Metaphors In Strange Fruit

“Strange Fruit Analysis” In response to the terrible act of lynchings, a poem was written in protest to the terrible acts. The poem “Strange Fruit”,published in 1939, and written by Abel Meeropol and popularized by Billie Holiday is a poem that was written in protest to lynchings. Abel Meeropol was a teacher, poet, and social activist who was haunted by pictures of lynchings, which is when a mob takes black men who have been accused of wrongdoing, and usually hang them. The pictures haunted him, and he wrote the poem “Strange Fruit” in response to them. This poem was very haunting, and made me really think about what happened during a lynching, and how terrible it was, so it conveys a meaning of haunting and death. In the poem, “Strange Fruit”, the lynchings that took place at the time are being described. It describes Southern trees, which have bodies swaying from them, with blood all over, and then tells how nature slowly takes apart the bodies, as if they were crops. The poem is told from a person who was standing before
One example of a metaphor in the lyrics is, “Blood on the leaves and blood at the root” (Meeropol). This is an example of a metaphor because it is taking the tree, which is usually a symbol of life, and is comparing it to a symbol of death, since there is blood all over the tree. Also, personification takes place many times in the poem, “For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck” (Meeropol), is an example of personification. Rain and wind are being given a person’s quality, which is to gather and to suck, which is a person’s quality. Juxtaposition also takes place in the poem, as shown by the quote, “Scent of magnolias sweet and fresh Then the sudden smell of burnin’ flesh” (Meeropol). This is an example of juxtaposition because there is a nice thing, the magnolias, that is next to a terrible thing, the burning