Vincent Pisacano assignment 3

1) In the poem "The Harlem Dancer (pg. 1107)," Claude McKay maintains a passionate and exotic tone through his use of similes and metaphors. As an introduction, he describes a "young prostitute""half-clothed" dancing in front of youthful crowed who is watching in awe. Then, McKay shifts his description of her to that of a near goddess. He compares her to "a proudly-swaying palm grown lovelier," and her voice to "the sound of blended flutes blown by black players upon a picnic day." These metaphors greatly exaggerate the appealing qualities of the dancer, therefore creating a passionate, luxurious tone.

2) "Art is the desire of a man to express himself, to record the reactions of his personality to the world he lives in."  --Amy Lowell

This quote expresses how i feel about art. To me, the thing that makes art "art" is the interpretation that human had on the event or setting. For example, a photographed picture of a sunset is not art to me. But, if you were to tell 10 artists to create a piece of art from looking at the sunset, each piece of art would be different. It's not the beauty of the sunset that makes it art, but rather the feelings and emotions that are being felt by the artists because of that sunset, and how they transfer these emotions into the piece that they are creating.