Clarrisa+Scott+Delany+5th+Period

=Clarrisa Scott Delany= By: Leki Mahe



Biography:
Clarrisa Scott Delany grew up in the town of Tuskeegee, Alabama while her father was an instructor at Tuskeegee Instutute, and a biographer for Booker T. Washington (Persons). While her father did this, she began

to immerse herslef in the culture and spirit of the Harlem Renaissance (Persons). She began attending Literary Guild meetings in Boston. As well as a poet Clarrisa was an acedemic student, varsity athlete, and well

experienced pianist and singer. After graduating she tourred Europe for a year and she wrote about all her experiences there in a journal titled //Opportunity; A Journal of Negro Life.// Upon returning to America she began

teaching and this later lead to her short publishing career (Persons). She only published 4 poems, and they were well loved by other famous writers.

Her poems were often quoted in speeches by these famous writers. She got married a year later to a man named Hubert T. Delany in Washington D.C. and then moved to NewYork (Clarrisa). She then started

working as a social worker for the National Urban League and Woman’s City Club of New York (Clarrisa). This lead her to gathering information of "Study of Delinquent and Neglected Negros". Then another year after she

moved to New York and being married she died of a kidney disease, which they believe was brought on by a severe case of strep throat. Clarrisa Scott Delany had a special thing for language, metaphores, and expressing

great emotion. It is said that if she were able to live she would have writen many more poems than she did (Clarrisa).




 * Poem:**

JOY
Joy shakes me like the wind that lifts a sail, Like the roistering wind That laughs through stalwart pines. It floods me like the sun On rain-drenched trees That flash with silver and green, I abandon myself to joy- I laugh-I sing. Too long have I walked a desolate way, Too long stumbled down a maze Bewildered.

In this poem, Joy (Delany), one could find many meanings, but the pretty obvious one would be its message of joy. In this poem it isn't just regular joy, it is joy beyond the extreme. She describes happiness in such a way it
 * Analysis:**

brings you into a world that does not have saddness and anger. Then it is also important to realize that she wrote this during the time of early Harlem Renaissance. At this time it was a time of celebration in America and

everyone was happy and __joyous__. Her word choice paints a vivid painting of things that are usually happy, or things that trigger happy thoughts. By doing this she is able to capture the true feeling of joy.

Delany uses strong imagery words such as "roistering"(2), "stalwart"(3), and "desolate"(9) to express scenery that brings the feling of joy. The feeling these words bring are rather mysterious, but without the words they follow,

they no longer have that sense of happiness, they almost lose all feeling. The message this is trying to portray is that life can be happy if you look at things in a different way. In a way that doesn't change the meaning of

happiness. For example there are those that look at murder as a way of happiness, but this changes the meaning that Delany is trying to get across. It is supposed to be something that makes you change perspective, while

keeping in mind reality. This can be portrayed even further by the structure and rythme of the poem. It doesn't really follow a certain pattern, but it does show how free and easy things can be. Again the tone she uses is a

voice of optimism, looking on the bright side.Clarrisa Scott Delany is a great poet and portrays things in a way in which you must look at thingsin a different perspective.

Work Cited

"Persons of the Week: Charlotte Hawkins Brown and Clarissa M. Scott Delany." //Redirect to Wellesley College web site//. N.p., 14 July 2000. Web. 14 Apr. 2011. <[|__http://www.wellesley.edu/Anniversary/brown.html__]>.

"Clarissa M. Scott Delany - The Black Renaissance in Washington, DC." //DC Library Labs |//. N.p., 20 June 2003. Web. 14 Apr. 2011. <[|__http://dclibrarylabs.org/blkren/bios/delanycms.html__]>.