Critical Analysis of The Poem "A Tempest in a Teacup"

The poem ‘A Tempest in a Teacup’ is an idiomatic expression which means “a great commotion over an unimportant matter”. A. Van Jordan, the poet was hit on with this big idea from the Play “The Tempest” to poeticize his train of poetic thoughts. He received his BA in English literature from Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio, and his MA in communications from Howard University poeticized the poem. He began to attend poetry readings and discovery of addictive charms in it made him be in romance with beauty of writing poetry. After his fluency in writing gathered momentum, he authored four books of poetry: The Cineaste: Poems; Quantum Lyrics, M-a-c-n-o-l-i-a and Rise. Most of his writings, especially the poetic expressions are influenced by the nature of music, film, race, history, and pop culture. This free verse is about the characters from the Tempest who became composite characters. The poem highlights the status quo of race and cultural shift in the society through very deft use of poetic devices- metaphor, allusions, symbols, and sibilance to articulate the inner voice of the poem.

Mr. A. Van Jordan had been so critical to make view the poem through a photographic lens of Prospero, who is in fact a persona. “In literature the term ‘persona’ generally refers to a character established by an author, one in whose voice all or part of a narrative takes place. Poets such as Robert Browning, Ezra Pound, and T. S. Eliot are strongly associated with such narrative voices, as is the writer Luigi Pirandello” (Elliott, 1982). Prospero, the narrative voice in the poem, is just a replica of the older, porcelain white foreman (straight white male) who fears the cultural transition in America, without seeing the benefits of shift both for him and American country as a whole. The poetic technique, persona, which is also referred to theatrical mask, is used in expression of this poem to circumvent the direct inner perspective of the poet. Such characters are taken on by a poet to speak in a first-person poem. “Aristotle in the Poetics says that the poet should say very little in propria persona (in his own voice), as he is no imitator or poet when speaking from himself.” The best is described in Anthony Thwaite's ‘Monologue in the Valley of the Kings’ where the word ‘I’ is referred to the Egyptian Pharaoh.

In the first stanza of poem, it is just a protrusion of the vicissitudes of life, social exclusion in the American society expressed through the use of metaphorical charms. “Metaphor is recognized as an important way of thinking constructing analogies and making connections between ideas and an important way of using language to explain abstract ideas or to find indirect but powerful ways of conveying feelings” (Cameron & Maslen, 2010). The historical allusion has been made to hegemonic era of darkness that delineates disparity between the superior and inferior and tells the tale of hard time. The wider societal gap that stood as hurdle in their every walk of life distanced the ruled (African-American) from their humanitarian right, and it was so hard a circumstance for the suppressed to withdraw from a shell of slavery. Without a ray of hope, so cocooned and deprived of what they willed and desired, were the wildest of life they lived and endured. Their hunger for freedom was just a pie in the sky.

Further the lines in the first stanza are painted thick with metaphorical expression such as “factory of my dreams”, under the fluorescent lights”, and “of a porcelain white foreman”. These phrases speak highly of enigmatic space between two classes- elite and the working class. The fluorescent lights which metaphorically stand for hegemonic power of the porcelain white foreman (the powerful) gave a dash to the inferior treating as peripherals. “Racial discrimination pervades every aspect of a society in which it is found. It is found above all in attitudes of both races, but also in social relations, in intermarriage, in residential location, and, frequently, in legal barriers. It is also found in levels of economic accomplishment; that is, income, wages, prices paid, and credit extended” (Arrow, 1998). Without a doubt, for long the power-play relations cast darker shadow on the inferior to work in the factory of their choices and dreams. This stands to reason that the potency of marginalization was so imposing that built a larger bar to their passionate expectations.

The second stanza delineates an expression of inner joy and satisfaction that enlightened the society’s ray of hope. The gain of freedom is accredited to the decolonization struggles campaigned by the freedom fighters in Africa, Asia, and America who fought colonialism. Their long struggle for freedom and justice was finally paid off when authority when congregated and considered the matters seriously. “Abolition was assured by only union military victory and by 13th Amendment, which outlawed slavery and involuntary servitude throughout the country. Congress passed the amendment more than two years after the proclamation, and the states rectified it in December 1865, eight months after union victory in the civil war” ( Vorenberg, 2001). With gate of freedom opened to all, the flush of security and independence seeped through the veins of those marginalized (slaves). The racial stereotype that long crept in the lives ended. The atmosphere in the societal arenas became different where people had an air of justice and freedom was breathed and felt. The phrase ‘no one questions my face’ strongly expresses the idea of hope and freedom worn with wings to help take better flight to position where treatment is square and fair.

Most of the writings of the post-colonial period are influenced by waves of the colonialism. Typically the post-colonial writers are interested in the poetic arenas such as nationhood and nationalism. These writers are very devoted where they write lots of books on behalf of their nations. “Nationalism is a condition of mind, feeling, or sentiment of a group of people living in a well-defined geographical area, speaking a common language, professing a literature in which the aspirations of the nation have been expressed, being attached to the common traditions, and, in some cases, having a common origin.” (Kecmanovic, 1996). In a similar manner, the poet too tries to express the strong sense of nationhood through the use of allusion and symbols. For instance, the phrasal expression “bobbing on a wave of expectation” is an iconic symbol of exhibition of nationalism that places the expectation above everything. Expectation works marvels and makes indescribable difference in the odyssey of our life. Charles Kettering stated “high achievement always takes places in the framework of high expectation”. The line in this poem ‘I set in motion with my back, put into my work’ is an allusion. The setting dates back to 1881 when the working classes (salves) encumbered the physical labor involving their strength of one's back in American society. The weight of burden by the inferior under the totalitarian society is related.

It is in the final stanza the narrator exhibits his solemn commitment to serve the country irrespective of the hard times people encountered in the past and will have in the coming. Despite the existence of little racial gap the society has at present, the narrator informs the society to stand and prove their ground without making any fuss over a trivial matter. In the last two lines, the poet used sibilance as figurative device. “Sibilance is a manner of articulation of fricative and affricate consonants, made by directing a stream of air with the tongue towards the sharp edge of the teeth, which are held close together; a consonant that uses sibilance may be called a sibilant, or a strident. The symbols in the International Phonetic Alphabet used to denote the sibilant sounds in these words are, respectively, [s] [z] [ʃ] [tʃ] [dʒ] [ʒ]” (Hrushovski,1980). Sibilance which is also referred to as stigmatism is used to draw emphasis and provide sibilant effect on the poetic lines for better meaning. The significance of the title of the poem is embedded in these two lines – “To stir a storm, trying, to stand where I’m standing”. The very connection has been made here for the society to not to wrestle with the tension that still revolves around the human race rather ride on the waves of expectations and stir up the storm.

The poem appraised that there was the social rung of ladder that long steeped in American society. The gap in the society indicates the pervasiveness of injustice and discrimination. It was not until the Congress passed 13 Amendments the stereotypical air ended. This gnawing situation never perpetuated when a seismic cultural shift occurred in the society and ray of hope overwhelmed all, especially the salves. The concerted efforts and the determination kept their (slaves) hunger for freedom alive. Thus, it was their undying spirit that helped reap the fruit of freedom. The end justified the means and the light of justice began to take root in the society.