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How Does Jean Toomer Use Imagery In Reapers

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Jean Toomer in “Reapers” and Kevin Prufer in “Pause, Pause” utilize visual and auditory to convey vastly different messages, with Toomer using imagery to create a dark tone and communicate the lack of respect for black lives during the slavery era and Prufer using imagery to celebrate the beauty of silence by communicating a calm and peaceful tone. Though both poets utilize alliteration to create auditory imagery, the impact and use of their imagery are diverse. In “Reapers,” Toomer’s alliteration of the “s” sound in the following lines “[b]lack reapers with the sound of steel on stones / Are sharpening scythes” mimics the high-pitched, screeching sound of steel scraping on stone, creating an auditory image that purposefully evokes a sense …show more content…

In “Reapers” Toomer utilizes juxtaposition and concrete diction to create visual imagery that conveys the lack of respect for black lives during the slavery era. In the second half of the poem, Toomer uses concrete diction to describe the blades of a mower killing a field mouse, noting the mouse “squealing” as it “bleeds” and writing “I see the blade, / Blood-stained, continue cutting weeds and shade” (lines 6-8). This use of concrete diction creates a visual image of a suffering mouse, dying from its wounds as the blade of the machine that killed it continues on its set path. This image is juxtaposed with the first half of the poem which features the image of men of colour using their scythes as they reap the field, creating the visual image that like the mouse, these men could be killed and the steel of the blades would not pause for a moment after taking their lives (Toomer lines 1-4). Thus, Toomer’s use of visual imagery successfully communicates the lack of respect for black lives in the reaping fields during the era of slavery. In contrast, Prufer uses visual imagery to convey a dissimilar

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