21 pages • 42 minutes read
Amiri BarakaAn Agony. As Now.
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1964A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
The Separation of Self and Body
The separation of self from the body results in an alienation of the soul. Through fragmented lines and sentences, the poem reflects the mindset of the tortured self. Some thoughts have no subject, like the thoughts in lines 3-5, and others have no verb, as in Lines 32 and 33. The soul is unable to form a complete thought. Other thoughts are interjected in parentheticals. Some of these parentheticals themselves trail off and do not contain complete thoughts.
The separation of self from the body creates a divide between form and feeling. Erotic encounters become mechanical as the bodies “rubbed against” (Line 10) him. The “white hot metal” (Line 38) of the body’s flesh separates the soul from the outside world. The body forcibly contains the soul, but without a strong connection; as such, the body “has no feeling” (Line 41) and is “not, / given to love” (Lines 41-42). This results in the soul being left trapped screaming.
Oppression
The poem focuses on three different types of oppression: of the self, of the soul, and of the other.
In the past, the speaker had rejected and “abandoned” (Line 16) his younger self. This inner conflict, which results in the denial of the past, helps contribute to his fragmentation and oppression in the present.
The oppression of the soul leaves it feeling as if the body is a mask it wears. As a result, the metallic body “burns the thing / inside it” (Lines 43-44), rather than protecting it. Neither the soul nor the body function as they are incomplete.
The oppression of the other reflects the historical context in which Baraka writes. Though not explicitly stated, the speaker’s experience reflects that of a Black man and artist in white America. By comparing beauty to “a white sun” (Line 31), Baraka suggests that men and art are held up against white standards and expectations. “The yes” (Line 29) reflects the willingness to conform by agreeing to uphold the status quo. The speaker’s flesh, then, becomes “white hot” (Line 38), reflecting his acquiesce and conformity, which then physically hurts him. Oppressed by this whiteness, the Black soul is left screaming.
Alienation
Throughout the poem, the reoccurring theme of alienation underscores the effects of oppression and disembodiment felt by the speaker. As is noted earlier, the speaker is contained in what seems to be a metal armor, which acts as a prison, with “slits” (Line 7) for the sun. This “enclosure” (Line 12) separates him from others, and he cannot connect to them—the women and men who rub against him have no voice, shadow, or “meaning” (Line 11).
The speaker cannot connect to others, and he has even “abandoned” (Line 16) a part of himself to the past. Some consider him so alienated by this change that he is seen as “a dead man” (Line 17), but his body persists, though painfully. Like a monster, the speaker has also alienated a woman, who “ran from [him] into / that forest” (Lines 21-22). This division of mind from a heavily armored body prevents the speaker from meaningful connection to others, past and present.
As the poem ends, the speaker is now “blind” (Line 37), while the body has become “white hot metal” (Line 38)—this is not a body that can be touched lovingly by another. The body itself has become a blind weapon, without feeling and “not / given to love” (Lines 41-42). That inability to love alienates the speaker from others, but crucially, from the self, which burns inside and “screams” (Line 45) in pain.
