The study employs ...
The Telephone Conversation by Wole Soyinka: Summary and Analysis
By Prince Kumar / 14 Jan 2024. "The Telephone Conversation by Wole Soyinka" is a satirical poem penned in 1963, that addresses the issue of racism. It unfolds the narrative of a telephone call between the speaker, a black individual, and a landlady negotiating an apartment rental. Initially amiable, the landlady's demeanour takes a sharp turn ...
PDF Telephone Conversation
Synopsis of the poem: Telephone Conversation is a poetic satire against the degenerated and inhumane condition of black people in society. As the title suggests, the poem depicts a telephone conversation between a west-African man and a British land-lady who shockingly changes her attitude towards the man soon after he reveals his racial identity.
Wole Soyinka Questions and Answers
In "Telephone Conversation" by Wole Soyinka, explain the meaning of—Silence for spectroscopic / Flight of fancy, till truthfulness changed her accent. Justify the title "The Trials of Brother Jero".
Poetry Comparison
Poetry Comparison. The two poems 'Telephone Conversation' by Wole Soyinka and 'Ballad of the Landlord' by Langston Hughes both focus on the issue of racism. Thus the poems have a similar theme but present the theme in a variety of different ways. The backgrounds of the poets tell us a lot about their intentions.
Theme and tone in 'Telephone Conversation' by Wole Soyinka
Telephone Conversation was a poem concerning the racial discrimination between the Caucasian and African. In the poem, the poet wanted to rent a house from the landlady originally. However, after he stated that he was African, the conversation turned to discuss the poet's skin color swiftly and it lasted till the end of the conversation..
A Moment That You Couldn't Tell: Riding the Gradient of the Lyric Essay
A poem lets you sit in your loneliness, lets writer and reader share solitude over an impossible distance. An essay betrays you into thinking, for a while, that someone sits beside you. II. But I like lyric essays, poem-essay hybrids, pieces best categorized as sleet if essays are rain and poems snow. Nemerov hints at a kind of beauty in that ...
Poetry Foundation
From Poetry Off the Shelf March 2024. Monica Rico on cooking, grunt work, and the heat at General Motors. Submit poetry and letters to the editors of Poetry magazine. Poems, readings, poetry news and the entire 110-year archive of POETRY magazine.
A Conversation with Lisa Ampleman
A Conversation with Lisa Ampleman. May 16, 2024 Nicole Pagliari. Lisa Ampleman talks drafting poems by hand, what it means to be an editor who writes, and staying curious with editorial assistant Erin Peters. Lisa Ampleman is the author of a chapbook and three full-length books of poetry, most recently Mom in Space (2024) and Romances (2020 ...
What I've Learned From My Students' College Essays
I can imagine an essay taking a risk and distinguishing itself formally — a poem or a one-act play — but most kids use a more straightforward model: a hook followed by a narrative built around ...