A Wreath for Emmett Till by Marilyn Nelson

In examining it, I had to think: why this? Why here? What is this adding? Like Nelson, Lardy has a note, explaining some of his artistic choices. (But she also includes wonderfully detailed Notes section, realizing that not everyone will get every reference.)

She makes references that are important she assumes the reader will know. What else is good: Nelson expects things from the reader. Just as each syllable matters to achieve the heroic crown of syllable, each second of Emmett's life matters. And so Nelson has found a way to make it bearable and in making it bearable, we can listen, and learn. the brain shuts down, the heart cannot bear it. To learn what happened to Emmett, to see the pictures of his body, to think about the horror of his final hours. This series is heartbreaking, haunting, and evocative. What is brilliant about Nelson is that the discipline and structure is what frees her. Nelson says that this form became 'a kind of insulation, a way of protecting myself from the intense pain of the subject matter, and a way to allow the Muse to determine what the poem would say.' Art like this - that requires time, patience, skill, dedication, practice, training, heart - doesn't just happen. It takes talent, it takes creativity, and it takes mastery of the form - especially where, as here, each sonnet reads so smoothly. This is poetry that is structured and requires discipline it is not easy to write. Nelson's wreath is a series of sonnets: in particular, a heroic crown of sonnets. While there, he may, or may not, have whistled at a white woman. Emmett had gone for the summer to the South, to Money, Mississippi, to visit relatives.

What had Emmett done? Why were the murderers acquitted? Emmett was African American he was a 14 year old, raised in Chicago. And later told a reporter the story of how they had killed Emmett. Two people were tried for the crime and, despite eyewitness testimony that one of those people had forcibly removed Emmett from his grandfather's home, and despite a motive, the two were acquitted. A Wreath for Emmett Till by Marilyn Nelson Illustrated by Philippe Lardy.Įmmett Till was 14 years old when he was kidnapped and murdered.