Question

Look more closely at the figurative language Johnson used in "Lift Every Voice and Sing." What are some specific ways the language describing goals and dreams differs from that about the difficulties faced along the way?

Answer 1

Johnson’s use of the words stony, bitter, rod, and died create a negative picture of the times:

Stony the road we trod,

Bitter the chastening rod,

Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;

The poet uses words associated with harshness and punishment to describe the difficulties faced along the way.

Johnson’s language changes when he talks about the dreams of the younger generation:

Out from the gloomy past,

Till now we stand at last

Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.

The poet uses light and uplifting imagery to highlight the progress and dreams of African Americans, comparing liberty to a harmonious song.

Step-by-step explanation:

Answer 2

Lift Every Voice and Sing is a poem written by James Weldon Johnson in honor of Abraham Lincoln's birthday. It is also known as the African American National Anthem.

The first stanza of this poem is a call to singing asking to be united.

In the second stanza James Weldon Johnson used metaphors to talk about the difficulties faced along the way:

• The road is the metaphorical path that African Americans have walked on their long march to freedom.
• The chastening rod and the blood of slaughtered refers to the violent history African Americans have had to live through.

And during the third stanza the author invokes God as a praise to talk about the goals and dreams, "Keep us forever in the path , we pray".