Land Lord Lecture Paper
MLA Literature Paper, with No Secondary Sources (Peel)
Peel 1
Margaret Peel
Professor Lin
English 102
20 April XXXX
Opposing Voices in “Ballad of the Landlord”
Langston Hughes’s “Ballad of the Landlord” is narrated through four voices, each with its own perspective on the poem’s action. These opposing voices—of a tenant, a landlord, the police, and the press—dramatize a black man’s experience in a society
Thesis states
Peel’s main idea.
dominated by whites.
The main voice in the poem is that of the tenant, who, as the last line tells us, is black. The tenant is characterized by his informal, nonstandard speech. He uses slang (“Ten Bucks”), contracted words (’member, more’n), and nonstandard grammar
Details from the poem illustrate
Peel’s point.
(“These steps is broken down”). This colloquial English suggests the tenant’s separation from the world of convention, represented by the formal voices of the police and the press, which appear later in the poem.
Although the tenant uses nonstandard English, his argument is organized and logical. He begins with a reasonable complaint and a gentle reminder that the complaint is already a week old:
“My roof has sprung a leak. / Don’t you ’member I told you about it / Way last week?” (lines 2-4). In the second stanza, he appeals diplomatically to the landlord’s self-interest: “These steps is broken down. / When you come up yourself / It’s a wonder you don’t fall down” (6-8). In the third stanza, when the landlord has responded
The first citation to lines of the poem includes the word
“lines.” Subsequent citations from the poem are cited with line numbers alone.
to his complaints with a demand for rent money, the tenant becomes more forceful, but his voice is still reasonable: “Ten Bucks
Marginal annotations indicate MLA-style formatting and effective writing.
Source: Diana Hacker (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2006).
This paper has been updated to follow the style
Peel 1
Margaret Peel
Professor Lin
English 102
20 April XXXX
Opposing Voices in “Ballad of the Landlord”
Langston Hughes’s “Ballad of the Landlord” is narrated through four voices, each with its own perspective on the poem’s action. These opposing voices—of a tenant, a landlord, the police, and the press—dramatize a black man’s experience in a society
Thesis states
Peel’s main idea.
dominated by whites.
The main voice in the poem is that of the tenant, who, as the last line tells us, is black. The tenant is characterized by his informal, nonstandard speech. He uses slang (“Ten Bucks”), contracted words (’member, more’n), and nonstandard grammar
Details from the poem illustrate
Peel’s point.
(“These steps is broken down”). This colloquial English suggests the tenant’s separation from the world of convention, represented by the formal voices of the police and the press, which appear later in the poem.
Although the tenant uses nonstandard English, his argument is organized and logical. He begins with a reasonable complaint and a gentle reminder that the complaint is already a week old:
“My roof has sprung a leak. / Don’t you ’member I told you about it / Way last week?” (lines 2-4). In the second stanza, he appeals diplomatically to the landlord’s self-interest: “These steps is broken down. / When you come up yourself / It’s a wonder you don’t fall down” (6-8). In the third stanza, when the landlord has responded
The first citation to lines of the poem includes the word
“lines.” Subsequent citations from the poem are cited with line numbers alone.
to his complaints with a demand for rent money, the tenant becomes more forceful, but his voice is still reasonable: “Ten Bucks
Marginal annotations indicate MLA-style formatting and effective writing.
Source: Diana Hacker (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2006).
This paper has been updated to follow the style