Ballad of the Landlord is about an African American tenant whose apartment is falling apart and doesn't want to pay the rent until the landlord fixes the problems. At the end of the poem, the landlord calls the police and they take him away to jail for refusing to pay the rent.
The speaker in this poem is a poor African American tenant. He is angry that the landlord won't fix anything yet still wants him to pay the rent. I would characterize the speaker as someone who doesn't want to be cheated out of his money and wants to be treated fairly. The speaker reveals his true feelings about paying the rent in stanza four where it says, "Ten Bucks you say is due? Well, that's Ten Bucks more'n I'll pay you, will you fix this house up new."
The language used in this poem is fairly easy to understand. The word "eviction" means to force out by legal process. This word contributes the most to the poem, because it makes the reader understand that the landlord is serious, and the......
Join Now or Login to view the rest of this paper.
Approximate Word Count: 666
Approximate Pages: 3 (260 words per double-spaced page) |