Poem Comparison Essay - Poems "Lineage" by Margret Walker and "The Courage my mother had" by Edna St. Vincent Millay

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Poem Comparison Essay Hove you ever wondered how it would feel to have the courage of your ancestors? In the two poems "Lineage" and "Courage" the authors Margret Walker and Edna St. Vincent Millay uses descriptive words to describe their ancestor's abilities. There are several similarities and differences contained in these two poems. To begin, both of the speakers desire to acquire something that they do not have, but exists in their family. The speaker in "Lineage" values the fact that her grandmothers were strong (l. 1, 11). Clearly this strength is something that speaker remembers about her grandmothers; she ends her poem with the question, "why am I not as they?" (p12) but it is not strength ...

... rights, they had still stood tall and worked their way up to freedom. Finally, both speakers' ancestors had left something behind, whether it is an item or a memory, it encouraged them to use what they have and forget about what they want. In the poem "Lineage" the speaker says "They were full of sturdiness and singing" (l. 5) meaning that they left behind a sense of pride and strength that would be acknowledged in the future. Another important aspect of their ancestor's life, is the items that were left behind. In the poem "Courage" the speaker says "The golden brooch my mother wore..." shows that her mother had left an item so

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