Mighty Pawn Poem Analysis

Challenging Traditional Beliefs Of Stereotypical Poverty In Major Jackson’s Work Major Jackson is the 48-year-old award-winning, American poet of “Mighty Pawns”. Jackson who was born and raised in Philadelphia joined the Dark Room Collective in the early 1990’s to help give exposure to writers of colour and their struggles (“Major Jackson”). His poem “Mighty Pawns” was published in 2015, and can be found in the award-winning book “Roll Deep” (“Major Jackson”). “Mighty Pawn” is an informal poem, shown through the lack of punctuation, and stanzas; questioning the contemporary literary theme of traditional beliefs in crisis. With the use of symbols and imagery poet Major Jackson, shows that intelligence can be found anywhere, regardless of
Jackson describes Earl’s house as “the faint light of his section 8 home reeking of onions, liver, and gravy” (Jackson 9-10). He uses descriptive language to stress Earl’s living conditions. The use of pungent, displeasing foods shows how bad Earl’s living condition actually are, it evokes a reader’s disgust by forcing the audience to imagine the smells combined; because of this, no one would expect Earl to be good at something that requires a lot of intelligence due to his poor living conditions. Jackson thoroughly contradicts that thought by describing Earl’s perseverance. “…you’d get a better picture of earl’s ferocity after school on the board in Mr Sherman’s class” (Jackson 24-25). Names or work being displayed on a school board implies that it is very well done and since Jackson describes Earl’s ferocity it shows that Earl is on the board frequently, thus proving his intelligence. In conclusion, Major Jackson poem “Mighty Pawns” uses imagery and symbols portray a hopeful child, using his intelligence to succeed; even when his circumstances are against him. Jackson emphasizes the challenging of traditional beliefs and breaking stereotypes throughout the poem. With Earl’s story, he is able to give poverty more depth, instead of marginalising it with a broad stereotype. Thus forcing the audience to rethink their ideas on