May+Miller22

=__**May Miller**__=

By: Annie Jolly


May Miller was born on January 26 1899 and died Febuary 8 1995. She was an African American writer, playwright, and poet and known to be the most widely published playwright of the Harlem Renaissance. She published seven volumes of poetry during her career. She graduated from Howard University in 1920 and earned an award for her play called //Within the Shadows.// This play was one act and a big success. Her biggest sucess into the cultural scene began with //The Bog Guide. The Bog Guide// was her play and won third place in the Literary Prize Contest in 1925.
 * __Biography__**

As a young writer, May Miller realized that plays needed to be written about blacks portraying some measures of their faithfulness to their lives instead of the early crude stages. She was encouraged by many other poems such as Carter G. Woodson, ALain Locke, and W.E.B. Du Boise. In the 1920's and 1930's these poets reorganized literature and reawakened the dignity that blacks have. This is how she had her input in the Harlem Renaissance. She changed the scene of playwrights during the Harlem Renaissance by involving a change in the way blacks were protrayed.

=The Washingtonian = BY MAY MILLER  Possessed of this city, we are born Into kinship with its people. Eyes that looked upon Cool magnificence of space, The calm of marble, And green converging on green In long distances, Bear their wonder to refute Meaningless dimensions, The Old-World facades. The city is ours irrevocably As pain sprouts at the edge of joy, As grief grows large with our years. New seeds push hard to topsoil; Logic is a grafted flower From roots in a changeless bed. Skeleton steel may shadow the path, Broken stone snag the foot, But we shall walk again Side by side with others on the street, Each certain of his way home. __**//Anaylysis//**__ **//I think this poem means that the blacks have always been looked upon even when they first roamed this Earth.//** **//It says we are born into a kinship with its people eyes that looked upon. This could mean that the blacks were "born" upon people that already existed, causing the people to stare. When it starts to explain the beautiful place it means that the world was like that until the blacks came. Once they came the world became unclean. It says bear their wonder to refute meaningless dimensions. The whites tried to fight for their world. The poem says the city is ours. As pain sprouts at the edge of joy as grief grows large with our years. This statement can go both ways with both the whites and blacks. The whites didn't like the blacks and just wanted them out. The blacks didn't understand why they felt that way and wanted to be treated normally. The world began a grieful and unjoyous world. Once it starts to talk about new seeds pushing hard to topsoil I think that it's talking about the Harlem Renaissance. Blacks began to pop out of their shells and show who they truly are. But we shall walk again is a good statement and I think it sums up the whole poem. It means that blacks will show in victory someday and that they should give up. Side by side they'll do it together.//** Works Cited **// >>> .  //**     //**    //**
 * "MMiller." //PoetryFoundation//.N.p.,n.d.Web.11Apr.1925..
 * "M Miller." //EncyclopediaBritannica//.N.p.,n.d.Web.11Apr.1925.. **//
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