Georgia Dusk Figurative Language

So what is it about these words that make them so moving and memorable? Perhaps it is the imagery created in all three. In Georgia Dusk, you can visualize the “crimson trickle”(Hughes 8), veiled “darkness”(Hughes 4), and the bleeding “sunset”(Hughes 14). But it is more than that. The words themselves evoke a specific feeling. The personification of the wind in the repetition of “cries”(Hughes 2) creates a dark foreboding that is continued with the slight foreshadow in the use of “pity”(Hughes 3). The simile used, comparing hatred and African American racism to scattered seeds (Hughes 12) that require nourishment of more hatred and implies an up rise, leaves the entire poem with a sense of dread for what is happening and yet to come. The
The use of imagery terms such as “bulging”(Holiday 6) and “twisted”(Holiday 6) create a picture of complete horror. The juxtapositional way that line 8 (“...sudden smell of burning flesh”(Holiday)) is preceded by line 7 (“Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh”(Holiday)) just adds to the shock and abhorrence. It is very similar to the ironic way that the second verse, specifically line 5, sarcastically refers to the South in general, using words like ‘pastoral’ and ‘gallant,’ which are soon after followed by the aforementioned images. If you look even further, the word ‘magnolia,’ commonly associated with the South, could be a subtle hint at white supremacy. A large white flower, blossoming on a very large tree that can live upwards of 100 years, being distinctly compared to black, bitter, and rotting fruit which is afterwards neglected and left to the elements. The repeated motif in Strange Fruit applies to the word ‘fruit,’ unsurprisingly enough. The word ‘fruit’ is meant to dehumanize the African American victims of these horror and carry a metaphor of African American bodies lynched and hanging from trees. However, the metaphors do not stop there. The idea of a tree usually brings about meanings of life and family, the Tree of Life, Family Tree, bloodlines, and such, and yet, it is used in Strange Fruit to convey the exact opposite- a Tree of Death, if you will, killing off an entire race of people.
The line “... your daddy’s rich and yo’ mama’s good lookin’” (Gershwin 3) subtly echoes this unease. It’s as though the mother is trying to soothe her child with the message that everything will be alright; the father will use his wealth and status to protect the child and the mother can use her body as a form of protection as well. It isn’t until the next stanza (line 5-6) where the metaphor, again, turns even darker. “... yo’ gonna rise up singin’ then you’ll spread yo’ wings as you take the sky…” presents an image of overcoming, however, followed by an image of ascent commonly used to reference death and the journey into Heaven. But “til tha’ mornin’ there’s nothin’ can harm yo’ with daddy and mammy standin’ by” (Gershwin 6-8). It’s as though the parents of this child know the hardships that await, hope that they will end, but realize that the racism and slavery will most likely be the end, not only of themselves, but of their child as