Scott Street Assignment 3

1. The poem I chose to analyze was The Harlem Dancer. The tone of the poem was essentially captured in the last couplet of the poem, as McKay used strong diction choices to create a tone that was hopeless and fake. By describing the dancer's face as "falsely smiling" (l. 13), we know that what she is doing is not exactly what she wants to be doing, and that she's only dancing because she absolutely has to. In addition, by describing the place as "strange" (l. 14), we know that the connotation of the place is of negativity, and that anyone who works there is also deemed different than others.

2. The quote that I mostly agree with is Pollock's quote. He is virtually saying that it doesn't matter how it is presented, anything can be art as long as something of importance is being conveyed or done. For example, watching football today, I remember hearing an announcer that referred to a particular series as a "work of art" and that the quarterback was essentially the artist of the team. I believe that, in a sense, football can be conveyed as art, because lots of work and preparation preceded what you see on the field, and every team strives to perfect their blank canvas given to them at the beginning of each year. In my opinion, art can take the shape of many different things, varying in medium, and that is what Jackson Pollock is saying too; art doesn't always have to be found in an art gallery.